NACS and BookRenter Introduce New Services to Help College Stores Become the Ultimate Source of Affordable Textbooks

OBERLIN, Ohio and SAN MATEO, Calif., Feb. 23, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Association of College Stores (NACS), the leading resource and advocate for the higher education retail market, and BookRenter, the largest and fastest growing online textbook platform, today announced a strategic partnership designed to help college stores become the ultimate source of affordable textbooks.  NACS, through its subsidiary NACSCORP, will begin offering three new BookRenter services to its 3,100 member stores, increasing the delivery speed and convenience of textbook rentals while driving foot traffic into stores and increasing customer loyalty. These new services include:

• RapidReturns™: BookRenter's RapidReturn drop-off service allows students to easily return any textbook rentals into a NACS member college store at the end of a rental period, saving students a trip to the local post office, and increasing store foot traffic, textbook buybacks, merchandise sales, and customer loyalty.
• BookRenter Inventory Purchase and Fulfillment: NACS college stores will be able to sell inventory to any BookRenter Partner store's customer directly from their own inventory shelves.  This increases the convenience and speed of rentals for students, while growing college stores' business by increasing the number of students walking through their doors and generating additional textbook revenue.
• BookRenter Local Warehousing: NACS college stores will also be able to earn revenue by functioning as local BookRenter warehouses, shortening the delivery time to nearby students, which effectively further reduces textbook rental prices.

"While the online textbook rental market is rapidly expanding, students prefer to support their college stores," said Kurt K. Schoen, President & COO, NACSCORP.  "Our innovative partnership with BookRenter enables college stores to offer essential services to students at the lowest possible cost and with the highest degree of service, increasing customers' loyalty to their local stores, while positioning the stores for long-term success."

"Students want to shop locally and support their schools, but they often live on very tight budgets, so they need to get the best possible deal on their materials.  This partnership will help 3,100 stores deliver a much more convenient and affordable education to their customers, while growing their retail businesses," said Mehdi Maghsoodnia, Chief Executive Officer of BookRenter.  "We are thrilled to work with NACS and NACSCORP to redefine what's possible with our platform and technology, and it's invigorating to partner with such an esteemed organization that shares our goal of making education more affordable and accessible for millions of students."

Further demonstrating the strength of and demand for its platform, BookRenter also announced today that it received $40 Million in Series C financing from new and existing venture partners Adams Capital Management, Comerica Bank, Focus Ventures, Lighthouse Capital Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, and Storm Ventures (see separate press release for details).  The new round of funding will drive product innovation to help enable BookRenter store partners to bring affordable education to their students.

To learn more about BookRenter and the NACS partnership, please visit www.bookrenter.com or visit BookRenter at CAMEX in Booth #1254 or NACS in booth #1517.

About NACS

Headquartered in Oberlin, Ohio, the National Association of College Stores (NACS) is the professional trade association representing the $10 billion collegiate retailing industry. Its subsidiary, NACSCORP, is a leading national wholesale distributor and retail services provider for resellers in the collegiate marketplace, offering a wide breadth of books and comprehensive merchandising programs. NACS represents more than 3,000 collegiate retailers and approximately 1,000 associate members who supply books and other products to college stores. NACS member stores serve America's college students while supporting the academic missions of higher education institutions everywhere.  Additional information on NACS can be found online at www.nacs.org.

About BookRenter

BookRenter launched in 2008 and is dedicated to making education more affordable by allowing students to rent textbooks for up to 75% off the retail price.  BookRenter's innovative pricing and operating systems provide students with the best price, highest quality books, and most flexible rental experience available today.  Currently offering more than 5.5 million titles and serving thousands of students on over 5,000 campuses, BookRenter is one of the fastest growing startups in Silicon Valley, growing at over 600% each year.  BookRenter, with offices in San Mateo, California, is a private company that is funded by prominent Silicon Valley venture capital firms. To learn more about how to use BookRenter for all of your textbook rental needs, please visit www.bookrenter.com.

SOURCE BookRenter