Nebraska Book Company Announces Textbook Rental Solution

LINCOLN, Neb., May 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Nebraska Book Company recently unveiled a comprehensive textbook rental solution, NBC Textbook Rental Partnership, designed to provide college bookstores with a new weapon in the fight to protect market share from Internet sellers while also providing students with a new affordable textbook option.

The NBC Textbook Rental Solution for College Stores is a fresh idea in rentals that:

• Doesn't require multiple-term adoptions from faculty
• Guarantees the store will maintain or increase margins
• Relieves the store of risk commonly associated with traditional rental models
• Is easily managed by Nebraska Book Company's retail management and POS systems

"When students are thinking about rentals, they're thinking about the Web because traditionally they haven't been able to rent anything from their college store," said Barry S. Major, president and chief operating officer, Nebraska Book Company. "At Nebraska Book Company, our goal is to provide the local college bookstore with the ability to offer a full range of rental books so they can retain their market share and effectively compete with the Internet."

But starting an internal rental program isn't a simple proposition. It takes inventory—and the cash on hand to buy it and the space to shelve it—plus an ability to decide which titles are economically feasible to rent.

A smart option for stores who want to rent

Now, there's a way for college bookstores to introduce a rental program without facing the heavy lifting. Nebraska Book Company's comprehensive textbook rental solution is designed to keep students shopping at the college bookstore while saving students money without compromising high-quality educational materials.

It's a smart way for a store to add more offerings, said Mike Kelly, NBC senior vice president. "We've been talking a lot to our customers about giving students another choice. Now, bookstores have a place to turn. We've harnessed the power of NBC's national reach to make it much easier and essentially risk free for bookstores to implement a rental program."

One of the biggest keys to the program, Kelly says, is the flexibility it offers stores. No longer do stores have to decide how many titles to rent or the number of quantity to make available.

Thanks to the functionality built into NBC's retail management systems, stores can give students the choice of buying or renting right at the point of sale. That aspect makes it easier for stores to jump into the rental marketplace before it's too late—and helps give stores the credibility as a full-service player. 

Nebraska Book Company launched a pilot program of its textbook rental solution in more than 100 college bookstores during the spring 2010 term; saving students up to 50% of the cost of a new textbook.  The program will be rolled out to Nebraska Book Company's more than 275 bookstores this fall along with numerous commercial bookstore accounts.

About Nebraska Book Company

Nebraska Book Company began in 1915 with a single bookstore near the University of Nebraska campus but now serves millions of students through its network of more than 275 stores located across the country.  Our Textbook Division serves more than 2,500 bookstores through the sale of nearly seven million textbooks, and our Complementary Services Division has installed more than 1,200 technology platforms and e-commerce sites.  Additional information about Nebraska Book Company can be found at the company's website: www.nebook.com.

SOURCE Nebraska Book Company