Cengage Learning and Verba Partner to Simplify Textbook Price Comparisons

STAMFORD, Conn., Sept. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Cengage Learning, a leading global provider of innovative teaching, learning and research solutions, and Verba announced they are working together to help students surface a range of online pricing options for textbooks efficiently through participating college stores. Verba is a web application company that helps campus retailers provide cutting-edge, competitive retail experiences to the communities they serve.

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Through this relationship with Verba, Cengage Learning products including eTextbooks and eChapters can be included in college stores' online listings of pricing options that are available through the CengageBrain.com retail site.

CengageBrain.com is Cengage Learning's single destination website – a one-stop shop – providing students with the choice to rent or purchase the company's diverse array of learning solutions.  From the site, students can rent textbooks for up to 70% below off the suggested retail price or purchase print textbooks, eTextbooks, individual eChapters and audio books.  The site also includes Cengage Learning's broad range of homework and study tools, and features a selection of free content and discounts for purchasing multiple products.  

"Students want options.  Providing access to CengageBrain.com pricing within Verba's online comparison shopping tools will help students be aware of more format and price options," said Stephen Hochheiser, Vice President, College Store & Public Affairs for Cengage Learning. "Students are savvy consumers and this convenient tool will help them to see right on their college store website the savings opportunities that may exist through direct retail purchases from Cengage Learning."

In addition to providing pricing transparency, Verba's online comparison tool is integrated into the college store website experience so that students do not need to navigate through multiple sites to see a wide range of pricing and format options, including those available via CengageBrain.com. By enabling the CengageBrain links, college store customers will benefit from the CengageBrain College Store Affiliate Program, the only one of its kind in the college publishing industry. College stores can also increase market share by satisfying more of their students through the stores' websites.

"Cengage Brain offers a great service to both students and the college stores that serve them. We are proud to make it as easy as flipping a switch for stores to offer Cengage Brain options to their students," said Ryan Petersen, CEO of Verba Software.

For more information about Verba, please visit www.verbasoftware.com. For more information about Cengage Learning, please visit www.cengage.com.

About Cengage Learning

Cengage Learning is a leading provider of innovative teaching, learning and research solutions for the academic, professional and library markets worldwide. The company's products and services are designed to foster academic excellence and professional development, increase student engagement, improve learning outcomes and deliver authoritative information to people whenever and wherever they need it. Through the company's unique position within both the library and academic markets, Cengage Learning is providing integrated learning solutions that bridge from the library to the classroom.  Cengage Learning's brands include Brooks/Cole, Course Technology, Delmar, Gale, Heinle, South-Western and Wadsworth, among others. Cengage Learning is headquartered in Stamford, CT.  For more information on Cengage Learning, please visit www.cengage.com.

About Verba

Verba Software is a privately-held technology company based in San Francisco, California. Verba's web applications help campus bookstores capture critical business information and enable clients to quickly act upon that data. By promoting responsiveness within the campus store community and enabling the sale of a diversity of formats, sellers, and prices for course materials, Verba makes bookstores more competitive in a rapidly evolving marketplace.

SOURCE Cengage Learning