vbc 2015 understanding & customizing compare presentation

Understanding and Customizing

Your Compare Site

VBC 2015

JJ Jaffe

SPRING 2014

VERBASOFTWARE.COM (415)

SESSION GOALS

‣ To understand why offering a store branded comparison

shopping tool is important

‣ Deepen the understanding of how the tool works

‣ Learn about tricks and customizations that are already

available for your site

http://VERBASOFTWARE.COM


Why Is Compare An Important Tool For Your Store?

PART I



OCCUPY THE BOOKSTORE! ! !


SPRING 2014


‣ Students are shopping smarter and yet their perception of

the campus bookstore is still that they are overpriced.

‣ Comparison shopping shows that the campus store is able

to compete with the online marketplace.

‣ Occupy the Bookstore widget is the perfect marketing tool

to open the discussion of your comparison shopping

experience!



Why Compare?

PART I I


verbasoftware.com(415) 738-2374VERBASOFTWARE.COM (415)

VBC

When students are able

to compare bookstore

prices with online

retailers the bookstore

wil l win 64% of the

items students purchase

VBC 2015

85%



VBC 2015VBC 2015

$465KTotal Dollar Amount of

Commissions earned

through Fully Managed

Retailers in 2014.



VBC 2015

$2,000Average commissions

earned by clients using

Fully Managed Retailers

in 2014


SPRING 2014


COMMISSION TRENDS

‣ This is a true average, so the actual commissions can

vary based on size of school

‣ Trend is that schools are earning less commissions

each year, BUT

‣ The trend is a result of schools item win rate

increasing on Compare sales!


SPRING 2014


WHY THE DECREASE?

‣ You have been working hard to find smart ways to lower

the cost of the books

‣ Sourcing earlier and utilizing more options

‣ Buying books back at smarter prices

‣ Renting more titles and taking advantage of rental

rebates.

Which results in more competitive Costs!


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SELF SERVICE

Self Service Retailers:

‣ Must sign up directly with retailer and obtain

identifier before activating

Fully Managed Retailers:

‣ No signup required with retailer, simply toggle on


SPRING 2014


FULLY MANAGED RETAILERS

Commissions are managed by Verba

‣ Commission percentage is calculated based on sales

of all clients using retailer

‣ Commissions are sent in one lump-sum check to the

store

‣ Checks are mailed twice a year (May and December)


SPRING 2014


The top four Fully Managed retailers activated (total

commissions paid out in 2014):

1. Half ($251,031)

2. Alibris ($65,023)

3. Textbooks.com ($42,939)

4. AbeBooks ($40,963)


SPRING 2014


The top three Self-Service retailers activated are:

1. Amazon

2. SKYO

3. Redshelf


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SELF-SERVICE RETAILERS

Commissions will be managed by the individual retailers

‣ Store will have sign up with each retailer

‣ Commissions are solely based on store sales

‣ Checks are sent based on the retailers schedule


SPRING 2014


PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER…

‣ The choice is yours! Choose the retailers that you feel are

the best fit for your store and for who you think the

students are also shopping with.

‣ Choose as many or as few as you would like. There is no

magic number

‣ Retailers can be displayed even if you are not able to

collect commissions from them


SPRING 2014


PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

Here are some tips for choosing your retailers

‣ Choose retailers that are well known

‣ Add retailers that will expand on the offerings of the

store, such as digital or rental

‣ Fill in choices with retailers that you would get a

high commission from



Understanding Checkout Results

PART I I I


SPRING 2014


ANALYZING THE CHECKOUT DATA SCREEN


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Shows data for the bookstore, as well as any activated retailers including both

self-service and any fully managed affiliates.


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Broken down for each day to allow for easy evaluation of sites busiest days

during rush.


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Results screen has built in search function to look at periods of time or specific

dates in the past.


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Totals for the bookstore and each affiliate will show in shaded yellow along the

top of the screen.


SPRING 2014


NOTE: This data consists of what was in the cart at the

point when the student clicked on checkout. It does not

account for when the sale was not completed.



SPRING 2014


UNDERSTANDING THE AFFILIATE EARNINGS SCREEN

Totals for affiliates that we receive data from will show in shaded yellow along

the top of the screen. This data comes direct from the retailer and is based on

your stores sales.


SPRING 2014


UNDERSTANDING THE AFFILIATE EARNINGS SCREEN

Earnings screen also has built in search function to look at periods of

time or specific dates in the past.


SPRING 2014


LOOKING AT THE CHECKOUT DATA REPORTS

Item Data Report:

‣ This repot breaks down where each item was

checked out from and what the prices were. This is a

great report to see what items you won and lost on.


SPRING 2014


LOOKING AT THE CHECKOUT DATA REPORTS

Retailer Data Report:

‣ Export of the data as seen on the checkout results screen.

Will show the items and dollar value, by day for each active

affiliate.


SPRING 2014


ITEM AND DOLLAR WIN RATE

The Item and Dollar Win Rates take a look at the total number of items

or dollars checked out by students from Compare and then divides out

how much remained in to the store as compared to other retailers.


SPRING 2014


ITEM AND DOLLAR WIN RATE PERCENTAGE

High win rate percentages are a reflection of the stores

competitiveness. When the stores prices are in line with other

online retailers students will tend to chose the store more often.



Customizing your Compare: Did you know that you

could do this…

PART IV


SPRING 2014


COMPARISON SHOPPING IS UNAVAILABLE AT THIS TIME


SPRING 2014


PERSONALIZE THE PAGE FOR YOUR STORE


SPRING 2014


PERSONALIZE THE MESSAGE TO YOUR STUDENTS


SPRING 2014


LET THEM KNOW ABOUT PICKUP OPTIONS, START OF SALES OR YOUR RETURN POLICY!


SPRING 2014


DID YOU KNOW THAT YOUR MESSAGE CAN ALSO APPEAR BEFORE THE COURSE SELECTOR? IT CAN ALSO INCLUDE A VIDEO!


SPRING 2014


SELECT YOUR CHOSEN RETAILERS!

Toggle the retailer on


SPRING 2014


CHANGE THEIR DISPLAY NAME!

Click on the name to

change it

Label them by what a

student wil l understand


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SET PREFERRED RETAILERS APART USING “FROM THE WAREHOUSE”

Check the box

under the retailer

Customize the display

on shopping page


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SET PREFERRED RETAILERS APART USING “FROM THE WAREHOUSE”


SPRING 2014


CHANGE THE SORT ORDER OF THE PRINTABLE BOOKLIST: SECTION (DEFAULT)


SPRING 2014


CHANGE THE SORT ORDER OF THE PRINTABLE BOOKLIST: AUTHOR


SPRING 2014


ADD A CUSTOM DISCLAIMER TO THE PRINTABLE

Fil l in a message to

display to students

on their booklist.

Students wil l see

printed message on

their booklist


SPRING 2014


CUSTOMIZE YOUR MESSAGE WHEN NO BOOK INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE FOR THE COURSE!


SPRING 2014


CUSTOMIZE YOUR MESSAGE WHEN NO BOOKS ARE REQUIRED FOR THE COURSE!


SPRING 2014


SECTION NOTES AND ITEM LEVEL NOTES CAN BE VISIBLE TO YOUR STUDENTS

Section Level Notes Item Level Notes


SPRING 2014


COMPARE GENERAL SETTINGS


SPRING 2014


CUSTOMIZE THE COMMENTS FIELD ON THE SHOPPING PAGE…BY VARIANT!


SPRING 2014


CUSTOMIZE THE COMMENTS FIELD ON THE SHOPPING PAGE…BY VARIANT!

‣ Ebooks

‣ In store rentals

‣ Kiosk rental items

Other variants that can be customized


SPRING 2014


CUSTOMIZE THE MESSAGE THAT APPEARS WHEN ITEMS ARE OUT OF STOCK

You can have one message for all variants

Or you can have a unique message for

each of the following variants.

‣ New

‣ Used

‣ Rental

‣ Ebook


SPRING 2014


SET INVENTORY THRESHOLDS FOR OUT OF STOCK ITEMS

When an item gets below 3 it wil l show as out of stock

When an item gets below 3 it wil l no longer have

the add to cart option


SPRING 2014


MORE ITEM LEVEL DISPLAY DECISIONS CAN BE MADE!

‣ Out of stock inventory can be set to not show up on the

comparison shopping page.

‣ Set up your Compare site to never show any items that

have a zero dollar price in your back office system.

‣ If you would like them to display, you can also set up

Compare to not allow them to be purchased.


SPRING 2014


WHAT ELSE CAN WE DO FOR YOU?

‣ If you have an official rental program that you want to

show up as an “From the bookstore” option we can

make that happen!


SPRING 2014



‣ Single variant (new) can show as “Rental” instead of

“New Rental.”


SPRING 2014



‣ Set up Compare to show rental availability based on

your new on hand values if you do not serialize your

rentals or set a max rental quantity.



Compare On The Horizon

PART V


SPRING 2014


EXCITING CHANGES ARE COMING

‣ We have redesigned the Compare site so that it is fully responsive

when students are shopping on their mobile devices!

‣ Site will automatically resize to the width of the screen

‣ No longer a need for a separate mobile site for your

comparison shopping page

‣ All book information that is available on the full site will now

be viewable on mobile devices as well. This includes author!


SPRING 2014


BE THE FIRST!

‣ Stop by Verba Lab to see more and sign up to be one of

the first to switch to Compare V3 when it is released.

- The rollout will be done in phases and VBC attendees

are getting the inside edge on making the switch!



QUESTIONS?

JJ Jaffe

[email protected]


mailto:[email protected]


VBC 2015VBC 2015

XX%Percent of students who

currently shop online

for their textbooks


SPRING 2014



Looking at this mathematically the item win rate is calculated as:

(Items checked out from the bookstore) ÷

(total items checked out from all retailers + bookstore items)


SPRING 2014



Looking at this mathematically the dollar win rate is calculated as:

($ Value checked out from the bookstore) ÷

(total $ checked out from all retailers + bookstore $)



VBC

When students are able

to compare bookstore

prices with online

retailers the bookstore

wil l win 71% of the

dollar value of the

students purchase

VBC 2015

71%


vbc 2015 understanding & customizing compare presentation

Software

managed retailers commissions

online retailers

individual retailers

retailer commissions

retailers schedule

average commissions

total commissions

actual commissions