We have witnessed Amazon transform retail as we once knew it when it began selling books through its e-commerce model in 1994. Therefore, it may seem a natural fit for this giant to open its first physical store in a venue that predominately sells books: the Campus Bookstore – a concept similar to what we have increasingly seen this year as pure plays move into brick and mortar (check out our recent blog Why is Google Opening a Store Now? Google’s First Store in London, U.K. for a complete analysis).

The Amazon@Purdue Concept

What? A store with no inventory? That’s just part of this store’s value proposition. Let’s remember, the student of today has grown up digital and e-commerce is a given to meet their shopping needs.

When students visit the Amazon@Purdue store, they will not find the endless rows of textbooks. Rather, they are able to order their books using kiosks with the support of on-site staff, with the promise of one-day shipping. The store is also a convenient pick up site with the ease of the Amazon locker system. When the product arrives, a notification email or text with a barcode is sent to the student. They simply visit the store, scan the barcode and pick up the order at one of the self-service lockers or go to the pickup desk where a store staff member can provide assistance.

Photo courtesy of Purdue University

With no need for inventory and streamlined operations, the store footprint is dramatically reduced from the typical 10,000 sq. ft. campus model. This is an added bonus for campuses short on physical space.

Amazon.com has slowly been gaining market share in the campus bookstore arena as a source for textbooks and other resource material. Similarly, Amazon’s affiliate program has become a major source of revenue for many College stores. This program has also proven to be a logical partner, extending Amazon.com’s vast product offering of convenience and other products not typically available on campus.

The Affiliate Program

An affiliate program is an arrangement in which an online merchant site, such as Amazon.com, pays affiliate websites a commission to send them traffic. Amazon Associates was one of the first online affiliate programs. The Amazon program helps website owners (such as campus stores) make money by featuring thousands of products from Amazon.com not carried in the store’s physical location. When website owners (who are Associates) create links and their web customers click through those links and buy products from Amazon.com, they earn referral fees of up to 10%.

The affiliate helps make the sale, but Amazon.com does everything else – take the order, collect the money and ship to the customer. This is a great proposition for campus stores, as they don’t have to have the inventory or staff to realize added revenue while providing customers with thousands of products.

“If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em”

Campus store operators are recognizing that customers were choosing Amazon to fill their needs where the campus store fell short. Rather than try to compete, or worse, back away from the business, together with the affiliate program the experience seems to be fulfilling the needs of all stakeholders.

Written by: Lisa Hutcheson, Senior Advisor, Non-traditional and Campus Retail at J.C. Williams Group

Sources:
Amazon.com
How Affiliate Programs Work, Tom Harris, howstuffworks.com
Photo: Purdue University

Real Estate & Community Master Planning

Your vision for a thriving business is integral to any economic infrastructure; your customers are at the centre of all planning and decisions. Creating a clear and concise roadmap that factors every facet of the customers’ experience is crucial for success. Your plan must consider vendors, tenants, landlords, developers, government agencies, and other facilities that your retail space will benefit or affect. Your collaboration with the JCWG team will ensure a detailed master plan that includes clear objectives supported by extensive research that considers every component of your business community.

Resources and Techniques:

Retail demand calculations
Trade area analysis
Market gaps and opportunities
Zoning and space requirements
Retail supply audits
Trade area psychographics and demographics
Pedestrian and traffic counts

Expert Witness & Advisory Services

There are many moving parts in a customer-centric business, and you may encounter legal setbacks and disputes at any stage of your business journey. Your collaboration with the JCWG team will provide you with expert reports and testimony in trials and hearings while advising legal counsel to ensure that you have the necessary resources required to manage and support litigation impacting every aspect of your case.

Resources and Techniques:

Discovery
Expert report preparation
Trial testimony
Business strategy review
Determination of damages

Concept Development & Space Planning

Concept Development services include background research, branding, right-sizing, capital budgeting all the way to detail design. JCWG can work from an idea or join a design process to enlighten, validate and support implementation. A vacant property can also be best filled from a concept development exercise.

It may be your idea, our research results, or both. Once a potential retail concept is identified is needs to be developed and validated. The JCWG team has the capacity to develop the concept characteristics from aesthetic & functional planning, design standards, location requirements, capital requirement and validation through demand, trade area and benchmarking analysis.

Resources and Techniques:

Functional planning and programming
Concept design and development of design standards
Detailed design services including base building requirements
Marketing plan and strategy execution
Management and staffing selection
Tenant mix and product curation
Short term and long term KPI definition and monitoring
Operational audits
Expertise sourcing and partnering
Site selection, design development and project enduring, operations human resources, start up inventories, and capital costing
Physical programming and concept design

Branding & Marketing

Winning brand equity must happen on so many platforms in today’s retail world with a consistent message and quantifiable return. JCWG understands comprehensive internal and external brand messaging that identifies the uniqueness and market advantage of a retail busines. Your collaboration with the JCWG team will strengthen your marketing strategy to build stronger connections with your audience through your brand.

Resources and Techniques:

Brand assessments
Unique selling proposition, noble purpose, and differentiation authentication
Brand and marketing implementation
Communications plans
Insightful transition to row market share from research
Customer feedback and product evaluation

Research & Insights

The amount of data available to customer-centric businesses can be overwhelming. Understanding the metrics’ influence on strategy is imperative to success. An experienced eye can save a lot of time and misguided investment to provide relevant and actionable insights.

The JCWG project team collaborative approach provides access to unparalleled experience to mine and capitalize on.

Resources and Techniques:

Custom market studies and benchmarking
Market sounding and listening
Case studies
Global resources through our International partners, The Ebeltoft Group
Demand assessment and market share analysis
Daytime population data, tracking, and analyzing where consumers are and when
Quantitative consumer data gathering, both published and unpublished, from various external sources and our personal database gathered from industry projects
Qualitative data gathering and insights
Interviews (consumer and executive), focus groups, online surveys, and social listening
Employee and customer motivational metrics
Research validation and interpretation to insights

Retail Strategy

JCWG supports retail-related businesses with a proprietary approach that is based on a strategic model developed through nearly 50 years of experience guiding clients. Retail strategy must translate vision into a plan which addresses the client’s resources to implement. JCWG focuses on delivering strategies with vision and is supported by a ‘nuts and bolts’ approach to operationalizing. JCWG applies strategic thinking processes and market research to develop or revitalize your strategy.

Resources and Techniques:

Definition and prioritization of client goals, needs and wants
Thought starter and results oriented workshops to enhance planning team input and integration of JCWG research and expertise
Current situation snapshot, trade area analysis, market gap, and competitive audits (physical and digital)
Tenant and product curation, clustering, and right sizing
Tailored processes to match client cultural, operational, and financial needs
Productivity metrics and comparisons
Active, fun, and energized learning, sharing, and strategizing experiences
Financial modelling incorporating research findings
Risk analysis and mitigation
Threat and opportunity analysis
Omnichannel platform harmonization
Stakeholder and financing approval support

Amazon.com Opens Its First Physical Store!

The Amazon@Purdue Concept

The Affiliate Program

“If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em”

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