Barnes & Noble is looking to make it easier for students to “like” their class reading.
Using a new social-commerce platform, the more than 500 Barnes & Noble college bookstores across the country will be able to sell books and other merchandise through their Facebook pages, and allow students to “like” books and other merchandise available at the bookstore.
“We’re going to the platform that students like the most,” says Karen G. DiScala, a Barnes & Noble College spokeswoman. The company says it hopes that allowing students to “like” products on Facebook will increase “word of mouth” sales of bookstore products.
Shane Hinckley, the assistant vice president of business development at Texas A&M University, says the new Facebook sales platform will give the Texas A&M bookstore an advantage over competitors near campus.
More than 250,000 people “like” Texas A&M’s Facebook page, and Mr. Hinckley says the new social-commerce platform could make it easier to connect those users with the college bookstore, which is a key retailer for campus apparel, in addition to books.
When its women’s basketball team recently won the NCAA championship, for example, he says the university’s Facebook page could have been linked to championship apparel available through the bookstore’s Facebook page.
As textbook sales at college bookstores continue to decline because of competition from online outlets, Mr. Hinckley says it’s important that college bookstores use social media and other new technologies to remain relevant to the campus community.
“You either have to engage or you have to get out,” he says.
