2008 Woodie Awards
Bookstore to stock online shelves
Textbooks, other items to be sold on the Internet
Natalie Johnson, Opinions Editor
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The bookstore plans to offer textbooks and some Whitworth merchandise for online purchase beginning in January.
Bookstore manager Nancy Loomis said students will be able to purchase both new and used books online with a credit card. Students can either pick up their books at the bookstore or pay extra to have them shipped to an off-campus location, Loomis said.
"As I understand the process so far, when we receive an order it will be filled within 24-48 hours," Loomis said. "The time it takes to fill an order will depend upon the number of orders received on any particular day."
Students who are not interested in purchasing their books from the bookstore will still be able to go online and view what books are required for specific classes and the prices the bookstore is selling them for, Loomis said.
She said she is now in the process of testing the new Web site and running practice transactions to make sure everything is working correctly.
Students will receive an e-mail when the bookstore Web site, which will be linked through the Whitworth Web site, goes live, Loomis said.
She said she did not know the specifics of the Web site yet.
"We'll probably have some form of it for Jan Term and hopefully have it working for spring (semester)," Loomis said. "I'd like to have it set up by Jan Term so we can see how it works in a smaller term."
Loomis said an online bookstore is something students, parents and alumni have expressed interest in.
"So many people have requested it and it would be nice to have that available for folks," Loomis said.
Vice president for finance and administration Brian Benzel said he hopes that offering books for sale online will decrease crowding in the bookstore and make book buying simpler and more efficient for students.
"[One] struggle we have is that the bookstore is small and crowded," Benzel said. "We're looking at ways we can keep a high level of service for students and we want to keep the bookstore centrally located and accessible to students. The more versatile we can be with the bookstore the better."
Loomis said the selection of Whitworth apparel and merchandise available online will be small at first, but will grow as she gets more experience operating the site.
Benzel said the selection of apparel and merchandise that will be offered online will be mostly for the convenience of off-campus shoppers such as alumni and relatives of students, who will be able to purchase items and have them sent to their homes, Benzel said.
"People are doing more and more Internet shopping and with Whitworth-specific items, especially apparel or any logo-branded material. We can make that available to not only students, but parents, relatives and people in the community who are interested in Whitworth," Benzel said.
Benzel and Loomis said they hope offering merchandise online will increase bookstore sales.
"It's a miniature business inside the university," Benzel said. "We're hoping we can increase our volume [of sales] and that's a good thing for overall operations of the campus."
Loomis said students will still be able to reserve their fall semester books during the summer and have them ready for pick-up when they arrive on campus in the fall.
"We'll be offering that program in the same way that we have, where people can pre-pay," Loomis said. "We'll box up the books and have them waiting for them here, but it will be integrated within the online ordering."
Loomis said she will be in charge of maintaining the online bookstore.
"We may have to hire additional staff eventually to assist with the online sales but for now, our current employees will handle the orders, perhaps with some increased hours," Loomis said.
The system for buying back books at the end of the semester will remain the same, Loomis said. However, there will eventually be a feature added to the Web Site that will allow students to view which titles are being purchased each term.
Sophomore Craig Harris said he buys books at the bookstore as well as online, but he probably will not buy books at Whitworth's online store.
"If I'm going to pick it up from the bookstore anyway, I would probably just buy it there," Harris said.
Junior Caitlin McComas said she buys most of her books online because they are cheaper.
She said she probably will not buy books at the online bookstore, but she would use it to look up the books she needs in order to avoid e-mailing teachers or looking them up at the bookstore. She said she would also use it to buy books only available at Whitworth.
"It's frustrating to wait in long lines to get just one book," McComas said.
Freshman Jessica Mangis buys books in the bookstore and said she would probably buy them at the online bookstore.
"It sounds easier to access," Mangis said.
Loomis said she is aware that the bookstore will not be able to compete with the prices of large Web sites such as amazon.com.
However, Loomis said Whitworth's online bookstore has advantages that other sites cannot offer.
"[Students] can be assured that the book they get here is the book they need for class, they have full return privileges and it's right here waiting for them," Loomis said. "Also, they don't have to wait for it to be shipped."
Contact Natalie Johnson at natalie.johnson@whitworthian.com.
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