The UWM Bookstore is looking to soon stop selling books in-store and transform into an online retailer. This transition would be expected to finish between October and December of this year.
The change is taking place in hopes to better compete with online retailers such as Amazon and Chegg, which have taken a large percentage of many college bookstores profits over the years. UWM is no exception to this trend.
The logic behind this move is to minimize the losses the bookstore takes on unsold books every semester.
“UWM looking to minimize risk,” said Erik Hemming, Director of the UWM Bookstore.
Instead of having all of the books available in the basement of the bookstore, as they are currently, the new plan calls for a kiosk that you would order your books at. These books would then be delivered to your home, like ordering from an online retailer.
An option for delivering the books to the store for pick-up, in case a student does not want the books sent their home, is an option they are hoping for but not certain of.
“While the goal of the process is to secure the best possible service, it is impossible to say at this point what service will be offered, or how it will be offered,” said Hemming.
The bookstore is searching for a vendor to take on this project. There are multiple candidates and the candidate who is picked, along with the terms, will determine when this transition is completed.
The bookstore hopes to cut the cost of their books with this new setup, but they cannot guarantee that this will be the case. This detail will also depend on which vendor the bookstore chooses, and the terms of that deal.