A passing remark heard from a college store in preparing this issue is, after further consideration, a very telling comment on the shifting challenges of contemporary campus retail.

Campus retail's changing character comes as no surprise. E-commerce began 10 years ago to expand the range of competition beyond that within walking and driving distance of the campus, as well as introduced new ways of doing business. Alumni customer relationships are easier to maintain through virtual storefronts, digital textbooks and other electronic content supplement conventional sales, and social networking adds marketing possibilities.

Rather than worry anymore, stores almost accept as a manageable struggle the threat of online competition for textbooks and other merchandise, big-box stores or other off-campus rivals.

College stores, being on campus and identified with the institution, have some competitive advantage to leverage in their favor. Also, agile retailing helps to retain the upper hand.

Representing a greater challenge for college stores lately is the relationship with the institution. Institutionally owned and operated college stores are looked at differently than in the past, particularly when it comes to returning revenue.

In talking about learning how to identify the best metrics for merchandise to improve turnover and margin, to grow sales while lowering average inventory, Rita Phillips took a step back to look at her college store and commented: Gone are the days when college stores were considered nonprofit and asked to simply break even.

Phillips, assistant director of the Iowa State Bookstore, seems motivated and energized by circumstances forcing her to approach inventory management more scientifically than by intuition.

She is not alone. Being able to analyze data, set goals and see results makes it easier to see what is working and correct what is not before reaching the point of taking a big hit to the bottom line.

Unexpected in her remark and in similar comments from others, is the eagerness to sharpen business skills to improve revenue return for the institution instead of simply feeling disadvantaged by off-campus competition.

Making the job easier is the fact that point of sale/inventory management systems collect transaction data, crunch the numbers and produce reports. Stores can use this information to make judgments based on a clear understanding of inventory choices, how well the items sold and evaluate what next step to take.

Change can be hard to identify when it is in a nascent stage, but momentum may be building behind college stores taking a more quantitative business approach and cooperating to maximize results.

Connect2One, for example, stresses that stores participate in its vendor programs to achieve the most benefit and savings from membership in the buying group. It annually recognizes members for participation.

The Independent College Bookstore Association annually evaluates members with a financial survey, recognizing those with the best performance in specific areas over five consecutive years. This year ICBA went a step further by creating benchmarks from financial data shared by participating members to identify trends.

The Collegiate Retail Alliance is organizing independent stores into a partnership in which members align business interests, come to common priorities and collaboratively deploy them. The alliance compares its model to a retail chain following a common set of business practices in the back office while maintaining individuality with an identity tied to each academic institution and campus.

As much as bookstores are more complicated, the challenges can be considered exciting and more rewarding. And, considered in that context, the remark encourages stores to become more business-like about sharpening financial performance.