This number is increased from 14.4 million 20 years ago. According to Bank Rate, the College Board reported that in 2010-2011, students spent an average of $1,137 on textbook and supplies. This is not surprising because new college textbooks can run a student anywhere from $150 to $200. Knowing that textbooks can get expensive, we have created a business that will help students save money and time. Sites such as Amazon.com and Froogle.com have given us an opportunity to come up with our business idea. The benefits for student are to find textbooks that they can afford all in one place and if they so choose can sell back their books to sites like Amazon or list them for sale on their website. As a result, we believe that textbook trading has significant possibilities for college students.
According to the NACS 2010 Student Watch report, students ranked the ability to purchase used textbooks as the number one factor when considering what textbooks to buy. Because of student demand, used books accounted for $1.8 billion in college store sales during the 2008-09 academic years and made up 18% of U.S. college store total sales, according to NACS' 2010 Industry Financial Report. Used textbooks made up 35% of all textbooks sold. Many stores believe that given students' demand for used books, these percentages would be higher if more used books were available.
College students are under-represented because most information sources that marketers use aren't accurate. This is partly due to the many places that students can purchase new and used books from. However, it is a group that marketers should recognize as it can offer substantial opportunity to people who can penetrate into the market. Connecting with consumers during their college years can pay great dividends, both now and in the future.
Forecast.
The number of college students is increasing every year and as such it is expected to grow even more with many workers returning to school.
