Mission Statement
The Davidson College Bookstore’s mission is to support the educational experience by providing all course materials and related resources necessary for students, faculty and staff in a financially responsible manner.  Additionally, the Bookstore provides a wide variety of high-quality college insignia merchandise for all interested college customers that promotes the college name and image beyond the confines of campus.

Core Values

1. We will give the best service possible to all store customers.
2. All customers will be treated fairly, and with courtesy and respect.
3. Prices for course materials will be set by national industry standards.
4. Honesty and integrity will be a part of all customer interactions.
5. Hours and support will be consistent with need, and will change as special college events occur.

Vision Statement

Within the next five years, the Davidson College Bookstore will provide course material information to Davidson students utilizing technology thereby providing access to this date 24/7.  Students will be able to search for course requirements and order these materials from the Bookstore at their convenience.  We will be the place where convenience and service merge to  provide the best customer experience.

Equally, the College Bookstore will be THE source for branded clothing and imprinted products of value and quality to spread the Davidson name to all those interested in Davidson.

Progress will be measured by periodic surveys, informal and formal, leading to goal adjustments to assure ever increasing customer satisfaction. 

Additionally, we will lead the effort to find ways to encourage the collaborative use of all college resources more efficiently and flexibly both within and between all college departments and divisions.

Strategic Goals

Develop and implement a marketing plan for the bookstore that does the following over the next five years:

• Focuses on alumni and friends of the college as source for new/additional sales (year one will involve establishing a baseline – to date we have not tracked alumni sales that occur in the store). 
• Utilizes the website to offer products and a “snapshot” of part of the college life resulting in increased on-line orders of at least 10% yearly. 
•  Utilizes advancing site technology which will allow us to reach specific target markets among alumni and friends, e.g. soccer players, English majors, parents.
• Restructure business toward additional marketing opportunities, such as general trade books, magazines, remainders, imprinted gifts, other College branded items as core business changes, both in price levels and units sold.
• Explores partnerships with alumni and athletics to support and expand our reach to all interested in Davidson College.
• Develops a store logo to better promote branding of all store signage.
• Creates an “everyday priced” or “value-added”  strategy to combat student perception of store high prices

Improve the delivery of textbooks to students and educate students to the favorable textbook procedures and pricing policies of the bookstore by:

• Educating college community about the textbook value our store provides (convenience, guarantee of edition, availability, ship back, etc) and other favorable store policies in comparison to national standards Improving faculty communications and adoption process to improve textbook performance including used book buyback and wholesale wantlisting
•  Sharing textbook information more personally with faculty through office visits and requests to attend faculty meetings
• Studying current procedures of adoption procurement including delivery and deadlines and make more “user friendly” to faculty

Better utilize the technology we currently own and acquire commonly used industry technology to improve labor efficiency, control costs, and improve delivery of products to our customers by: 

Exploring and utilizing report capability of both BookLog and CourseWorks to improve ordering and returns efficiency of both Textbooks and non-book departments through the use of statistics gathered by each system.

Gain improved efficiency of on-line ordering through an interface between Sequoia System (or new bookstore web solution) and the BookLog System for realtime inventory generation.

Lessening “wait time” for students and other customers during rush periods, both through redesign of register area, and possibly renting additional register stations.

Developing an adoption template for faculty to use on-line

Electronically relaying information to wholesale used–book companies as we search for these titles to increase used books we can offer for sale to students

Improve customer service and support by:

• Educating student, regular and temporary employees in specific customer-favored policies, i.e. greeting customers on arrival, offering assistance as needed, generally, extending attention to give one-on-one feeling to all customers.
• Placing  temporary and permanent employees at registers, and using students in departments for restocking, cleaning, and to serve as part of focus groups to assist in ordering more student-oriented merchandise
• Restructuring and rewriting work-study roles highlighting the business experience the position provides.  Give work-study students greater responsibility for departments, educate them on performance of specific items and the department as a whole, and involve them in the decision-making process for expanding or shrinking a department, choosing styles or lines, as well as marketing and promotion of the department.
• Determining budgetary viability of establishing a fellow position to focus on marketing, promotions, merchandising, and work-study performance.
• Training to improve employee interaction with customers over the phone
• Training all student and temporary employees at the beginning of Fall semester to assure  consistent excellent service for all customers
• Developing and implementing system of rewards for student employee achievement in the area of customer service
• Capturing customer feedback in a structured fashion that both assesses our improvement in customer service and identifies area that need further attention