Search

ARCHIVES
CONTACT US
WORLD NEWS

Online bookstores target college students

Randy Metcalf Arizona Daily Wildcat Finance senior Cory Lovell (left) and family studies senior John Gilman (middle) buy books from business management and German junior Kevin Walker at the UA Associated Students Bookstore yesterday. The bookstore now competes with online textbook vendors.

UA undeclared freshman Evangeline Ford said she wonders if she could have an algebra book by now if she had ordered her textbooks a month ago through an online bookstore.

She bought her books at the UA Associated Students Bookstore and could not find a copy of it.

The overwhelming trend of Internet shopping at Web sites such as Amazon.com has caught on to universities, but some UA students remain skeptical.

The popularity of ordering textbooks online among college students is creating a booming business, said Dick Hackenberg, a BIGWORDS.Com spokesman.

BIGWORDS.Com was established about a year ago and now sells textbooks to students at 2,500 college campuses.

The Internet-based bookstore lists the UA as one of its top sources of business. Student purchases from the university ranked among their top 10 schools for book sales.

Hackenberg said purchasing textbooks at BIGWORDS.Com is more convenient than at local bookstores, because the company offers free delivery with a purchase of $35 or more and an inventory of about 2 million books .

Despite the recent trend, Cindy Hawk, the ASUA Bookstore's book division assistant director, said her business hasn't suffered from students purchasing their textbooks from online companies.

"I think students like the online capability, but they still seem to be shopping with us," Hawk said.

Hawk said the bookstore has remained competitive by allowing students to reserve textbooks through their own Web site. The bookstore created the option in response to the Internet's growing popularity, and to reduce crowds.

Engineering freshman Thilina Wijeweera said he won't order anything from the Internet after he experienced a year-long hassle of trying to return a computer he bought online.

"Some things are just easier the old-fashioned way," said Wijeweera, who bought his books this semester at the ASUA bookstore and the Arizona Book Store, 815 N. Park Ave.

Gale Elliott, Arizona Book Store manager, said he is concerned about the trend of students buying books online.

But Elliott said his store offers more than what an online bookstore can.

"We're local and we certainly try to support the activities of students through donations, and I don't think you would see that type of thing from online companies that are out-of-state," he said.

Elliott also said that the cost of waiting for delivery, shipping text books and re-shipping the books to return them should be figured into the price of buying from an online company.

Elliott said the Arizona Bookstore is preparing for the growing Internet trend by conducting informal surveys to determine how students feel about the store, its competitors and online companies. An Internet Web site to order books should be available next semester, he said.