Endicia

Nebraska Book Company

The Complete Connection for Bookstores and Students Alike

Nebraska Book Company logo Nebraska Book Company is a leader in the college bookstore industry, operating over 260 college bookstores across the country. To manage the fulfillment of hundreds of thousands of orders each year, they rely on Endicia and the U.S. Postal Service®.

Background.   Nebraska Book Company (NBC) began in 1915 with a single bookstore near the University of Nebraska campus. Following World War II, when the supply of new textbooks could not meet the demand created by returning ex-GI students, NBC began buying books back from students at the end of the term and reselling them as used, thus becoming an integral part of the earliest years of the used textbook division.

man in middle of stacks of textbooks

With the purchase of The College Book Company of California in 1964, NBC increased its national distribution of used textbooks. As used textbook distribution grew, NBC also began to expand its college bookstore chain, and the company currently operates over 260 bookstores across the country.

Textbooks are the primary seller for NBC, though they also sell university related merchandise, such as clothing and gifts. Since 1990, NBC has added complementary services for college bookstores, including buying services, turnkey e-commerce, store design and planning, college bookstore management systems, marketing services, and distance learning distribution. In addition, to provide options and support for online competition, Nebraska Book Company provides effective e-commerce solutions tailored specifically to individual bookstores; yet separate from their brick and mortar store strategy. NBC’s CampusHub® offers the industry’s leading e-commerce solution for college bookstores, WebPRISM®.

NBC processes hundreds of book orders placed each day on the Internet through a large network of bookstores. This number increases to thousands per day during peak textbook season. Textbooks are shipped almost exclusively via the U.S. Postal Service (USPS).

Endicia’s Role.  In searching for an Internet Postage solution, Nebraska Book Company researched the success of Endicia against other companies. They found that, in addition to great features and integration ability, the Endicia Enterprise™ offering was the superior choice. NBC uses the Endicia Enterprise solution to generate reports and maintain accountability for all individual bookstores with a centralized online management tool. The Endicia service level employed at an individual store depends on the volume at that location, and can range from Endicia Standard service to Endicia Premium service.

Nebraska Book Company has a unique business model of online selling through multi-site fulfillment. Customers place orders online for NBC products, with fulfillment occurring through nearly 150 different college bookstores. Endicia is the preferred shipping software and partner at all participating stores. Endicia software is integrated into NBC’s online order fulfillment systems to specifically meet the needs of participating Nebraska Book Company bookstores.

NBC's partnership with Endicia has made order fulfillment a seamless process. Address information is passed to Endicia, which automatically prepares a label with the verified address, postage and Delivery Confirmation™ barcode. Each label is printed on a thermal printer and then, taking advantage of free Carrier Pickup, packages are collected by a postal carrier right at the store.

Said Adam Choate, Systems Coordinator for Nebraska Book Company:
"The user interface is simple and accurate, requiring very little training, and allowing us to easily process postage for hundreds of thousands of shipments per year. Endicia offers compatibility with our other systems, great customer service, and a willingness to meet the changing needs of Nebraska Book Company."

Nebraska Book Company stores use all service and mail class options offered by the USPS, depending on the needs of the store. Many of NBC’s packages are sent via Priority Mail®, allowing the company to save money with free Delivery Confirmation. The company also sees the discounted parcel insurance as a big advantage.

student working hard

Perhaps the most significant savings NBC achieves by using Endicia is that of time and productivity. The quick processing provides smooth flow when volume is significant and prevents NBC from experiencing any downtime. Adam estimates that Endicia saves the company thousands in labor hours per year. It offers the benefit of one click shipment processing, opposed to continually entering complete mailing information.

The Future.   As the popularity of online shopping for textbooks increases with students, Nebraska Book Company’s business will undoubtedly continue to grow. With Endicia’s help, books will still ship out quickly no matter the volume, keeping customers happy and coming back for more.

To learn more about Nebraska Book Company, visit www.nebook.com.