Nebraska Book Company and Verba Software have partnered to bring real-time integration to the NBC community. The first installment of this partnership is called "Verba Compare". Verba compare is designed to allow students the ability to compare other retailer prices against your prices for items on your website, without leaving your website. The advantages to this include:
Students can stay on your site while comparison shopping, prompting them to purchase the items from your store, if your prices are competitive.
Students can sometimes forget about how valuable buying from the campus bookstore can be: easy returns, same-day pickup, and guaranteed accuracy. Verba helps you remind students of these convenience advantages, and makes sure they compare offers on more than just price.
Some students are going to buy from your online competitors, despite the advantages your store offers. When those students make their purchases through the Verba tool on your site, you receive up to 8.5% of those sales.
Integration through Verba allows your students to see that your prices are competitive, particularly if you are renting titles.
You need to know how effectively your store is competing to win in the online world. Verba's price comparison tool gives you a state-of-the-art analytics interface with near real-time data on student purchasing patterns and price points.
When students access your Verba Compare site, they see something similar to the following:
Students then choose the Term Name, Department, Course, Section, and Titles they wish to compare.
When they click to compare, you can choose to have a disclaimer / warning page display. This allows you to remind students of the benefits of ordering through your site, such as reminding them of return policies, same day pickup, and friendly customer service.
When the student chooses to "Begin Price Comparison", the student sees something similar to the following screen. This screen shows the title in the top left, along with the store prices to the right. Beneath store prices is a listing of alternate prices from other vendors.
The student can then choose to add either your book, or the competitor's book to their cart. In both cases, the items appear in their shopping cart with your site, thereby allowing them to complete the transaction, or continue shopping, without having to leave your website. In addition, when those students make their purchases with competitors through the Verba tool on your site, you receive up to 8.5% of those sales.
For more information on implementing Verba Compare on your site, please contact Verba at (415) 738-2374.