News

Patent-pending Software Provides Bookstores
a New Way to Grow Used Textbook Supply

Nebraska Book Company Launches NBC Marketplace PowerBuyer™

Lincoln, Nebraska
Monday, March 9, 2009

Nebraska Book Company, a national leader in the college bookstore industry, today unveiled its patent-pending process and software, NBC Marketplace PowerBuyer. The solution provides a powerful tool for college bookstores to evaluate and purchase text and/or trade books on the student-to-student marketplaces like Amazon and Half.com through a fully automated and extremely quick process.

Through NBC Marketplace PowerBuyer, bookstores simply identify a want list automatically via NBC WebPRISM integration or through an easy-to-use data import tool. The system then automatically compares the offer prices with the maximum and minimum prices set up in the bookstore's buy list, and then, it purchases the best available offer. Further, the system provides post-purchase management tools to assist the bookstore with tracking, reimbursement and order receiving.

NBC Marketplace PowerBuyer:

• Runs every offer through a patent-pending algorithm using a customized set of the bookstore's conditions - including blacklists, seller profiling and keyword/edition filters.
• Continues to quickly locate and evaluate offers across all supported channels until the bookstore's want list is fulfilled - evaluating offers at a rate of 3,600 evaluations per hour.
• Makes the purchase automatically with the payment method selected by the bookstore and requests that the purchase be shipped directly to the bookstore.
• Closes the loop with important post-purchase management functionality.

Barry S. Major, President and Chief Operating Officer, Nebraska Book Company, said: "The online marketplace has been a growing source for used textbooks, however, it's been inaccessible to bookstores. NBC Marketplace PowerBuyer changes that. It provides bookstores an automated, efficient way to build their used textbook inventory using the most popular student-to-student Internet marketplaces which will result in lower textbook prices for students."

About Nebraska Book Company
Nebraska Book Company began in 1915 with a single bookstore near the University of Nebraska campus but now serves more than 2.1 million students through its network of over 270 stores located across the country. Our Textbook Division serves more than 2,500 bookstores through the sale of almost seven million textbooks, and our Complementary Services Division has installed more than 1,200 technology platforms and e-commerce sites. Additional information about Nebraska Book Company can be found at the company's website: www.nebook.com.

Media Contact:
Sue Riedman
Vice President, Corporate Communications
Nebraska Book Company
402-421-0450
sriedman@nebook.com

Back

Home | History | Our Vision | News | Tour | Careers | Financial Information | Contact Us
College Bookstore Division | Textbook Division | Complementary Services Division | Contract Management Services

©2009 Nebraska Book Company | Privacy Policy | Site Map