Case Study: University Book Store achieves unified omnichannel retail, improved cash flow and quadrupled digital revenue with Oracle NetSuite

University Book Store Revamps Customer Experience to Fend Off Growing Competition

University Book Store, an independent University of Washington bookstore founded in 1900 with five Seattle-area locations and a flagship store in the U District, sells course materials, trade books, apparel and more to students and the local community. Its primary challenge was keeping up with constantly changing student customers and rising expectations for fast, seamless, low-cost shopping while fending off competition from Amazon and publishers selling direct.

To modernize operations it replaced a 35-year-old system with NetSuite (ERP, SuiteCommerce Advanced and Point of Sale), unifying ecommerce, POS and inventory/order management. The change delivered cross-channel visibility and stronger reporting, improved cash flow, reduced shipping and inventory costs, and helped quadruple revenue from digital products, positioning the store to continue expanding its ecommerce and digital offerings.

University Book Store

Erin Olinick

Chief Information Officer