Baker & Taylor's Majors Education Solutions Forms Strategic Alliance with National Association of College Stores

Monday, Mar 15, 2010

Baker & Taylor, Inc., the world's largest distributor of physical and digital books, today announced at CAMEX (College Market Expo) 2010 that its Majors Education Solutions unit has formed a strategic alliance with the National Association of College Stores to expand its presence in the academic marketplace. Majors and NACS will offer co-branded e-commerce and marketing solutions to higher education retailers. Majors and NACS will leverage their expertise and reach to better serve thousands of collegiate retailers navigating ever-increasing title choices and online competitors.

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"Collaborating with the National Association of College Stores is another great example of our commitment to forging best-in-class partnerships to serve the needs of our customers and their consumers," said Tom Morgan, Chairman and CEO of Baker & Taylor. "Majors and NACS are a powerful pair. They offer solutions for retailers looking to score big wins for innovation, customer service and sales."

As collegiate retailers face new challenges brought on by exploding inventory choices and increasingly aggressive digital competitors, Majors - a 100-year-old distributor of medical and health science textbooks - and NACS, which represents thousands of collegiate retailers, offer an extensive and unparalleled suite of services. These services are designed to enable retailers to provide their consumers the best of both the digital and print worlds. The unmatched business solutions span four key areas: e-commerce, marketing, category management and textbook forecasting.

"This alliance fits well with the findings and recommendations from our Project 2015 study aimed at defining the successful college store of 2015. Kudos to Kurt Schoen and his team at NACSCORP, our wholesale distribution subsidiary, for working with Baker & Taylor's Majors Education Solutions on this turnkey solution that will enable college stores to drive more online sales," said NACS CEO Brian E. Cartier, CAE. "In addition, this direct-to-consumer e-commerce solution will nicely compliment the existing direct-to-store book fulfillment and distribution services provided by our existing partners."

At the heart of the collaboration is one simple message: Retailers can - and should - count on Majors and NACS to do all the heavy lifting when it comes to marketing and merchandising.

"We will be adjunct marketing and merchandising departments for our customers," said John Wittman, Vice President and General Manager of Majors Education Solutions. "Whether they need medical reference books, business management titles or literature and art history, Majors and NACS take the guesswork out of inventory management."

About Baker & Taylor

Baker & Taylor, Inc. (www.baker-taylor.com) is a global information and entertainment services company that offers print and digital books and entertainment products along with value-added services to libraries, educational institutions and retailers. Based in Charlotte, N.C., the company has been in existence for more than 180 years, developing long-term relationships with major suppliers, including book publishers, movie studios and music labels. Baker & Taylor maintains one of the largest combined in-stock book, video and music inventories in the United States, and services the broadest customer base in the industry. Baker & Taylor is majority owned by Castle Harlan Partners IV, L.P., an institutional private equity fund managed by Castle Harlan Inc., a leading private equity firm.

About Majors Education Solutions

Majors Education Solutions (www.majors.com) is a leading distributor of books for retailers in the higher education marketplace. No matter the area of study - from medicine to law, business to the arts and teaching to engineering - Majors delivers the titles that customers need, in the right format and at the right price. Majors also provides industry-leading e-commerce platforms and solutions, along with local area marketing support, textbook forecasting and category management. In business since 1909 and based in Lewisville, Texas, Majors is a Baker & Taylor company.

About NACS

Headquartered in Oberlin, Ohio, the National Association of College Stores (NACS) is the professional trade association representing the collegiate retailing industry. NACS represents more than 3,100 collegiate retailers that serve America's college students while supporting the academic missions of higher education institutions everywhere. Additional information on NACS can be found at www.nacs.org.

Source : PRNewswire