A recent article discussing internet book sales to college students implies that there is significant room for growth within this niche. Based on most available statistics, less than 1/5 of students purchase their textbooks online. The real key for online booksellers is tapping into the freshman/sophmore classes who may be less aware of textbook options. It could be highly beneficial for some interest group, like IOBA, to run a marketing campaign this August to reach this market.

Well we’ve finally found it… A multiple ISBN look-up for the new/used bookseller. SkuFlow, owner of MyRemainders (link exchange partner), announced the unveiling of a multiple ISBN look-up website called PocketWatch. At first, the search supported one ISBN, but after the suggestion of one if its sellers (fellow remainder junkie Lucas Ames of LRABooks, another link exchange partner) the service was quickly adapted to allow for up to 10 ISBN’s at one time. This service not only works on your home computer, but is also compatible with your PDA and cell phone. Since it scans Amazon only, it is extremely fast and highly efficient (although it does miss out on market prices at Half.com). Nevertheless, it is the perfect alternative as an Amazon scan will still pick out most Abe and Alibris books as well. We’re just getting familiar with Skuflow’s services, but thus far are impressed with what we’ve seen, more to come.

We’ve all had fun Googling our friends, family, and yes….. even ourselves. Trendwatching newsletter published an article exploring the benefits of “counter-googling.” This phenomena seeks to push businesses one step ahead of customers who google your business to learn more about you. This is an interesting marketing technique, if seemingly common-sensical.