Thread regarding Follett layoffs

Did we really just team up with Amazon

Is it just me or is this Follett's way of getting Amazon to gain interest in purchasing part of our company. The Warehouse possibly. By the way, the plan is for this company to get out of the brick and mortar business all together. The thinking is why pay commissions to a client for sales that we can get commission free. And since our old, corner the market and raise prices strategy has backfired in the past 5 years, we are looking for ways to pawn it off on the highest bidder, BKA Amazon. We all know Amazon needs more warehouses as they began opening up additional stores so it all makes since.

There's been a lot of questions about why all the acquisitions, which the answer is that Follett's goal is to become primarily an ecommerce business. Little overhead, no commissions to schools and a process that has automation. The smaller we get as a brick and mortar company, the bigger our eCommerce business gets.

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Post ID: @OP+GPzembx

9 replies (most recent on top)

Enough said? Education is blazing down a trial in new tech advancements, as it should, those who want to be in this arena will be there will be there because they believe in it. Not that one won't be able to making a living at it, but the days of businesses just considering it a profitable market, better find another market. The price of education needs to come down, way down, and the middle men only in it for profit need to leave in order to make that happen. Feel the 'Bern'.

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Post ID: @1wbx+GPzembx

I think that was his point. Amazon and others are already showing Follett. There is no recovery here. So Fred W started this process over 5 years ago and what do we have to show for it? Enough said!

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Post ID: @1lco+GPzembx

You must be an ex kmart or sears employee to think like that . Soon Amazon will show us all that there is money to be made in wholesale college books when you do it the smart way .

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Post ID: @1gnb+GPzembx

Your post is not accurate. Wholesale has never been the "biggest revenue stream for us". Always a small part of retail, albeit with a higher margin. Perhaps wholesales demise was due to Amazon, Chegg and all the other buyback options a student has now versus 5 years ago.

Wholesale text and retail will be sold together.

Your last sentence makes me laugh. Our hope is WOBO, SKYO and FVC (K-12). Collectively, those businesses are immaterial to our sales overall.

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Post ID: @1qbc+GPzembx

No one is selling the college business. Wholesale has been our bread and butter for most of our life. Its the biggest revenue stream for us.

We are investing more to get with the times and have an online presence to improve our b2c sales.

This has been a plan since the fred weber days and when the adc was designed. We just got stalled by some people that came in and tried to rebrand us. We are now back on pace for what was being set in motion 5 years ago.

It will be good for us in the long run when retail does finally die to have a strong online market share.

Lets just hope wobo, the next version of skyo, and our k-12 plans make it easy and appealing to our customers.

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Post ID: @1dst+GPzembx

Makes sense they are keeping k-12 since a post on this site indicated Follett is buying Baker and Taylor (B&T sales of close to 2 billion).

Amazon, Chegg and others are strong competitors in college text market, not so much in the K-12 (doesn't mean that they won't be).

Also makes sense that they are shopping around retail division and that is why senior leadership is silent on near term strategy. What kind of company starts the new fiscal year, without communicating direction.

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Post ID: @isl+GPzembx

says who?

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Post ID: @znl+GPzembx

Where's the substantiation? Wholesale is splitting off, by College book division to do we mean wholesale or College Stores as it was known at one point?

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Post ID: @yof+GPzembx

Follett is selling the college book division only , keeping the k - 12 division .

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Post ID: @niu+GPzembx

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