VarsityBooks.com Launches Marketing Blitz

VarsityBooks.com an online seller of discounted college textbooks, launched a multi-million dollar marketing campaign to expand its share of the $3 billion U.S. college textbook market.

The company also unveiled its new Web site, which features a search engine that lets college students find their books from their booklists by their individual schools, professors and courses.

A nationwide college promotional campaign executed with the help of a grassroots network of 300 campus representatives is the cornerstone of the VarsityBooks.com new marketing program. Extensive national and local print, broadcast and online advertising reinforces the effort. Spending specifics were not disclosed.

“Students are providing the momentum behind VarsityBooks.com. We have already sold to thousands of college students in every state,” said Eric Kuhn, CEO and founder of VarsityBooks.com. “We’ve designed a comprehensive marketing campaign to ensure that every student from coast to coast knows there is a more affordable and convenient way to buy books. I am confident that VarsityBooks.com will become one of the better known, better visited brands on the Web.”

The marketing push is timed to reach students and their professors as they return to school for the spring ’99 semester.

The new VarsityBooks.com Web site features two additional flat shipping rates, including 2nd day air and overnight delivery options, along with a method to track orders directly from the Web site. For the spring ’99 semester book- buying season, books for more than 45,000 individual courses from schools across the country are available at discounts up to 40 percent.