The Trojans are red. The California sky is blue. And merchandise at the USC Bookstore is expensive. These are the simple facts of campus.
Consider a basic pack of ballpoint Bic pens found at the USC Village Target for $1.49. That same pack at the USC Bookstore costs $3.49— more than double the price. Or compare a five-pack of sticky notes at Target for $4.99, versus a five-pack at the bookstore for $11.99.
“The notebooks were the most expensive Five Star notebooks I’ve ever seen,” USC student Evan McLaine said, referring to a popular brand of college notebooks.
McLaine said during a recent trip to the bookstore, she brought a stack of four notebooks, pencils and a folder to the front counter, but returned them when she heard the roughly $75 total. She ultimately bought the items from Target.
Buyers for the bookstore, who are involved in pricing, did not respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.
The answer may have something to do with the convenience provided, said Anthony Dukes, a professor of marketing at USC’s Marshall School of Business.
Close to classes and deep in the heart of campus, the bookstore may be leveraging its ease of access to charge shoppers more. Dukes said another factor may be “market segregation” — different stores are aiming at different consumers.
The merchandise offered at the bookstore — such as the Nike-branded USC merchandise taking up half of the first floor, or the $170 cashmere USC sweater on the second floor — is simply different than the products offered at stores like Walmart or Target. The USC merchandise offered at those stores tends to be generic.
A USC baseball hat with the Nike logo at the bookstore costs $30, compared to the $18 charged for an almost identical looking USC hat at Target.
The prices are enough of a deterrent for some. USC student Ellory Longdon says she bought USC-brand merchandise from the school bookstore her freshmen year, but these days is more likely to buy it cheaper on Amazon.
There are other reasons, some students say, to buy from the bookstore. Buying merchandise directly from the official source is itself an “experience”, McLaine said.
The bookstore generated $30.1 million in revenue in the 2018-19 fiscal year, according to the school’s latest financial report. The number represents slightly more than half of one percent for the school’s total revenue.