FEBRUARY 12-14, 2019    |    HYATT REGENCY JACKSONVILLE

Ryan Petersen
Vice President, General Management
Verba | VitalSource

Ryan Petersen, Vice President, General Management, Verba | VitalSource, helped found Verba Software with his high school friend, Jared Pearlman, and their Harvard classmate, Mike Regalie.  Begun as a student government project to help Harvard students find the best values in course materials, Verba has grown into one of the leading innovators in the college store industry, serving over 300 college stores with price-transparent shopping interfaces, faculty course discovery tools, and sophisticated marketplace analytics.  Verba products are helping independent college stores stay relevant and competitive in an increasingly challenging environment.

Sessions

Thursday, February 14
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Knowledge is Power: Fresh Data-Driven Course Materials Insights From January Rush

Since their emergence on the college store scene in 2010, Verba has helped independent college stores stay current with the changing demands of the course materials business. With Verba and VitalSource now being one unified organization, the expansive data collected about what students are buying (or renting), where they are shopping, and how much they are paying, are invaluable for setting strategy and staying ahead of the competition.

Ryan Petersen and Jared Pearlman will premier their latest insights from the terabytes of data they collected from the January 2019 rush season, including (but not limited to):

  • Comparative trends in student purchasing behavior
  • Market share developments between new, used, rental, and digital
  • All-inclusive pricing vs. online and store alternatives
  • Student choice and store performance under all-inclusive models

With the pace of change in the course materials business, you’ll want to have the very latest snapshot of student behavior and course materials sales to chart your strategy and set your objectives.