University Wire
11-14-2000
(Daily Bruin) (U-WIRE) LOS ANGELES -- Big problems caused Bigwords.com to go out of business last month, leaving some students looking for a new place to buy books.
The company, which sold textbooks online, did not specify a reason for its fall, but its Web site stated officials didn't think the financial community was ready to support their business.
"Bigwords.com succumbed Friday, Oct. 20 to the powers that be," read the Bigwords Web site.
Students used Bigwords to buy books, return used books, buy clothing and CDs for the lower prices it sometimes offered.
Overall, Bigwords.com earned $14 million in sales and had 800,000 visitors per month, according to the company's closing address.
The online company going out of business will not affect sales at the Associated Students of the University of California at Los Angeles textbook store, said Doug Hahn, textbook logistics manager at the store.
"Internet competition was negligible," Hahn said. "There was no difference in the textbook sales even when online competition came in."
This year alone, Internet sales for the UCLA textbook store more than doubled, he added.
"Students will not be affected by them going out of business because there are other Internet businesses out there, and it was only one source out of many," Hahn said.
One reason Bigwords.com went out of business may be because of recent trends in e-commerce, according to Robert Foster, professor of high technology at the Anderson School at UCLA.
"Just because you know how to write a Web site does not mean you know how to operate a business," said Foster, who is also director for the Center for Management in Information Economy.
Some students said they were disappointed that Bigwords.com went out of business.
"You find the book right away and there's no waiting in lines," said Alvin Lee a fourth-year computer science student. "It is a lot less hassle if you don't mind waiting the extra few days for shipping."
Others liked the buyback policy at Bigwords.com better than other competitors.
"They bought back used books for a better price than the UCLA store did," said Irene Chen, a third-year psychology student. "I will have to find another way to resell my books now."
But not all students will be affected by the company's fall.
"Even at a bargain price, the shipping costs and lack of reliability is enough for me to stick to the student store," said Bruce Woo, fourth-year computer science engineering student. "I've heard horror stories of my friends not getting their books on time, or not getting their books at all."
The UCLA textbook store will buy back textbooks that a student needs to return to Bigwords.
"We did not want our students to get hurt or ripped off," Hahn said.
Another reason the company may have fallen was because campus bookstores were still racking up sales like usual according to the U.S. News and World Report.
"The results for the Internet stores were disappointing if the goal is to offer students an attractive match of lower prices and convenient shopping," U.S. News reported in its Sept. 20, 1999 issue.
The end of Bigwords.com, according to Foster, illustrates some of the problems e-startups are facing now that they are becoming more mainstream.
"Amazon.com is the number one seller in e-commerce right now, but they tried to get into the toy business by themselves and did not do well," Foster said. "But when they combined with Toys 'R' Us who did the marketing and inventory for the toys, while Amazon did the shipping and distributing, they sold."
In addition, the increase in online competition also made things more difficult, Foster said.
"There are too many Web sites competing in the same markets, and not that many buyers of that one product," he said.
(C) 2000 Daily Bruin via U-WIRE
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