Relax & Enjoy The Show

The Company 

A leading education services provider that offers respected, innovative and affordable educational programs. This online University is comprised of 90,000 students and over 2,500 staff, ranking in the top 10% of online colleges. 

‍The Challenge

This online university hosts a centralized commencement event for their graduating classes. This in-person touch point is critical for connecting students with the brand. One element of the event is an on-site “Campus Store” giving students and families the opportunity to purchase University branded merchandise. This presented us the challenges of:

• Staff to appropriately support buyer traffic
• 12,000 attendees and 3,000 graduate students
• Setup and tear down of retail store front
• Point of Sale (POS) System
• Maximize sales and move inventory 

The Solution

We pride ourselves on listening and understanding our partners. Based on these challenges, our team implemented the following solutions:

• Four Avail team members who are familiar with the account flew out to staff the three day event 
• Owned the process of getting product to the event, setting up, and properly merchandising the store front
• Advised the University on how to set up their Square POS system and processed the transactions, discounts, and returns

Above and beyond this, we recognized an opportunity to further connect a captive audience. Through other University fulfillment programs, we built an online storefront for students and families to “Click-n-Ship” branded merchandise to their homes. This allowed the University to sell past what quantities they had at the event, and created a seamless experience for the customers. This also allowed people who were unable to attend to still celebrate and get connected to the Brand. 

The Results

The University was able to focus on the other important aspects of the event, while Avail managed the on-site retail store front. This resulted in saving resources for the University and putting more brands in hands.

‍