The ABACUS-13 Survey process begins next week. This year’s survey gathers financial data from 2013 store operations.

ABA main store members will be receiving an e-mail from the National Association of College Stores’ (NACS) OnCampus Research at the beginning of next week with instructions for participating in ABACUS-13 and links to the secure, online ABACUS submission form.

The e-mail announcement to ABA members has the subject line “ABACUS-13 Survey Starts Today,” and the sender is Martha Love, OnCampus Research information analyst. The e-mail includes both the ABA member bookstore’s unique ABACUS-13 I.D. number for logging into the survey and a link to the survey. Recipients of the e-mail are requested to forward it to the appropriate colleague, if necessary, as soon as possible. The person responsible for completing the survey is also encouraged to actively look for the e-mail if it does not arrive in his or her inbox.

The ABACUS project is an annual, members-only survey that collects and analyzes key and actionable information that can help improve a bookstore’s operations and bottom line.

By submitting their store data for ABACUS-13 via a secure and confidential electronic form, stores will receive both the ABACUS executive summary and a customized report that analyzes their financial results, including comparisons with other stores based on multiple criteria (such as sales level, store size, and community type) in addition to year-to-year trending information. The customized report allows participating bookstores to focus on key drivers of profitability and benchmark their performance across a number of different criteria.

Each participating store’s data is only accessible to Love, the OnCampus Research staff person responsible for the survey.

The ABACUS 13 Survey deadline is July 31, 2014.

“ABACUS is a one-of-a-kind bookselling tool that booksellers have repeatedly told ABA has played a critical role in making important business decisions that have positively affected growth and profitability,” said ABA Senior Strategy Officer Dan Cullen. “We’re hopeful that even more bookstores will take the time to be part of this important project.”

Booksellers with questions about submitting data to the survey can contact Love at OnCampus Research via e-mail to [email protected] [5] or call (800) 622-7498, ext. 2448. Booksellers who have general questions about ABACUS can contact ABA’s Cullen via e-mail [6] or at (800) 637-0037, ext. 7560.