Tuesday, April 14, 1998
Profits from pager, phone sales counter computer store
losses
ASUCLA: Renting space to an outside operator
lowers association’s risks
By Michael Weiner
Daily Bruin Contributor
ASUCLA’s new cellular phone and pager venue in the UCLA Store
has been profitable during its first several months in
business.
According to ASUCLA Executive Director Patricia Eastman, the
students’ association wanted to expand into a growing market by
adding a wireless venture.
"The reasoning behind it was really our effort to find goods and
services that would bring value to the community," Eastman
said.
"We felt this was a growing market niche, and one we weren’t
serving," she continued.
Instead of selling a cellular product line itself, which store
manager Carol Anne Smart said was too risky, ASUCLA leases space to
an outside operator to sell the products.
"It’s a way for us not to have the risk," Smart said.
As shown by the consistent lagging contribution of the Computer
Store, ASUCLA has not been successful in the electronics market.
The association hopes that renting out space to an outside operator
will eliminate the risks associated with the electronics
market.
Eastman said, however, that the cellular phone and pager
business is not like the computer business.
"The Computer Store is a very different product line than the
other kinds of electronic devices," Eastman said. "I don’t think
there’s a relationship between the two."
According to Smart, the cellular phone and pager business helps
reduce the effects of losses at the Computer Store.
"It generates income for us which helps offset the losses we are
experiencing in the Computer Store," Smart said.
The outside operator is called Campus Communications. The
company opened its operation in the store in September.
According to Robert Cortes, director of business development for
Campus Communications, the company approached ASUCLA two years
before it opened its operation at the UCLA Store, pitching a
wireless communications venue for addition to the store.
"They responded that they were interested in the prospect,"
Cortes said.
Cortes said that the reason Campus Communications was chosen was
because the company offers several different product lines
including L.A. Cellular, Airtouch and Pacific Bell.
"We were chosen because we offer more than one service," Cortes
said.
Smart said that one of the reasons ASUCLA cannot successfully
sell cellular products on its own is because the business is
service oriented and the UCLA Store does not have the resources to
follow up on customers after the sale has been made.
"The product is continually changing," Smart said. "It’s
primarily a service business, not a product business."
In addition to the money earned from leasing the space to Campus
Communications, ASUCLA earns a small commission on each sale,
according to Smart.
Campus Communications hopes to expand to other campuses in Los
Angeles. UCLA is the first campus where it has a business.
Cortes said that business has grown steadily since the cellular
phone and pager counter opened in September.