Starting this year, Associated Students UCLA has added a new
twist to its traditional welcome-back coupon booklet.
Special offerings and additional discounts are available to
students who sign up for ASUCLA’s “Benefits U”
campaign, a discount program aimed at attracting more students to
ASUCLA-run stores on campus.
In recent years, ASUCLA has taken a number of steps to increase
sales, including introducing popular chain stores like Jamba Juice
and Taco Bell onto campus.
These stores routinely produce much higher sales figures than
their independent counterparts.
This year, the ASUCLA board of directors also voted to cut
textbook prices by about a quarter of a million dollars total,
ASUCLA Executive Director Bob Williams said.
ASUCLA opened this school year with a new promotional campaign
in the form of Benefits U.1
Students sign up for free to receive monthly coupons and
discount opportunities via e-mail. They will also be notified early
of store sales and job fairs.
Williams said so far about 7,000 students have signed up for
Benefits U.
“It is a program that gives (students) additional benefits
just by being a student and signing up for the program,” he
said. “We also hope it highlights our commitment to providing
benefits for students.”
But Williams added that Benefits U is intended more to reward
students for continuing to shop at ASUCLA enterprises than to
jumpstart finances.
La Donna Lewis, a third-year political science student, said she
has already signed up for Benefits U and expects to use available
discounts.
“It’s just more incentive for me to go (to the UCLA
store),” she said, adding that she already shops at the store
for BearWear and school supplies.
But Lewis said she still expects to do a fair amount of her
shopping off campus, even though she will have access to discounts
at on-campus stores.
“I go to Westwood for all the stuff I need, like
groceries,” Lewis said, adding that off-campus stores are
often cheaper and more convenient.
Williams said ASUCLA recognizes the draw of Westwood businesses,
adding that even with promotional programs at campus stores there
is still nothing to stop students from doing their shopping off
campus.
“We have to do a great job, have the right products, have
great service (to attract students to ASUCLA stores),” he
said.
ASUCLA plans to implement more programs like Benefits U in the
future, he added.
“(Students) can expect to see Benefits U expand to offer
additional promotions in the future,” he said.
“We are working on ways to allow students to gain points
within the program that will lead to substantial discounts on
things like textbooks and food.”
Christina Grundmann, a second-year chemical engineering student,
said although she does intend to sign up for Benefits U, having
access to discount programs probably would not significantly change
her shopping habits.
“I probably would have gone (to the UCLA store)
anyway,” she said.
1CORRECTION: This paragraph was edited after
learning that ASUCLA did not lose $370,000 last year. It should
have said ASUCLA had a $1,044,000 surplus.