Shopping for products with MHC logo at Campus Store

Shopping for products with MHC logo at Campus Store

by Yixue, Munazza, and Maureen

“Thank you! Have a good day.” You say to the lovely lady at the cashier’s desk with a smile, before turning around and walking out of the Campus Store located at Blanchard Campus Center, with several shopping bags in your hand.

Wait a second, do all those sweatshirts, mugs, folders, and notebooks in your shopping bags have the Mount Holyoke logo on them?

Well, of course.  I know the Mount Holyoke logo is the main reason why you bought them and why you seem so delighted with your new purchases. As Mount Holyoke students, we all want our possessions to bear the Mount Holyoke logo. We love to wear our MoHo sweatshirts with pride and take our MoHo mugs down to M&Cs every night. The campus store at Blanchard may be rather highly priced, but we do not generally mind spending a bit more on items imprinted with the logo of Mount Holyoke, one of the leading educational institutions in the United States, one that we are all so proud to be part of. Not to mention these lovely items cannot be easily bought at any other places!

This uniqueness makes our Campus Store a monopoly in selling merchandise bearing the Mount Holyoke name. A firm becomes a monopoly when its products are unique in the market, with no close substitutes. Barriers to entry explain the existence of a monopoly. Ownership of an important resource, patent or government protection, and high cost of setting up a firm are three types of barriers to entry. So, what exactly makes our Campus Store a monopoly? The following words found on our school’s website will offer us more information.

“The Campus Store, located in Blanchard Campus Center, is operated by the Follett Corporation, a private company with bookstores on several College campuses in the East. The campus store carries a selection of paperback books, stationery supplies, and items of clothing, book bags, etc., many with the Mount Holyoke College insignia.” (link: http://www.mtholyoke.edu/hr/campus_store.html)

The Mount Holyoke College logo is the visual symbol of our college, which cannot be used by firms for commercial use without authorization. The logo serves as a patent in production and makes those products unique in the market.

A monopoly is demonstrated by a downward sloping demand curve, which means it can reduce output to raise prices. Demand behaviors of consumers will directly influence a monopolist’s behavior. But what if the demand curve is inelastic, just as the demand curves for products with Mount Holyoke logo at the Campus Store?

We all know how much we love those products with the MHC logo. Buying a sweatshirt with moho logo is one of the easiest ways to express our love for our college. Visitors on college tours would love to take home some postcards with amazing depictions of our scenic campus. Prospective students can hardly resist buying those adorable stuffed animals saying “Somebody from Mount Holyoke College loves you”. These products are unique to the Mount Holyoke Campus Store, and there are no substitutes for these goods available at any other place. For such goods with an inelastic demand curve, a large increase in price will only cause a small decrease in output. Imagine, if one day you look around the Campus Store and realize that the price of each item has increased, for example, 20 percent, will you still buy them? Wouldn’t you still want to keep something as a souvenir from your college life?

In terms of Economics, the Campus Store operated by the Follett Corporation is a monopoly, providing unique goods and acting as the price setter. As Mount Holyoke students, however, the products available at the Campus store behold emotional value to us and the monopolistic position does not deter us from making purchases. The value of the logo means much more than the cost of printing them on items. We treasure what the logo stands for: reputation, the MHC spirit and culture, and we do not at all mind paying little bit more for this.

Just for fun: Here is more information about our MHC logo if you are interested in it. http://www.mtholyoke.edu/communications/docs/communications/visual_identity.pdf