Merchant Spotlight: NeedSoftware

Q: What led you to start selling discount academic software online?

Roger Ahuja: In the 90s Microsoft, Symantec and Adobe started offering discounts for students teachers and schools. NeedSoftware.com became authorized to sell these products and started offering them.

Q: Who typically purchases products from your store?

Roger: Students, teachers and schools are our typical clients.

Q: What advantages do students gain by purchasing software through your store?

Roger: Savings in dollars. Academic software is deeply discounted. In some cases as much as 80% off the same products sold commercially.

Q: How has the recent recession affected the market for education software? How has your site worked to improve the financial burden on educators?

Roger: The recession has obviously hit everyone very hard. We've reduced our prices for schools even further so they can continue to get the software they need to stay current with technology and what they teach.

Q: How has your affordable licensing programs aided non-profit organizations?

Roger: Non-profits have been able to take advantage of deeply discounted rates that were previously only available to academic institutions. With budgets for non-profits being very tight. This is a huge benefit for them.

Q: How does NeedSoftware try to help students and educators with their software purchasing decisions?

Roger: We have a knowledgeable staff that is available via phone that can help the student or educator purchase the best product for their needs. For example, Adobe offers a student and teacher version of their product that is discounted even more than what the schools pay for the same product. Adobe has several different programs available for schools that can sometimes be confusing. We can help the educator decide which is the best fit.

Q: Which software products have been the most popular over the years?

Roger: The Adobe Create Suite of products including Photoshop and Microsoft Office have been the most popular packages historically.

Q: In what ways has social media helped your business? What do you feel it offers your customers?

Roger: We've been able to utilize social media to get information out to our clients that they may find useful as well as promotions when applicable. They can see quickly and easily the things that interest them without having to wade through a ton of information.

Q: How do you see NeedSoftware growing in the next few years?

Roger: It is estimated that there about 50% of the students are not even aware of academic discounts. This leaves a huge market out there so, there's a lot of room to grow.

Q: What else should we know about your store?

Roger: We've been in business since 1993 and were here to help you in any way we can.