I receive a free daily newsletter from PublishersLunch (”Published Daily, Except When Not”) highlighting trends in the publishing industry. One headline entitled “Borders Trials New Concept This Week” started my research this evening into one of my favorite companies.
According to The Ann Arbor News, Borders plans to open a “new concept store” near their headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan this Thursday, February 14, 2008.
Borders currently stands as the #2 bookstore in the U.S., second to Barnes & Noble. In order to modify the “superstore” mentality which causes Borders and Barnes & Noble to mimic one another, Borders plans to apply technology in new ways while opening stores throughout 2008.
Why the emphasis on technology in 2008? Stephanie Murray of Ann Arbor News notes in her article, “Borders ready to turn a new page” that Borders lost “$222 million through the first three quarters of 2006,” mostly due to underperforming Waldenbooks stores and non-franchised international business. As a result, Borders closed over 100 Waldenbooks and sold overseas stores in the U.K. and Ireland, with plans to do the same in Australia and New Zealand.
The future of Borders depends on a national focus and innovative/integrative new technologies, particularly with the launch of their own e-commerce Web site (expected to go live by April, currently testing at beta.bordersstores.com).
Officially ending their affiliation with Amazon at the beginning of February, which lasted since 1991, Borders plans to closely align store and online operations through their own site. An article on CNET entitled, “Borders to break free of Amazon” (01/16/08) notes a couple of ideas used in the beta version, such as a “magic shelf” recommending books, movies and music, and the ability to see if an item online is in stock at a local store.
With all of the existing technologies distributing information in 2008, I wonder how much longer customers will even demand their books printed and bound. Is there a future for retail as we know it or are shopping malls destined to look like one giant Apple store with small distribution centers?
Borders has the right idea going digital. I look forward to following their progress with the new stores opening in 2008. However, I don’t know if they can keep up with all the changes in technology and start to turn a profit again.
I’m interested to see what happens with Borders vs. Amazon; although I’ve only ever ordered through Amazon, if that’s any indication… and I recall hearing disappointment via twitter about navigating Borders’ site over that oh-so-important-to-retailers holiday season.
I think there will ALWAYS be print, though. I love books, but have yet to read one solely through my computer screen…
Yeah, I never read books online unless it’s for research and I can’t get it in any other form. There’s too many people, including myself, who like having a book right in front of them, for reading to become completely digitalized.
What’s funny is I actually look around in Barnes and Nobles and Borders for new books to read and then I end up buying them online at Amazon for half the price. I’ll still buy a book from those two places if I get the feeling I’ll forget about it or won’t have a chance to buy it later. However, I buy all of my gazillion magazines at these two places, so I don’t feel too bad about taking my business to Amazon.
And I would cringe if there were no real bookstores. Half the fun of buying books is walking into a store and finding that perfect book you just happen to stumble upon. It’s an experience, like looking for buried treasure in this sea full of books. Yes, I’m a dork, but I love that overwhelming feeling of walking into a bookstore and feeling like I’ll never have enough time to read all of these books. Not to mention, I kinda want to open my own bookstore one day!