Comments on: The New Borders

By: Shopbycoupons

Shopbycoupons — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 06:17:40 +0000

I love the idea about the book club. I work from home due to family commitments and find it difficult to go out a lot of the time. But I absolutely love reading and discussing books and am always trying to encourage friends to read the books I have. An online book club would be great as it is convenient and no travelling is involved.

By: Scott in Tampa

Scott in Tampa — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:47:04 +0000

I am a bookaholic who loves to browse brick-and-morter bookstores. Yesterday, I was reading a news article with reference to an interesting book. After looking up the the ISBN on Amazon, I drove up to one of the two Borders bookstores in Tampa. I have nothing against Amazon, but I try to avoid sending my credit card number over the Internet if possible. Also, I am too cheap to pay for shipping. For special orders at the Borders brick and morter store, they want you to stand in front of a computer and use their online database to purchase. I will probably order the book through Amazon.

By: Immobilien Hürth

Immobilien Hürth — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 20:03:26 +0000

It’s interesting to see people who try different things to compete with amazon. I’m not really sure this will work, but it does look a lot better than amazon.

By: Ferienwohnung Sizilien

Ferienwohnung Sizilien — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 19:38:31 +0000

You are absolutely correct, I never really thought about it that way. I’ll be sure to add people to my next commercial website!

By: DB

DB — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 02:18:38 +0000

I like the layout of the new Border’s site, but I’ve noticed that many of the self publishing company products are not listed, as they were on Amazon. Are you planning to add back titles from iUniverse and Infinity?

By: Colleen McNellis

Colleen McNellis — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:41:44 +0000

Hey,

All of these comments are great! I go to Kellogg Business School right now, and we are doing a project on how Borders can succeed in their online endeavor – against Amazon and B&N.

I would love to get more feedback from people – what works, what does not work, how can they change it to make it what people want?

Also, Kevin, is there anyway that I can contact you to find out how we can help you? Often we talk to the client in these projects to get some insider views into where you are, where things are going. Could you contact me at colleen.mcnellis@ge.com. In exchange for your time and input, I would be happy to share our final project with you. Who knows, it might help!

Thanks everyone!
Colleen

By: Damon Gudaitis

Damon Gudaitis — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 03:07:44 +0000

One way that bookstores could better create a community is online book clubs. Encourage people with similar interests to all read the same book together and discuss it online. Screw the review, get people talking about books

By: Kevin Ertell

Kevin Ertell — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:39:07 +0000

Hi Karen and Michele,

Since we launched the new site, most of our Borders Rewarards coupons now have a promo code for use on the new Borders.com. Because we’re still in a bit of a soft launch mode and haven’t kicked off our marketing campaign for the new site, we haven’t yet made a big deal out of the fact that the coupons also work online. However, if you click through to them from your Shortlist email, you’ll see a promo code. We’d certainly love to have you shopping on Borders.com.

Thanks,
Kevin Ertell
VP, E-Business
Borders

By: Karen

Karen — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:18:31 +0000

I agree with Michele – that has bugged me for years! I find myself more apt to buy books online than in the store (much less distracted online). Great option for working parents to be able to purchase online.

By: Michele

Michele — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 12:48:36 +0000

Thanks for the great article, Bryan. I’m waiting for the moment when Borders Rewards starts sending me emails not only with content but discount codes that I can use with their new online store, not just the retail locations. To think of the business they’re missing out on because it’s so easy to “click to buy” an item that’s featured (and on sale) rather than think of getting myself to a retail store…

By: Giles

Giles — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 02:51:04 +0000

It’s interesting to see people try different things to compete with amazon. I’m not really sure this will work, but it does look a lot better than amazon.

By: Henry

Henry — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 10:25:39 +0000

Adding Wifi to all its stores would be awesome as well!!

By: socio gaga

socio gaga — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 13:31:19 +0000

Borders actual stores have always had a good environment. Now if they can take that same feel on to the web in a dynamic Web 2.0 format, they could possibly have a home run. Let’s face it – a lot of what’s going on online is dated at best, including Amazon. Here’s to Borders and we wish them luck!

By: Dr. Pete

Dr. Pete — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:51:42 +0000

I’ve always wondered why Borders allowed itself to become an Amazon affiliate online. That seemed like a huge erosion of branding. I think the one area they can compete is to stick to books and really attend to that audience. I still use Amazon all the time, but my biggest complaint is that, as they’ve diversified into so many product areas, it takes away from the experience for those of us who still use the site to buy books 99% of the time.

By: Kevin Ertell

Kevin Ertell — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 11:46:54 +0000

Hi Bryan,

I really, really appreciate you and your team taking the time to write such a thoughtful review of our new site. We’re very interested in capturing as closely as we can the warmth, inspiration and sense of discovery customers get when they visit our stores, and then leveraging the capabilities of a web site to expand that experience where appropriate. I’m pleased to say that many of your suggestions are on our fairly near-term roadmap, and I think there are some other suggestions you’ve listed here that should and will be on our roadmap. We’re very interested in gathering feedback from experts like yourselves, your readers and our other customers to ensure we make the enhancements to our site that best meet our customers’ needs.

Thanks again,
Kevin Ertell
VP, E-Business
Borders