Borders Group to Launch Book Publishing Company & Web Site. CEO George L. Jones Breaks Promise NOT to Copycat Barnes & Noble, Inc.
Boy, was I ever wrong! Last July I was practically turning cartwheels upon learning that George L. Jones had been hired away from Saks Department Store Group, where he had been earning $2,286,695+, to become the president, ceo and director of Borders Group. I eagerly anticipated an infusion of retail savvy from outside the self-protective and insular world of book publishing that would shake things up and ultimately transform the way business was done.
At the time he was hired, Jones pledged that he would not, repeat, would not, copycat what Barnes & Noble was doing, yet on March 22, 2007 he announced that he would significantly increase Border’s proprietary publishing program and launch a Web site—a site surely designed to compete head-on with Barnes & Noble online and Amazon.
Hello! Wal-Mart, Costco, Sam’s, BJ’s Will Not Shelve a Borders Group Book.
May I suggest, Mr. Jones, you hightail it over to Barnes & Noble Annual Reports online and look at the P&L statements for the imprint Barnes & Noble Books and see how they have fared, financially. I am not talking about Sterling Publishing, which B&N, Inc. acquired in 2003. I’m talking about the Barnes & Noble Books’ imprint, specifically.
I suspect that the vehement resistance certain to be displayed by Costco, Sam’s, BJ’s, and Wal-Mart—all the big, blousy retailers who make so much money off hawking books to the shopping cart set—might cause some surprise and then real consternation at Borders Group, Inc., when it becomes apparent that competing retailers are no more interested in improving Borders’ P&L than they were in improving Barnes & Noble’s.
Wake up and smell Seattle’s Best Coffee, Mr. Jones!
More Books Plunging into the Black Hole of Publishing
As Sara Nelson, Editor-in-Chief of Publishers Weekly, said last week in her online commentary, “Not Selling Out, Selling In,” 200,000 titles are published each year in the US and the average reader is lucky (and exhausted) to hear about .5% of them.” And according to the Barnes & Noble Bookseller Web site, they have inventory from over “40,000 publisher imprints, including small presses, university presses, and independently published books.” So, yes, why shouldn’t Borders plunge right in and publish yet another copy of a classic, say, Tale of Two Cities or press on with the scheduled Borders “kick off novel” Slip and Fall by Nick Santora in June. The black hole has more than enough room to accommodate all comers.
A Chance to Take the Initiative
Sad to say, Borders could be the powerhouse behind significant change to the current and entrenched model—but they lack the brinksmanship.
At the risk of triggering an industry-wide stroke as I did back when I suggested that authors turn their noses up at traditional publishing contracts and learn to love “work for hire,” here are two ideas, one of which I have flogged in an earlier posting, and the other of which I have mentioned to executives at the highest levels in the biggest publishing companies, only to have provoked vehement resistance and/or a look of sheer panic:
Make exclusive, financially favorable arrangements with BIG and small publishers to sell specific “hot” books at Borders. No direct sales to libraries. No direct sales to independent bookstores. No deep discounts. No getting sucked into online price wars.
Change the vendor contracts with all publishers, including the BIG publishers. The numbers are much better when a purchase from a publisher is a final sale. So stop the book-returns madness. Think dramatically improved margins!
Just those two simple, yet revolutionary, changes would have a ripple effect throughout the industry and force change and restructuring. Yes, there will be howling and caterwauling (I can hear it starting now) from every corner of the industry…for a while…until the red ink starts to run more pink and then charcoal and then…black.
It’s Too Late to Build a Zillion-Dollar Borders.com Web Site.
Don’t get me started on a Borders online. What a waste of time and money. All Borders Group is doing is playing in the competitions’ court. Barnesandnoble.com and Amazon.com have great Web sites, give great service and sell books at dirt cheap prices. Talk about thinking inside the box! I mean, really. How many more tax write-offs do you need when you’ve just lost $74 million? Better to just create a Geocities templated website (cost $10/month), sign up with Paypal and use that Borders online website to sell those books that are exclusively available in Borders’ stores. (Seems I got started after all.)
Borders plans to reduce, whoops, “right-size,” the number of Waldenbooks stores from 564 to about 300 by the end of 2008.
On March 22, 2007, Borders Group Inc. issued a press release out of Ann Arbor, Michigan, where Borders is headquartered. “Our plans for Waldenbooks are no reflection on the many hardworking employees at these stores,” Jones said. “We appreciate the contribution of these employees and their devotion to this long-standing brand. We will take steps to minimize the impact of these changes on affected employees, including working hard to place as many employees as possible in other positions within the company.” Oh, please! Did Alejandro Bodip-Memba, a Detroit Free Press business writer ever get mouthpieced in his article, “Borders Hits the Web to Boost Sales,” on March 23rd 2007, when he wrote “[Jones] added that layoffs are not part of the strategy.” Really? Sounds to me like a time-buying ploy designed to keep fearful, yet hopeful, employees in position until the pink slip arrives.
Yes, Re-write the Rules on The Book Publishing Business!
The law says every decision must be to the advantage of the shareholders TODAY, not tomorrow. And I know that George L. Jones must take immediate action or his position, and the positions of Robert P. Gruen and Kenneth H. Armstrong, his cronies from Saks Department Store Group, whom Jones brought in as his new senior-level replacements in January, will be “right-sized,” too.
I also know hard times call for tough decisions along with the spine to stand up to withering criticism, Mr. Jones. Sure, go ahead and improve your “blocking and tackling” in your day-to-day operations—whatever that meant when you were quoted in Publishers Weekly on March 23, 2007, in Jim Milliot’s article entitled “Borders Plots Big Strategy Reversals.” However, before you do all those things you plan to do to turnaround Borders Group, Inc., and begin
Off-loading stores and throwing people out of work,
Returning chunks of your inventory and causing financial chaos for small-to-big publishers and the authors whose livelihoods are already squeezed because of reserves held against returns,
Launching an imprint that no one wants to hear about, and
Creating a “vanity” Web site that no needs to go to,
why not upend the industry at its core by starting with brave changes to the usurious and adversarial contracts that exist throughout the publishing industry right now and that result in chain store muscling publisher and publisher muscling author—to the detriment of everyone involved in book publishing up and down the food chain:
NEW YORK (AP) – A sluggish book market and intense competition from rivals like Amazon.com and Costco are forcing the nation’s top two book sellers—Barnes & Noble Inc. and Borders Group Inc.—to rewrite the rules on the book business. Their challenges were revealed as both merchants reported disappointing fourth-quarter results on Thursday.
So do it!
March 26th, 2007 at 4:37 pm
I started a small-press publishing company about sixteen months ago, and I have yet to make any books returnable through national distribution. It’s madness. Oh, I’ve received the standard lectures “You CAN’T get your books into the big stores!” “No indies will buy your books!” Well, I have books shelved at Hastings, Barnes & Noble and Borders. I have books shelved at independents. What’s wrong with this picture?
Recently, I considered negotiating return policies on an individual basis with independent booksellers, in order to try to make sales more palatable. But even that didn’t meet with success! Because I tried to be very specific about how long the books had to be displayed, not stocked (we know how many people buy a book sitting in the storeroom!) and “only” gave them 120 days to return the books, I got a lot of negative flack from booksellers. I’m really curious about what they want? Total freedom from payment.
Oh, and I recently had a bookstore owner who bought new stock from me on Feb. 10… and notified me she had closed her bookstore at the end of February, and would be returning some books she had in stock. I reminded her of our “No Returns” policy and she still insists. Since she had not paid me for the previous stock, I was sort of stuck. I guess I’d rather get the books back along with a check for less, than to get nothing, but to say it pisses me off is an understatement! Didn’t she know on Feb. 10 that she was closing the store by the end of the month? Bloody poor businesswoman.
I have only published eight titles under my two imprints since starting out, but have plans for at leat five more this year. Accepting returns could be the death of a small press like mine. I have told the authors, “If you are willing to CONTRACTUALLY OBLIGATE to be fully responsible for the financial impact of any and all of your books that are returned, I’ll accept returns of your titles all day long.” Funny thing–none of my authors are willing to do so. Wonder why, when a couple of them are fuming about my not accepting returns?
March 26th, 2007 at 6:27 pm
“If nothing changes, nothing changes.”
I’m not sure I understand what, if anything, is really changing–my guess is nothing that hasn’t been changing for well over a year already. I’ve seen at least two Waldenbooks stores close up months ago. And I’m not sure what I’m missing here, but is a “Borders.Com” anything particularly new? For the longest time, it has come up as “Borders.Com Teamed with Amazon.” So they drop the “teamed with” and it’s a big new experience for them beyond the mechanics?
It would be my guess that, in the end, you’re going to see a continuation of the past with Borders, with minimal change in spite of their announcements. There will, I’m sure, be a lot of pomp and circumstance via press releases, but the emperor really won’t be changing clothes at all. And personally, I’m one of those who likes Borders fine just the way they are, at least at the consumer level. The elitist atmosphere of Bahhhnes and Noble is far too rarified for me.
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing ™: Andrew is a retired California Highway Patrolman turned freelance journalist and author. He is editor of The Jimston Journal, “a quarterly online publication for the arts.”
March 26th, 2007 at 6:29 pm
Lynne:
How about the Borders Group folding half of all Waldenbooks stores here and all their UK stores?
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing (TM): Wagons circling?
March 26th, 2007 at 7:13 pm
Hey, Tony, I feel for ya. I really do. I have a small independent business to run too. A bookstore, in fact. I feel you’re unfairly singling out independents in your reply. I wouldn’t buy enough from any tiny publisher to put them out of business with returns; larger independents could, but they are a tiny minority. You know why your independent customer (and that is a pretty important word) is late with payment? It’s probably because she’s hurting too. It’s a cold cruel game at our size level these days, and if you want to play, you have to take a lot of risk for little prospect of reward. Don’t single me, the indie book store, out as the bad guy.
You want us to buy books non-returnable? (I’m addressing this to any publisher, by the way, not just you.) Fine. First, take the price off the cover. That just means I have to sell it at that price to make any money, while B&N can buy ten thousand and discount it. Let me set the price, based on my market. Second, you’re going to have to give us a lot better discount. And while your returns will vanish, your sales will drop.
Sorry we insist on returnability. But you can bet the big guys (and the big publishers) aren’t about to alter the status quo, and we have to play by their rules too.
March 26th, 2007 at 7:58 pm
So then I get the drift that Borders is not the place to start a relationship, because they are going to go the way of the dinosaur…especially since their coming into the game at the tail end.
I would really like to understand the logic of a man who is supposed to be so wise! It seems easy enough for even me to understand!
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing ™: Bonnie is the Director of the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance. She lives in Upstate New York.
March 27th, 2007 at 5:48 am
As I have said about this small town – nothing ever lives, nothing ever dies.
March 27th, 2007 at 9:26 am
Wow, visitors are pouring in from China, Argentina, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Pakistan, the Russian Federation…and for the first time, someone from Alaska! (Welcome!)
Google Finance just picked up the posting, too, and added it to their Blog Posts category in Borders Group, Inc. (Public, NYSE:BGP) AND Barnes & Noble, Inc. (Public, NYSE:BKS). (Thanks!)
More links mentioning this posting:
PersonaNonData: Borders (Lack of) a Strategic Plan
Books Inq: Allow Him to Rephrase That
Sand Storm
March 27th, 2007 at 11:17 am
Let’s look to the auto industry for inspiration. They don’t make money selling cars and trucks, they make money financing them, until recently at any rate. If the Borders guy came from Saks then he understands that his customer base buys on credit, floats the float, charges more, make the minimum payment. This is a debt driven economy and the book selling model is more of an equity play since the buyer receives a finished product in exchange for cash. We have to figure out a way to put book buyers into debt and then sell that debt to Morgan Stanley.
Booksellers: make your stores look like casinos. If people start browsing have your doormen beat them up.
Publishers: issue credit cards. Try to get new customers in debt before they leave preschool, otherwise brand loyalty is compromised. Remember you’re not selling books, you’re selling Collaterized Debt Oblgations.
Let’s get in the game, for Pete’s sake.
March 27th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
Lemmings! Why do we expect more from an industry that shows very little progress in innovative new ideas.
March 27th, 2007 at 2:10 pm
Dear Bonnie:
One of my favorite quotes:
“An executive is a man who makes decisions and is sometimes right.” – Mark Twain
The wisdom of most corporate executives lies in choosing the right busines school and getting the plum jobs, not in actual management.
How many CEOs have we heard about who leave companies worse off than when they were hired, but said CEO bails out with a golden or platinum parachute. Carly Fiorini (ex-Hewlett Packard comes to mind). Then they hire a pr team and a ghostwriter and pen a memoir depicting themselves as a “visionary.”
March 27th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
It’s difficult for a CEO to get the [truth] from anyone in a company when the bottom is falling out. That may be why Mr. Jones brought in men he had worked with in the past. Probably a smart move.
March 27th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
You tell ‘em, Lynne. Remember what Einstein said: The definition of insanity…doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
March 27th, 2007 at 9:19 pm
Here’s an innovative idea. Why don’t the publishers start publishing good books for a change? And perhaps fewer books for a change.
The real problem is the consumer must wade through the molasses of mediocre books to find anything worth reading all the way through.
In the past two months, the three books in which I turned every single page and studied each one were a book of Carl Husling’s paintings and two books of photographs by a Mississippian named Kenneth Morgan. The rest of the 10 books stacked by my bed to read (and review) were wash outs. Two held my attention about half way through. One of those was a sequel and it was much better than the first book, which tells me there was no need for the first book. The others were flimsey and predictable.
I want something gooooooood for a change without foul language or explicit sex, please and thank you. If the industry would churn a few of those out, there wouldn’t be a need for a “return policy”, nor would indies sit on the edge of their seat, biting their nails at every customer who waddles down the aisles of their store.
Lynne, I admire your passion about this.
Mr. Jones, here’s a piece of good advice. Hire Lynne to be your idea person and then actually listen and execute. Your stockholders will thank you.
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing (TM): Hi, Gina! Welcome back. Funny you should suggest to Mr. Jones that he hire me! Someone wrote into Publishers Weekly and suggested the same thing about eight months ago when PW covered Jones’ hire. I actually cheekily sent Gregory Josefowicz, former Borders ceo, an email in 2005 that was filled with great ideas for Borders. This past January I sent an email to George L. Jones, too. (This is how I often get consulting work. Actually, this is how I wound up at B&N Publishing Group in 2005.) The response from George L. Jones: “Good Morning: We do not have any senior level positions open at this time and I don’t anticipate any openings in the near future.” Ok. They’ll just have to fend for themselves!
March 27th, 2007 at 9:40 pm
This is the first post of yours I’ve read where I thought you really had something original to say. I’m not sure you’re right, but this is a darned good post!
March 28th, 2007 at 1:15 am
Well, hello Mr Jones and goodbye Mr Jones. he too has fallen for the old trick of thinking there is more money to be made as a publisher than as a bookseller.
The challenge for Mr Jones was to get the Borders act together and put up a viable model for retailing.
He should have demonstrated to publishers what Borders could have done for them and signed up exclusive deals. Publishing under the Borders imprint won’t work. For one thing, in trade publishing out of 10, 3 bomb in the market and to get the viable 3, you have to publish a 100! What a pity. The Borders offtake could have made significant changes in publishers’ print-runs and Borders could have made the difference in retail, in terms of range and selection, as opposed to the Wal-Marts and Costcos of the world.
March 28th, 2007 at 3:51 am
Now, I might understand Borders’s publishing thingie if its focus weren’t going to be first fiction, basically the worst game to be playing profit-wise. It seems they want to solicit novels from screenwriters, apparently operating under the delusion that people have heard of screenwriters or some such.
What it underlines is that nobody understands the book business from top to bottom, and the more you try to do, the thinner you’re spreading yourself. I mean, that’s true when a publisher’s marketing department is the same as the sales department, but when a bookseller tries to be a publisher too… yeesh.
And on the returnability issue, as Frazer says, it’s in the “big boys’” court; it’ll end when S&S, Holzbrinck, Random House, Penguin, Harper, and Houghton Mifflin say it does. But I wouldn’t go so far to say they “aren’t about to alter the status quo.” Maybe they aren’t RIGHT about to, but from what I’ve seen the gears are turning. They aren’t turning very fast, but 200 (or in this case more like 60) years of slavery aren’t gonna disappear in the blink of an eye.
March 28th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
Lynne,
(Yet) a(nother) sign of the times?
Russell
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing ™: Some of Russell’s prose or poetry can be found at The American Dissident, The Lyric, Ink-mag, Showcase, Deadmule and Underground Voices. By the way, Russell’s comment about reviewing books and NOT telling the “God-honest” truth in a published review is something I might tackle in another posting.
March 28th, 2007 at 7:57 pm
WW:
As friends of Bill might say, “A definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again and each time expect a different result.”
So many of the big publishers and book retailers play the same songs as the band on the Titanic, and no one is busy bailing. Even better would see that the iceberg of purely electronic publishing and distribution is getting closer and steer a smarter course while one can. I’ve been in some seemingly well-run Borders shops and I have nothing against the chain, but I don’t see what its new site will do that will lure me away from the “tradition” of Amazon.com.
By the way, Sterling was my first employer in book publishing. I started there on December 11, 1978 (when I was, ahem, 12) as a proofreader for the Guinness Book of World Records, which it published in the U.S. then. My desk was scorched, and I was told that I inherited it from someone named Rita Mae Brown, who had set fire to it and quit. It wasn’t long before I was collecting matchbooks myself.
April 1st, 2007 at 9:34 am
What happened with Gregory Josefowicz, the former ceo?
How was this mess allowed to happen on his watch? Where is he today? Did he take the money and run?
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing (TM): From Forbes.com: Gregory P. Josefowicz, age 53, has been a Director of PetSmart since December 2004. Since 1999, Mr. Josefowicz served as a Director, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Borders Group, Inc., and in 2002 he was also named Chairman of the Board. Mr. Josefowicz serves on the board of Ryerson Tull, Inc.
April 1st, 2007 at 5:15 pm
I’d like to echo Frazer’s comments. Small presses aren’t going to get rich off independents anymore, but we won’t bury you in returns either. Independents sell books, chains display them.
I too, insist on returnability, but I also keep inventory under control.
At sixty percent discount, a small press would never see another return from me. Not gobs of sales, but no returns.
April 10th, 2007 at 9:47 am
I’m a Corporate and Educational Sales Rep at Borders. We were told a month ago that our jobs were being eliminated nationwide. I was offered a lower paying job back on the sales floor, which I declined. I was told my last day would be May 10th. But my boss has been vague about this. Now I’ve been offered a part time job and I don’t know if I can leave my Borders job to take it without losing my unemployment benefits entirely. My boss wants me to sign a voluntary letter of resignation. What should I do?
April 11th, 2007 at 4:27 pm
Let me add this off-topic shout out to Seattle’s Best Coffee. Here, here!
April 17th, 2007 at 8:19 pm
Borders does not have to fail. Stop trying to gouge the customer. Selling three year old DVD’s for $14.99 when the same at Walmart or Target sell for $9.00 or $10.00 bucks won’t bring the customers in. The same with CD’s.
Walmart is not a pleasant shopping experience but when you can save the price of a couple of gallons of gas by enduring the Walmart “experience” it makes sense to shop at Walmart. Borders should exploit this flaw in Walmart and go after the quantity it sells because the shopping experience at Borders is 1000% better than Walmart.
I won’t shop at Borders anymore because they basically screwed the customers when then replaced Borders Rewards with Borders Bucks.
Big Corporations have to realize that just because the CEO is making millions does not mean he has more common sense than the average Joe pulling in $20,000 a year. These are the common folks that usually bring these companies to their knees when they realize they are being taken advantage of or taken for granted.
Price, Quality, Inventory, Courtesy!!!!!! Borders has the last three nailed but if the price is to high the last three really don’t matter do they? If I want to buy the Godfather on DVD I’m going to Walmart and buying it for around $9.44. Borders would be around $14.99. For the difference I can pick up an extra item for $5.00. Sorry but 5 bucks is 5 bucks.
April 18th, 2007 at 6:23 pm
Picked up from Bookseller Chick’s blog …
“First off, for those of you who live in the greater Oregon area and would like some cheap books, the Clackamas Town Center Borders Express is being closed as part of Borders 200 store closing initiative. As of Friday all of their stock will go to 40% off.
Now, I can tell you from experience (and the fact that I had a long talk with the manager) that it will go no lower than this, but 40% is a damn good deal. They have a lot of stock left and it looks like they were still receiving shipments up until last week. Here’s a chance to go pick up some new books (or old books that you really wanted to read) at a very deep discount, so go spend your money.”
April 19th, 2007 at 8:50 pm
To Corporate Sales Rep
What is the reason they have given for eliminating Corporate & Education Sales Rep jobs at Borders? Is this being applied Nationally? Or are they just basing you back in stores, but you will be doing a similar role?
What is happening to the other Corporate Sales Reps? What state are you in?
April 20th, 2007 at 6:34 pm
All the Corporate Sales Reps lost their jobs nationwide. I was told that in our Region most employees took other jobs at their stores. The work done by Corporate Sales Reps is being taken over by the booksellers and inventory processing team. But my guess is that most of the work will still be handled by the same person, who is now in a lower paying job at the same store, with no commision. We used to get a $100 bonus for each month we exceeded the planned sales set by the organization. I don’t want to say what state I’m in, since I’m still trying to get unemployment from my store. I think this is like Circuit City firing lots of people and then letting them reapply for their jobs 10 weeks later at lower salaries. Most Corporate Sales Reps will take the lower paying jobs, and do most of the same work they used to do. After all, corporate purchasers much prefer to work with one dedicated employee who knows them and their needs. Now Borders is hiring salaried employees to oversee large corporate sales for several stores. Our store isn’t even adding one staff member to the sales floor or inventory processing team to replace me. The current staff are expected to absorb my work along with their own.
April 22nd, 2007 at 2:04 am
Thank you for your reply Corporate Sales Rep. It sounds like Borders is restructing and cost cutting and eliminating field sales reps. What will happen to the field sales manager then? Is the Corporate Sales division of the business a profitable one which brings in a lot of clients?
I can’t imagine that you will have trouble finding another field sales role, especially if you have been making plan successfully each month. I wish you luck and really would like to hear further on how your negotiations go with the organisation.
April 22nd, 2007 at 6:36 pm
Hi fellow Borders Corporate Sales person. To your first question, consult a labor specialist, but since they are eliminating the position, signing a voluntary resignation letter may disqualify you from unemployment. I believe you need to be involuntarily laid off to qualify for unemployment. If you don’t want the in store position, do some research, but I would hesitate to sign the letter.
To interested person, the exact structure is still under wraps I believe, so I won’t be too explicit. However, do to sales volumes everywhere, the corporate sales program still exists but is being collected into fewer sales persons in each market. Corporate Sales rep is right however, the shipping and receiving tasks will be absorbed by the inventory team. Certain stores with high enough volume may still retain a dedicated staff person.
The Corporate Sales division is profitable, and does bring in business, unfortunately for us, the distribution does not reflect the cost. Hence smaller numbers of salespersons per market.
I second the best of luck, I’m not quite sure where all these jobs are that the drop in unemployment reflects.
I love Borders, even before I started working there. I know that the Rewards program has been fluctuating, but I have to note that a free program can’t screw anyone over. I miss some of the earlier features, but as my paycheck is based on how much money we don’t loose, I can’t say I miss them too much. The whole industry, as previously stated, is reacting rather than planning.
My disappearing role is based on trying to get the best price for customers on each book they buy. It’s damn hard. The publishers undercut us on a lot of non-commercial product. As an aspiring author, I certainly hope that this improves in the future. It’s just unfortunate that Borders is not as foresighted as we might hope. Above all, I believe in supporting retail, even if it means saving $5.00. I try not to use online unless I have to, or unless the product is entirely online. My food has more often than not come from people willing to spend that extra $5.00, and I appreciate it.
Finally to the Wicked Witch, that was an awesome article.
April 27th, 2007 at 9:47 pm
Do you have George Jone’s email? I have a few things to say to him myself!
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing (TM): Actually…I do have his email address!
June 16th, 2007 at 11:37 pm
Sorry, but you are dead wrong about the web site. No offense. But frankly Borders has the worst computer system ever conceived of in IT, and future profitability begins and ends there.
1) As it stands now with the partnership with Amazon, it is Amazon and not borders that controls their presence in cyberspace. If you think in terms of branding when a loyal Borders customer tries to purchase a book online what is getting reinforced is the idea that Amazon is the place to buy books. And if Amazon messes up by misrepresenting what Borders has in stock it is Borders that gets blamed and not Amazon.
2) As it stands now Borders has a very limited selection of books in their database because they work with a very limited number of suppliers (especially used books) and their distributors frequently do not carry enough of particular books in stock. These words should never be uttered by a bookseller’s lips “We don’t carry _______. You might want to try Amazon.”
3) Currently Amazon offers free second day home shipping if you pay a yearly fee of $75. The best Borders can do is in store shipping in (if it is still in print) 7 days or less. If it is out of print 2-3 weeks. Nor can a bookseller tell when or where or how many more days the ordered book will take to get here. When I go to Amazon I can with a few clicks know that my book was in a warehouse in south Chicago at 5:23 am was put on a truck at 5:47 am. Was in south Illinois at 7:15 am etc… online.
4) Currently the coupon system barely works. I don’t mean that they don’t draw in customers, what I mean is that when a cashier scans a coupon, most of the time it scans alright but… say a customer is buying two items and has a 30% coupon. One item is $50 book the other is a $0.40 lindor ball. Every once in a while the discount will go on the lindor ball. I don’t know if this is a programming error or if it is an intentional attempt to deceive the customer, but it sucks.
5) The zunes were really half-assed. I mean anybody with any kind of tech-savy could have seen that they would be a failure. If they want to do it right they should enter into an agreement with Microsoft. Get rid of the whole Multimedia department and install computers. The customer goes in with a Zune (purchased through Borders) goes to the computer has access to an entire itunes like music library, and for a fee can either legally burn a disk or (with their zune) for even less of a fee legally add music. I mean there is a whole level of details that would need to be worked out regarding downloading music off of whatever Microsoft’s proprietary website would be, but considering they have been using third parties anyway, there is no reason that Borders couldn’t be at least a face of that chain. Let’s face facts, compact disks will be obsolete in a few years anyway, so why wait for the inevitable do drag Borders down with them. With a digital library you could have the selection you once had without the inventory. Furthermore there is no reason why I should pay $18.99 (what Borders charges) for a disk I can buy on i-tunes for $9.99 when even buying it in the first place is an ethical decision when I could (in theory) get it for free on a file share site.
6) I have worked either as a programmer or an analyst for several fortune 500 companies and major public institutions and without a doubt TLU is the single worst database system I have ever seen. There is no reason why it should, for example, take three days for inventory to be updated. There is no reason why it should have to contact Ann Arbor to discover what a local store has in its own inventory.
Anyway that is my two cents. I assume that there are of course a combination of factors as to why the computers at Borders sucks. I once spent a few years working for one of the bigger museums in the world and for the longest time I would log on to our website and see this really amateurish web page. I half jokingly offered to build a better one and found out that over the years quite a few people had either made the same offer, or had suggested rightly that we should hire the Advertising Agency we dealt with to make us something splashy and exciting. The reason that this kept getting shot down was that a Senior Vice President in the IT department had made the web site and it was he who was blocking change.
I assume that the same kind of politics is going on at Borders. Either that, or the assumption is that costs will be too high and that they can’t justify that to shareholders. Which makes sense. Borders is in a mature market, I assume that Borders shareholders are after dividends and not used to thinking in terms of spending on growth.
However this really is backwards thinking. Borders really, I mean really, really, really needs to drastically update their computer systems, and in order to do that they will need to spend. People go into Borders because they can get the book they want immediately. But between Borders and Barnes & Noble when you consider Amazon’s distribution, resources and selection, there really is only need for one instant gratification retailer.
Anyway, sorry this was so long.
August 8th, 2007 at 1:57 pm
(insert evil laugh here). As a former BGI Corporate employee, I love, love, love reading all of the negative comments. BGI was the most messed up place to work.
April 3rd, 2008 at 12:59 am
[...] Lynne W. Scanlon loses patience with the big booksellers. [...]
November 30th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
I worked at the Borders Corp. headquarters until August. Since Geo. Jones and his cronies arrived, the company has gone down hill! I witnessed three major lay-offs including the most recent in June where 170 employees were fired in one day, that doesn’t include the 100+ field employees fired around the same time.
You know a company is in bad shape when the employees are told to turn off non essential lights, the heat is turned down, the air turned up, all printers were set to print double sided and we had to empty out own trash and to add insult to injury they stopped matching our 401K.
Based on what I saw, I see bankruptcy for Borders in 2009.