Borders - in the Washington Post 1/21/1011

jbcohen · 01-21-2011, 09:03 AM

Borders struggles amid rapid changes in book sales

By Michael S. Rosenwald
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 20, 2011; 11:11 PM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...l?hpid=artslot

My own thoughts - There is an old addage that I was taught as an undergradaute "When technology shifts everyone goes back to zero" and "In every industry there are oasional events that are referred to as "Game Changers" and players in an industry need to be aware of these Game Changers". For Borders and Barns and Nobles the game changer was the internet and they did not understand what was happening and moved to slowly. Now they will suffer for it.

Guaranteed in the future there will be another shift and the question is will Amazon be ready for the shift when it happends again?

Another place this happened was in the video rental industry. Blockbuster was king of the hill then technology shifted and now they are playing catch up against netflix.

Anthem · 01-21-2011, 09:44 AM

Interesting article, thanks for the hyperlink.

I'm curious to see Borders actually bite the dust. I don't want to say I'm looking forward to it (maybe a little bit on the inside) but I am desiring to see what happens in the wake (or should I say at the Wake? I'm bad, I know).

Apparently, I have a bit of a sadistic streak. But I want to see glimpses of the future, and Borders tanking just might fast forward things a bit.

*shrug*

bluezhift · 01-21-2011, 09:57 AM

This article makes me wonder even more about the $99 Kobo deal at Borders which has now been extended for the second time. Is this Borders' Hail Mary final desperation pass? Or is it too late already? If they were healthier, it could be a good move to jumpstart eBook sales and perhaps get them back into the race, but this late and still with so many retail outlets to support, I don't know.

jbcohen · 01-21-2011, 10:18 AM

I am thinking of examples where older companies have noticed the Game Change and moved on the change and survived the shift in technology. The one such shift that comes to mind is AT&T. The company has been through two Game Changers in the corporate history. The first came with the government's deregulation of the phone industry and broke up "ma bell" into many different "baby bells". AT&T managed to survive; and then more rectly with the introduction of the cell and smart phones when the company saw the potential of this new technology to change the business as a whole. As a consequence the company survived.

Does anyone remember Crown Books? They were a victim of the last Game Change in book selling.

I can see further Game Changers coming up in TV and Radio. There is an emergining technology that will allow people to watch their entire diet of TV via the internet as well as geting all of their radio stations via the internet rather than the traditional radio waves. Will the existing stations and comapnies adapt to the new technology, some are moving in that direction already but wehter they will survive is anyones guess.

TallMomof2 · 01-21-2011, 10:28 AM

I used to spend a lot of money at Crown Books before Amazon. I'd hate to see the local Border's go because it would be 20 minutes of pain if the butt traffic to get to the nearest B&N. My kids (teenagers) still prefer to read physical books especially manga and graphic novels.

speedlever · 01-21-2011, 10:33 AM

Hmm. I have a gift card balance there. Perhaps I should burn it while I can. I hope they survive.

caleb72 · 01-21-2011, 10:34 AM

I used to tell people, "If you want to get me a present, get me a Borders voucher. I can guarantee I'll use it in a hurry."

That was completely accurate.

Now I say, "If you want to get me a present, get me an Amazon voucher. I can guarantee I'll use it in a hurry."

Regards
Caleb

speedlever · 01-21-2011, 11:13 AM

Sorry, I can't connect the dots. How does Amazon relate to Borders?

speedlever · 01-21-2011, 01:13 PM

Perusing the Borders.com site, I'm having trouble burning my gift card! Borders prices for the things I'm looking at are way higher than the same items at Amazon.com. Go figure.

I hate to waste money, even if it's on a gift card. Argh.

mayoi · 01-21-2011, 04:36 PM

I thought it telling that the URL for the book mentioned in the article, "1848: Year of Revolution," was a link to Amazon.

I used to spend hours in the local Borders. They always had a wonderful selection of the obscure titles I was interested in and any special orders I placed came in quickly. The staff was helpful and knowledgeable. I spent a lot of money there.

Then they moved. The new store was just over 2 miles away, but the new location isn't right off the beltway any more. It's in a large strip mall that's a PITA to get into and out of. I stopped by at the new location a few times, but noticed that their selection wasn't nearly as good as it used to be. It wasn't worth the effort to shop there.

It's a shame. Still, there is a B&N in town and it's convenient but not as convenient as Amazon, and not nearly as good in customer service. I rarely shop there.

I'm happy to spend hours finding gems in the local indie and used bookstores these days, but the B&M chains are just not worth it.

ProfCrash · 01-21-2011, 04:55 PM

I spent a good amount of time and money at the original Borders in Ann Arbor when I was in Grad School. It was a fun store. The staff was very knowledgable and friendly. They had some great books in stock.

The Borders I visit now are nothing like the home store.

I don't think the Kobo could save Borders even if it was announced a couple of years back. They built it so that it could read books from a wide variety of stores. That is great for us but not for Borders.

We all complain about Amazon and BN DRM's which make it difficult to read their books on other devices but Amazon and BN know that they are going to make more money off of the sale of books then they are off of the sale of the device. The Kobo is an ok device, it still lacks many of the basic features found on the Kindle and Nook, but it is not likely to make Borders a ton of money when people are buying it precisly because they can buy books from other stores.

I would guess that most Kindle and Nook users buy their books from Amazon and BN. Why? They are the stores that their devices are from so probably the first place they think of buying from. But also because it is more work to get books from other stores on their device.

Kindles can read non-DRM mobi books. You have to find a store, buy the book, download it to your computer, and sideload it to your Kindle. Or you could buy it from Amazon and turn on your whispernet and have it in under a minute.

BN can read ADE DRMed books from other stores. To do so you have to downlaod and install the ADE program, browse the other store, buy the book, download the book, do the ADE thing, and then sideload it to your device. And from what I have been reading this week, hope that you downloaded ADE program properly otherwise you could be in trouble. Or you could buy from BN and have it delivered to your Nook in under a minute.

I know that there are people who choose to shop outside Amazon and BN for their devices but I think it is safe to say that they are in the minority. Heck, I would guess that they are in the minority on this site.

So Borders is a partial investor in the Kobo, as I understand it not a majority owner and possibly somewhere between 10-20%. The device allows people buy books from other sites and download them to the Kobo with about the same level of difficulty. So they are not making a ton on the sale of the device and they are selling a device that is easily used to read books from other stores.

Great for the customer but bad for Borders.

boswd · 01-21-2011, 05:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anthem

Interesting article, thanks for the hyperlink.

I'm curious to see Borders actually bite the dust. I don't want to say I'm looking forward to it (maybe a little bit on the inside) but I am desiring to see what happens in the wake (or should I say at the Wake? I'm bad, I know).

Apparently, I have a bit of a sadistic streak. But I want to see glimpses of the future, and Borders tanking just might fast forward things a bit.

*shrug*

to me it's sad. For one I don't want to see thousands of people lose their jobs and secondly, bookstores will always have a special place for me, whether it's Borders, B&N or the indies.

Losing a major store has so much more affect than people know of. It's a ripple affect. If you are out and about you are in some way shape or form helping to feed your local economy. If you make a run to borders you might also stop somewhere for lunch, you might need to fill up your tank, you might think since I'm out what other errands can I run.

shopping only via the internet may keep the fed ex or the UPS delivery people gainfully employed but it doesn nothing for your community.

Overall whenever a major storefront closes it's never good for your local economy.

Andrew H. · 01-21-2011, 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by speedlever

Sorry, I can't connect the dots. How does Amazon relate to Borders?

Their biggest competitor?

SensualPoet · 01-21-2011, 07:48 PM

If I were betting, I'd bet on Borders ahead of Blockbuster ... but, call me crazy.

I actually believe there is a medium term future for bookstores -- that is, several years out. It's combination of figuring out how to merchandise bestsellers in airports/hospitals/drug stores; figuring out smaller stores that cater to niche markets; figuring out large mall stores where backlist competes with toys and caffeine; and figuring out how to repackage books to a declining, but loyal, audience of consumers who will actually prefer to buy paper over electrons, and books where books are sold next books and not cough remedies.

Borders and Barnes and Noble each only have about 700 stores which sounds like a LOT of American towns and cities are still ripe for locations ... where books are books and pages are turned, nicely.

speedlever · 01-21-2011, 10:34 PM

And what's the status of the Borders and B&N merger?

01-21-2011, 09:03 AM	#1
jbcohen Wizard Posts: 3,032 Karma: 11196738 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Where am I? Device: Kindle Paperwhite Signature edition and a Samsung S24 Ultra	Borders - in the Washington Post 1/21/1011 Borders struggles amid rapid changes in book sales By Michael S. Rosenwald Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, January 20, 2011; 11:11 PM http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...l?hpid=artslot My own thoughts - There is an old addage that I was taught as an undergradaute "When technology shifts everyone goes back to zero" and "In every industry there are oasional events that are referred to as "Game Changers" and players in an industry need to be aware of these Game Changers". For Borders and Barns and Nobles the game changer was the internet and they did not understand what was happening and moved to slowly. Now they will suffer for it. Guaranteed in the future there will be another shift and the question is will Amazon be ready for the shift when it happends again? Another place this happened was in the video rental industry. Blockbuster was king of the hill then technology shifted and now they are playing catch up against netflix. Last edited by jbcohen; 01-21-2011 at 09:09 AM.

01-21-2011, 09:44 AM	#2
Anthem Guru Posts: 704 Karma: 1622328 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: USA Device: Kindle Oasis, OnePlus Nord	Interesting article, thanks for the hyperlink. I'm curious to see Borders actually bite the dust. I don't want to say I'm looking forward to it (maybe a little bit on the inside) but I am desiring to see what happens in the wake (or should I say at the Wake? I'm bad, I know). Apparently, I have a bit of a sadistic streak. But I want to see glimpses of the future, and Borders tanking just might fast forward things a bit. shrug Last edited by Anthem; 01-21-2011 at 09:46 AM.

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01-21-2011, 09:57 AM	#3
bluezhift Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Da Windy City Device: Nook	This article makes me wonder even more about the $99 Kobo deal at Borders which has now been extended for the second time. Is this Borders' Hail Mary final desperation pass? Or is it too late already? If they were healthier, it could be a good move to jumpstart eBook sales and perhaps get them back into the race, but this late and still with so many retail outlets to support, I don't know.

01-21-2011, 10:18 AM	#4
jbcohen Wizard Posts: 3,032 Karma: 11196738 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Where am I? Device: Kindle Paperwhite Signature edition and a Samsung S24 Ultra	I am thinking of examples where older companies have noticed the Game Change and moved on the change and survived the shift in technology. The one such shift that comes to mind is AT&T. The company has been through two Game Changers in the corporate history. The first came with the government's deregulation of the phone industry and broke up "ma bell" into many different "baby bells". AT&T managed to survive; and then more rectly with the introduction of the cell and smart phones when the company saw the potential of this new technology to change the business as a whole. As a consequence the company survived. Does anyone remember Crown Books? They were a victim of the last Game Change in book selling. I can see further Game Changers coming up in TV and Radio. There is an emergining technology that will allow people to watch their entire diet of TV via the internet as well as geting all of their radio stations via the internet rather than the traditional radio waves. Will the existing stations and comapnies adapt to the new technology, some are moving in that direction already but wehter they will survive is anyones guess.

01-21-2011, 10:28 AM	#5
TallMomof2 Kindlephilia Posts: 2,017 Karma: 1139255 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Snowpacolypse 2010 Device: Too many to count	I used to spend a lot of money at Crown Books before Amazon. I'd hate to see the local Border's go because it would be 20 minutes of pain if the butt traffic to get to the nearest B&N. My kids (teenagers) still prefer to read physical books especially manga and graphic novels.

01-21-2011, 10:33 AM	#6
speedlever Fanatic Posts: 592 Karma: 138200 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: NC, USA Device: PW2014, PW2012, iPad Pro	Hmm. I have a gift card balance there. Perhaps I should burn it while I can. I hope they survive.

01-21-2011, 10:34 AM	#7
caleb72 Indie Advocate Posts: 2,863 Karma: 18794463 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Melbourne, Australia Device: Kindle	I used to tell people, "If you want to get me a present, get me a Borders voucher. I can guarantee I'll use it in a hurry." That was completely accurate. Now I say, "If you want to get me a present, get me an Amazon voucher. I can guarantee I'll use it in a hurry." Regards Caleb

01-21-2011, 11:13 AM	#8
speedlever Fanatic Posts: 592 Karma: 138200 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: NC, USA Device: PW2014, PW2012, iPad Pro	Sorry, I can't connect the dots. How does Amazon relate to Borders?

01-21-2011, 01:13 PM	#9
speedlever Fanatic Posts: 592 Karma: 138200 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: NC, USA Device: PW2014, PW2012, iPad Pro	Perusing the Borders.com site, I'm having trouble burning my gift card! Borders prices for the things I'm looking at are way higher than the same items at Amazon.com. Go figure. I hate to waste money, even if it's on a gift card. Argh.

01-21-2011, 04:36 PM	#10
mayoi Member Posts: 127 Karma: 40426 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: USA Device: PW2 and K3 Kindles, TF101	I thought it telling that the URL for the book mentioned in the article, "1848: Year of Revolution," was a link to Amazon. I used to spend hours in the local Borders. They always had a wonderful selection of the obscure titles I was interested in and any special orders I placed came in quickly. The staff was helpful and knowledgeable. I spent a lot of money there. Then they moved. The new store was just over 2 miles away, but the new location isn't right off the beltway any more. It's in a large strip mall that's a PITA to get into and out of. I stopped by at the new location a few times, but noticed that their selection wasn't nearly as good as it used to be. It wasn't worth the effort to shop there. It's a shame. Still, there is a B&N in town and it's convenient but not as convenient as Amazon, and not nearly as good in customer service. I rarely shop there. I'm happy to spend hours finding gems in the local indie and used bookstores these days, but the B&M chains are just not worth it.

01-21-2011, 04:55 PM	#11
ProfCrash Tea Enthusiast Posts: 8,554 Karma: 75384937 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Somewhere in the USA Device: Kindle1, Kindle DX Graphite, K3 3G, IPad 3, PW2	I spent a good amount of time and money at the original Borders in Ann Arbor when I was in Grad School. It was a fun store. The staff was very knowledgable and friendly. They had some great books in stock. The Borders I visit now are nothing like the home store. I don't think the Kobo could save Borders even if it was announced a couple of years back. They built it so that it could read books from a wide variety of stores. That is great for us but not for Borders. We all complain about Amazon and BN DRM's which make it difficult to read their books on other devices but Amazon and BN know that they are going to make more money off of the sale of books then they are off of the sale of the device. The Kobo is an ok device, it still lacks many of the basic features found on the Kindle and Nook, but it is not likely to make Borders a ton of money when people are buying it precisly because they can buy books from other stores. I would guess that most Kindle and Nook users buy their books from Amazon and BN. Why? They are the stores that their devices are from so probably the first place they think of buying from. But also because it is more work to get books from other stores on their device. Kindles can read non-DRM mobi books. You have to find a store, buy the book, download it to your computer, and sideload it to your Kindle. Or you could buy it from Amazon and turn on your whispernet and have it in under a minute. BN can read ADE DRMed books from other stores. To do so you have to downlaod and install the ADE program, browse the other store, buy the book, download the book, do the ADE thing, and then sideload it to your device. And from what I have been reading this week, hope that you downloaded ADE program properly otherwise you could be in trouble. Or you could buy from BN and have it delivered to your Nook in under a minute. I know that there are people who choose to shop outside Amazon and BN for their devices but I think it is safe to say that they are in the minority. Heck, I would guess that they are in the minority on this site. So Borders is a partial investor in the Kobo, as I understand it not a majority owner and possibly somewhere between 10-20%. The device allows people buy books from other sites and download them to the Kobo with about the same level of difficulty. So they are not making a ton on the sale of the device and they are selling a device that is easily used to read books from other stores. Great for the customer but bad for Borders.

01-21-2011, 07:48 PM	#14
SensualPoet Wizard Posts: 2,302 Karma: 2607151 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Toronto Device: Kobo Aura HD, Kindle Paperwhite, Asus ZenPad 3, Kobo Glo	If I were betting, I'd bet on Borders ahead of Blockbuster ... but, call me crazy. I actually believe there is a medium term future for bookstores -- that is, several years out. It's combination of figuring out how to merchandise bestsellers in airports/hospitals/drug stores; figuring out smaller stores that cater to niche markets; figuring out large mall stores where backlist competes with toys and caffeine; and figuring out how to repackage books to a declining, but loyal, audience of consumers who will actually prefer to buy paper over electrons, and books where books are sold next books and not cough remedies. Borders and Barnes and Noble each only have about 700 stores which sounds like a LOT of American towns and cities are still ripe for locations ... where books are books and pages are turned, nicely.

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01-21-2011, 10:34 PM	#15
speedlever Fanatic Posts: 592 Karma: 138200 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: NC, USA Device: PW2014, PW2012, iPad Pro	And what's the status of the Borders and B&N merger?