Ending a seven-year dependence on Amazon.com Inc., Borders Group Inc. has officially returned to Web retail. The firm announced its online "independence day," launching
Borders.com, which went online Tuesday. Borders left e-commerce in 2001 amid the dot-com bust after the unit proved to be unprofitable. The move is part of a broader restructuring announced in March and adds yet another item to
the integration list for a possible acquisition by No. 1 brick and mortar bookseller Barnes & Noble Inc. of New York, which has its own Web retail business.
The
site offers a selection of about 2 million new books, 400,000 new CDs and 100,000 new movies, as well as used, out-of-print and rare titles through "Borders Marketplace" under a partnership with Alibris.com. The site has a host of features, expanding beyond the idea of just selling products online, with multimedia and rewards. This may help the firm boost lagging sales of CDs and DVDs and attract younger readers from the e-generation. In December, Borders launched a co-branded online store with support
from Sony Corp. offering digital downloads of more than 25,000 e-books. Borders is also taking its staff picks online and has a neat interactive section on the homepage allowing users to scroll through new releases and other offerings.
The new site hasn't impressed Wall Street so far, however. Borders shares were down to $6.64 in morning trading, on a 52-week range of $3.97 to $23.79. That's good news for Barnes & Noble. -
Baz HiralalHow to merge Barnes & Noble and Borders?Go to the story about Borders.comSee a list of Borders.com features
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