Have you tried the new Borders bookstore website? It’s in beta (testing) now, but you can check out some of the sections.
You enter to what appears to be a bookshelf at a physical store and to the right you can click and look at various shelves (DVDs, books, music). This is sort of kin to selecting a general category at Amazon except you get a visual representation of the books listed, as if you were shopping at a physical store. Pretty cool, and I can imagine all sorts of ways this could be expanded in the future. Oprah is also front and center, with some exclusive video promoting her latest interest: Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth.
One of the most promising sections is Borders Media, where you can watch videos of authors discussing their books in various settings. For example—
Borders Book Club: authors discuss their books with small groups in a living-room-like setting. Currently viewable authors include Jodi Picoult, Lalita Tademy, Elizabeth Gilbert, Khaled Hosseini and others.
Borders Live at 01: one on one interviews with authors, recorded on location at Borders Store 01 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Currently up for viewing is Deepak Chopra discussing his newest book and other authors.
Borders Kitchen: where you can watch video of cookbook authors whipping up some of their recipes.
Borders Advice for Living: you can watch varied authors discussing their books, such as Robin Roberts, Donald Trump, and Bill Cosby and Alvin Poussaint. The theme for books featured here seems to be inspiration and motivation.
Many of the other sections—music, DVDs, kids—are not available yet but if they turn out to be as interactive as the media section, we could be in for a treat. Looks like Borders realizes that there’s something lacking in online shopping: other people. Not sure if this will ever replace getting out there and mingling, but Borders is obviously taking advantage of a lot of the newest bells and whistles available on the web to bring you a better online shopping experience.
They’re also trying to give Amazon some real competition. As much as I love Amazon, healthy competition is always a good thing.
For more about innovation at Borders, see Borders Bookstore: Dinosaur Goes Digital
Photo credit: Pflorendo/iStockphoto
1 comment so far ↓
This sounds cool. I will check this out.
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