Borders CEO compares his customers to rodents
You know you’re talking to a chain store’s CEO when… he alludes that his customers are mice! “We need to build a better mouse trap” said Borders new Chief Executive George Jones. He was speaking Thursday in New York at the2007 Book Expo America (BEA), the annual bookseller & publishing industry conference.
Borders financials have disappointed Wall Street but we can’t say we’ve been too impressed with his strategy which he repeated a second time for emphasis:“We need to build a better mousetrap.”
Drawing on parallels from his days at general merchandise chain store Target, Jones described his goal of proprietary publishing by locking up the rights to sell publisher’s titles only at Borders stores. As is the case of Soprano's TV show writer Nick Santora who did a deal to release his book exclusively at Borders stores this summer. Jones went on to boast “We can put a book on NY Times bestseller list and they can’t say no to us.”
Jones also talked about focusing on specific categories of books to drive growth but wouldn’t say what categories “I don’t think anything is to be gained by disclosing that publicly.” How is this secrecy good for customers? Good for readers?
It’s amazing that in today’s age a company is arrogant enough to think if they bait their trap with cheese, customers will simply show up. Well… maybe the blind ones will!
Borders may have started out as a well-run independent bookstore in Ann Arbor, Michigan. But, Borders' days as the quaint neighborhood store are a distant memory. Today under shareholder pressures (following a spinout from Kmart in 1995), Borders wants to re-invent itself to compete with Amazon.com and rival chain store Barnes & Noble -- “We want to be the headquarters for knowledge and entertainment” said Jones. And just like Amazon, Borders wants to sell you more than books including travel services if you’re planning a trip or signing you up on bridalregistry.com if you’re planning a wedding. Think one stop shopping, a “destination store” says Jones. He said that he might even sell store space to web start-ups who want to demo their new products to his customers, “imagine that Second Life before it was known was demo’ed inside our stores.”
Hmmm…. Well I smell some cheese but it’s not the appetizing type…
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