Archive for the ‘borders digital strategy’ tag
Borders may be close to getting financing no comments
Borders has obtained a refinancing commitment from GE Capital. 
The company has been struggling with dropping sales and has even suspended payment to some publishers and other vendors. GE Capital has committed to provide a $550 million senior secured credit facility that will supposedly help Borders to continue to reposition its business model and save itself.
Once funded, the new credit facility will mature in 2014. Some of the conditions to be met to insure Borders will indeed receive the loan include:
- The successful syndication of $175 million of the senior credit facility with other lenders, which GE Capital and the company are both working to secure;
- $125 million of junior debt financing provided by certain vendors and other lenders;
- The completion of supporting financing arrangements with the company’s vendors, landlords and other financing parties on terms satisfactory to GE Capital;
- Borders’ finalization of a store closure program comprising the identification of underperforming stores that will be closed as soon as practicable;
- GE’s completion of its business, financial and legal due diligence; the negotiation and execution of definitive financing documents; the absence of any material adverse change in the company’s business or financial condition; and other customary conditions.
More from the press release:
Borders Group President Mike Edwards stated, "We are pleased that, after a thorough review of our business strategy and related long-term potential by GE Capital and outside experts, GE Capital is committing to put in place a new senior financing facility for the company. This is an important step for Borders toward implementation of its comprehensive plan to reposition itself as a vibrant national retailer of books and other related products to the consumer. We strongly believe that, based on our business strategy, Borders will be able to transform its business to capitalize on the evolving reading marketplace and perform as a best-in-class destination and shopping experience for consumers."
Under the new business plan, the company’s strategy will focus on five key areas:
- Continuing to expand and enhance the Borders Rewards Plus program;
- Strengthen the company’s position as a purveyor of content by aggressively growing Borders.com and eBook market share;
- Expand and enhance the company’s overall retail mix, including non-book offerings, to improve profitability and offset the digital effect;
- Aggressively reduce costs across the business, including costs in the supply chain network and store portfolio;
- Make strategic investments in IT to improve the customer experience.
Not sure if this will prove to be a lifeline or just more rope for Borders to finish hanging itself. Borders was very late to begin pursuing a digital strategy, and has seemed at times to be very disorganized in its pursuit of that strategy. Hopefully the company can turn itself around, but I don’t find myself feeling overly sanguine. At least Borders appears to have dodged the bullet for a few more years.
Update: This appears to be debtor-in-possession financing which is meant to help a company get a fresh start when in Chapter 11.
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Borders Gets its Own Self-Publishing Thing 1 comment
Borders announced today that it has partnered with BookBrewer to launch Borders – Get Published Powered by BookBrewer. The new platform will enable indie authors to publish and sell their ebooks through the Borders ebook store as well as other ebook sellers.
"We know many book lovers are also writers or aspiring authors who want to share their stories but do not want to invest the time and money to self publish in print," said Mike Edwards, CEO of Borders, Inc. "BORDERS – GET PUBLISHED™ Powered by BookBrewer offers the perfect solution — authors can quickly and easily load, format and publish content, which will then be available for sale within a few days on Borders.com and other major eBook outlets. We’re excited to give new writers and bloggers an opportunity to reach an expanded audience as they make their foray into digital."
Users can develop and edit content regardless of length, set their own suggested price within bounds set by retailers, and publish via BookBrewer in the Borders’ eBook store. Customers are provided with the option to purchase, download, and instantly read blogger and independent author content on several leading devices, including the iPhone®, iPad™, Android™-powered tablets as well as a variety of eReaders, notably the Kobo™ Wireless eReader, Kobo™ eReader, Aluratek Libre Pro and Velocity® Micro Cruz™ Reader.
Creating an eBook can be done in a few simple steps using the intuitive BookBrewer tools. Authors can add content by typing or copying and pasting it into an online form, or they can feed in their content from an existing Web site or blog. With the click of a button, they can arrange and edit content as they wish. The content is saved as an ePub file — the format most eBook stores require to sell a book.
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Borders News no comments
Borders is in the news today, and not all of it is good. Borders will be closing its King Street store in San Francisco. This at the same time as Barnes & Noble is closing its landmark store near Lincoln Center in New York City.
Both bookstore chains are struggling, though Barnes & Noble looks to be much more likely to survive. Just as the bookstore chains put many small independent bookstores out of business in the past, they themselves are now under pressure from online booksellers.
Even as bookselling chains move to digital sales they are faced with another conundrum – what to do with empty floor and
shelf space as they carry fewer physical books? Indigo Books has said it would be filling its empty shelves with trinkets. Borders is now said to be planning on replacing some of its children’s book sections with Build-a-Bear kits. These are kits for children to build and personalize their own stuffed animals. I’m not so sure that Borders’ salvation lies in becoming the next dime store chain.
Borders also announced today that it is launching a new paid “Borders Rewards Plus” loyalty program. Borders customers can now choose from a free rewards program or a paid program which costs $20 per year and offers savings on most merchandise as well as free shipping on virtually all online orders.
- Members of the free, enhanced program will receive 30 percent off the list price of hardcover bestsellers and free shipping on online orders of $25 or more.
- Members of the Borders Rewards Plus program will receive 40 percent off the list price of hardcover bestsellers, 20 percent off the list price of select hardcovers, 10 percent off the purchase price of most everything else — and free shipping on virtually all online orders.
As with Barnes & Noble’s loyalty program, the discounts do not apply to ereaders or other electronics, although it appears that you can take discounts off of some ebooks at Borders, which you cannot do with the Barnes & Noble Membership Program.
To promote the new program, Borders is offering double “Borders Bucks” to members on their purchases through September 6, 2010. Borders is also offering an additional discount to teachers:
As part of its longstanding commitment to supporting educators, Borders has made its Rewards program more teacher-friendly. Upon the program’s launch, teachers who are currently Rewards members will receive a personal shopping day where they will enjoy a 10 percent discount off the purchase price on top of the 25 percent discount they already receive on eligible items. In addition, beginning Oct. 1, parents, friends and families can donate Borders Bucks they’ve accrued to their favorite teacher. The teacher can then use the donation to buy classroom supplies.
Borders has also lowered the prices of some of the ereaders that it carries. The Kobo eReader is still $149.99, but it comes with a $20 gift card, which effectively lowers its price to $129.99. Still not a good deal at this price when compared to the Kindle 3 in my book. Borders is also selling the Aluratek Libre for $119.99, the Sony Touch for $139.99 and the Sony Pocket Edition for $119.99. Borders will also be carrying the Cruz Tablet and Reader from Velocity Micro.
UPDATE: Borders has lowered the price of the Kobo eReader to $129.99 without the gift card. The Aluratek Libre has also been lowered to $99.99.
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Borders to Sell Paperchase no comments
Borders announced today that it has entered into an agreement to sell Paperchase Products Ltd. to leading UK-based private equity firm Primary Capital Ltd. Paperchase is a stationary retailer based in the UK. Borders stores in the US will continue to carry Paperchase products.
Borders will receive approximately $32 million, of which it is obligated to use $25 million to pay down its debt. There is still a very long tough way to go before Borders can climb out of its hole.
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Borders eBook Store Goes Live – BlackBerry and Android Reading Apps Released no comments
Borders announced today the launch of its
ebook store. Two new Borders reading applications also are now available for BlackBerry and Android. Apps for iPhone and iPad have already been released.
The Borders ebook store is powered by Kobo, and the reading apps are rebranded Kobo apps. At launch the store is said to have more than 1.5 million titles, but this includes public domain books. I tried several search parameters, but could not get more than about 156,000 ebooks to come up in the results.
Borders is pinning a lot of hope for its survival on going digital. Next month new sections dubbed “Area-e” dedicated to digital reading will start to appear in bricks and mortar Borders stores. In addition to the Kobo eReader, Borders also carries the Aluratek ereader, Sony Touch Edition and Sony Pocket Edition. The company has said that it will be offering other ebook readers as well in the future.
"The race to emerge as a retail leader within the digital category is just starting," said Mike Edwards, Chief Executive Officer for Borders, Inc. "During the past several months, we’ve been carefully crafting a digital strategy, one that has great content and a device-neutral philosophy backed by the Borders brand as its cornerstones. We believe we are very well positioned to come out strong and to ultimately claim about a 17 percent eBook market share by this time next year."
£149.00
£109
