Borders Throws Magic Shelf at Amazon

To say I am a book lover is to understate an affliction. So back in 2001 when I heard that Borders was handing over its online element to Amazon, I was a bit perplexed. Sure, Amazon represents one of the largest marketplaces online,  but the idea of one bookseller handing the management of its online business to another bookseller seemed odd to me.

Yesterday Borders took their online business back.

The goal, according to Borders PR, is to “mesh in-store sales with online sales”. As with most brick-‘n-mortar merchants, Borders receives a significant portion of their sales through in-store purchases. Their online store serving as more of a branding and interactive element than a place to purchase. This blueprint is especially true with book retailers because us crazy book lovers actually like to feel the weight and texture of the books. Amazon Kindles’ be damned!

Interactive whiz-bang elements are key to the “mesh” Borders is trying to create with its new site. One such element is the “Magic Shelf” a flash based virtual browsing system which mimics the look of a book shelf. If you have seen sites like Shelfari, widgets like the Visual Bookshelf in Facebook, or even used Netflix; you are not going to be blown away. The current Magic Shelf is not very robust with a poor browsing system and a not particularly inspired hover function when your cursor idles over a book cover.

Fact: what makes a book lover like me forgo the tactile sensation of browsing an actual store in order to create a virtual bookshelf is the ability to see what others have placed on their shelves. Like other collectors our desire to make lists is driven, in part, by the almost equal desire to compile those lists.

What’s missing from the Borders Magic Shelf is the community. When will merchants realize that all the slick flash elements in the world won’t bring customers back like a sense of community?

Such gimmicky toys will not win the battle against juggernauts like Amazon or Barnes & Noble with whom Borders is stepping back into the ring. Interestingly enough, Shelfari was funded by Amazon. Somebody should notify Borders’ marketing team

About Angel Djambazov

Born in Bulgaria, Angel Djambazov has spent his professional career in the fields of journalism and online marketing. In his journalistic career he worked as an editor on several newspapers and was the founding Editor-in-Chief of Wyoming Homes and Living Magazine. Later his career path led to online marketing where while working at OnlineShoes he earned the Affiliate Manager of the Year (2006) award at the Affiliate Summit, and In-house Manager of the Year (2006) award by ABestWeb.

For four years Angel served as OPM for Jones Soda for which he won his second Affiliate Manger of the Year (2009) award at Affiliate Summit.

Currently Angel serves as OPM for KEEN Footwear and MedicalRecords.com. His former clients include: Dell, Real Networks, Jones Soda, Intelius, Graphicly, Chrome Bags, Onlineshoes.com, Vitamin Angels, The Safecig, and Bag Borrow or Steal.

Angel is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Publisher for ReveNews.com and ReveNews.org.

Angel lives north of Seattle, spending his free time reading up on obscure scientific references made by his wife MGX, while keeping up with a horde of cats and a library of books.

You can find Angel on Twitter @djambazov.

Website: http://www.revenews.com