Borders: blighted and blind
Going back to Philly tomorrow, so today was errand day. I took my car for an oil change and some other maintenance work (newsflash: cars are expensive!), got myself some new jeans and undies and that sort of thing.
While waiting for my car to be serviced, I also stopped by Borders. As most of you probably know, Borders filed for bankruptcy recently, and is closing many of its stores. The one near us is one of the closing ones, so I came by to say goodbye and pick up some reduced-price books. I always wanted to get some cookbooks but they can be pricey, so I took the opportunity to stock up and got the Everything Vegan Cookbook, Vegan Brunch, and Vegan Baking Classics. (Although, sigh, as theferrett pointed out, even with the slashed prices the books are still WAY cheaper on Amazon...)
As I was going to the register to make my purchase, I overheard the manager talking to one of the checkout clerks, and it was both sad and oh-so-very-encompassing of the entire situation.
"But you can't browse," the middle aged manager was saying. "You can't look around and discover new books. You can't get a feel for the book before buying it. "
"Well, there are all the reviews," the younger sales clerk offered, apparently feeling it was futile to mention the "Look Inside This Book" feature. "Having the reviews is pretty helpful."
"Sure, but you know, not all of the books have reviews," the manager countered. "Really, a lot of them, aside from the most popular ones, they don't, you know? It's just really not the same."
I came up to the counter then, and avoided saying anything about how no, really, most books on Amazon do have reviews, at least a few--and the ones that don't, well, they're either so unknown or peripheral that you're unlikely to find those in a bookstore anyway. And the algorithm that offers you recommendations based on books you've looked at has gotten good enough that it really does allow you to hop from page to page and "browse." Not to mention the "other books like this" feature, which often help you find a better book for what you're looking for.
I paid for my books, and I thanked her and left, and then I looked the books up at Amazon.
The list price for Vegan Brunch was $19.95. With Borders' Closing Sale discount, I bought it for $16. And it's up on Amazon for $12, and I get free shipping with that.
And that's really all there is to that, browsing or not. Sure, people like to browse. But they like money more, and they will go home, and then they will order the book they browsed off Amazon. (Maybe they'll order it used, "good as new" for $7 with $3 shipping.) And when Borders closes they'll be a little regretful, but they won't regret the fact that they paid $10 or $12 instead of $20.
But actually, that's not it.
I sat in that store and browsed the heck out of those cookbooks. I chose the 3 I bought out of the 20 or so they had on sale based on how much I liked the font size, the layout, and the apparent ease and appeal of the recipes. That was helpful, sure.
But you know what's more helpful? The fact that on Amazon, I can still get an idea of the font and layout, and--even if I can't see any of the recipe details--I get lots and lots of recipe reviews, sharing from experience which ones were as good as they sounded, which ones didn't hold up, which ones really were easy, and which ones weren't. I get tips on how to finesse certain of the less-good recipes, and evaluations of the book's practical strengths and weaknesses. And I get 26 "customer images"--separate from "search inside this book"--comprising of photos of how the food turned out when made by amateur cooks, in their own kitchens, without professional lighting. Ie, what MY attempts are likely to look like.
And if I really MUST see what some of the recipes themselves contain, I can quickly hop on over to Google Books, and I can read a bunch of them there.
And all of this takes about the same time as browsing the book in Borders.
It hasn't been a competition for a while now. But, according to what I saw (and what theferrett described) up to the bitter end, Borders management has not been able to see the situation for what it was. Going out of business, closing up the store, and still utterly confused about why the customers would want to go somewhere else.
It's sad. And humbling. And depressingly human.
While waiting for my car to be serviced, I also stopped by Borders. As most of you probably know, Borders filed for bankruptcy recently, and is closing many of its stores. The one near us is one of the closing ones, so I came by to say goodbye and pick up some reduced-price books. I always wanted to get some cookbooks but they can be pricey, so I took the opportunity to stock up and got the Everything Vegan Cookbook, Vegan Brunch, and Vegan Baking Classics. (Although, sigh, as theferrett pointed out, even with the slashed prices the books are still WAY cheaper on Amazon...)
As I was going to the register to make my purchase, I overheard the manager talking to one of the checkout clerks, and it was both sad and oh-so-very-encompassing of the entire situation.
"But you can't browse," the middle aged manager was saying. "You can't look around and discover new books. You can't get a feel for the book before buying it. "
"Well, there are all the reviews," the younger sales clerk offered, apparently feeling it was futile to mention the "Look Inside This Book" feature. "Having the reviews is pretty helpful."
"Sure, but you know, not all of the books have reviews," the manager countered. "Really, a lot of them, aside from the most popular ones, they don't, you know? It's just really not the same."
I came up to the counter then, and avoided saying anything about how no, really, most books on Amazon do have reviews, at least a few--and the ones that don't, well, they're either so unknown or peripheral that you're unlikely to find those in a bookstore anyway. And the algorithm that offers you recommendations based on books you've looked at has gotten good enough that it really does allow you to hop from page to page and "browse." Not to mention the "other books like this" feature, which often help you find a better book for what you're looking for.
I paid for my books, and I thanked her and left, and then I looked the books up at Amazon.
The list price for Vegan Brunch was $19.95. With Borders' Closing Sale discount, I bought it for $16. And it's up on Amazon for $12, and I get free shipping with that.
And that's really all there is to that, browsing or not. Sure, people like to browse. But they like money more, and they will go home, and then they will order the book they browsed off Amazon. (Maybe they'll order it used, "good as new" for $7 with $3 shipping.) And when Borders closes they'll be a little regretful, but they won't regret the fact that they paid $10 or $12 instead of $20.
But actually, that's not it.
I sat in that store and browsed the heck out of those cookbooks. I chose the 3 I bought out of the 20 or so they had on sale based on how much I liked the font size, the layout, and the apparent ease and appeal of the recipes. That was helpful, sure.
But you know what's more helpful? The fact that on Amazon, I can still get an idea of the font and layout, and--even if I can't see any of the recipe details--I get lots and lots of recipe reviews, sharing from experience which ones were as good as they sounded, which ones didn't hold up, which ones really were easy, and which ones weren't. I get tips on how to finesse certain of the less-good recipes, and evaluations of the book's practical strengths and weaknesses. And I get 26 "customer images"--separate from "search inside this book"--comprising of photos of how the food turned out when made by amateur cooks, in their own kitchens, without professional lighting. Ie, what MY attempts are likely to look like.
And if I really MUST see what some of the recipes themselves contain, I can quickly hop on over to Google Books, and I can read a bunch of them there.
And all of this takes about the same time as browsing the book in Borders.
It hasn't been a competition for a while now. But, according to what I saw (and what theferrett described) up to the bitter end, Borders management has not been able to see the situation for what it was. Going out of business, closing up the store, and still utterly confused about why the customers would want to go somewhere else.
It's sad. And humbling. And depressingly human.