Endeca Powered Borders.com Site Analyzed
June 9, 2009
I have not been keeping up with the changes on the Borders.com Web site. I had saved “Why the New Borders.com Will Fail” here. I finally got around to reading the story by Barry Graubart. I thought this was a useful write up and I urge you to read the full write up. Several points jumped out for me; namely:
- Borders.com is an Endeca powered site. You can give the system and its Guided Navigation a try here.
- The site allows a user to order online and then pick up the item at a real Borders store.
- A recommendation engine is included.
For me, the most interesting comment in the article was:
While I’m an atypical shopper (probably more than 90% of my durable good purchases are made online), I’m a reasonable candidate for Borders, primarily because the ground floor of my office building (100 Broadway in NYC) houses a Borders store. At various times, I’ve gone to Borders to buy a book only to find that it’s selling for 20-30% more than via Amazon. If Borders can’t be competitive on price, it doesn’t matter what neat features they can add. No one will be there to find out. And that’s why I believe that the new Borders.com will fail.
When I read this, I thought, “If Mr. Graubert is right, a search engine cannot save a sinking ship.” What then is the value of a search system if it cannot overcome the licensee’s own weaknesses? With the value of a search system becoming more important, Mr. Graubert’s observations are food for thought.
Stephen Arnold, June 9, 2009
Comments
3 Responses to “Endeca Powered Borders.com Site Analyzed”
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Steve – thanks for the post. Good to see that a year later, my comments still resonate (can’t say that about all my old posts).
Interestingly, in the 12 months since that post, Amazon stock is up 9%, Barnes & Noble is down 11%, while Borders Group is down a whopping 41%. As a benchmark, the NASDAQ is down 24% for that same period.
I love Endeca’s Guided Navigation, but even the best user interface and search can’t overcome a failed business model.
Barry Graubert,
I have a stack of good write ups that I turn to when the RSS and Overflight tools dump junk on my desktop. Glad the story held up. Remember, there’s no news in this Web log. Clients have to pay for my studies or rent me like a Wal*Mart greeter to get the new stuff.
Stephen Arnold, June 10, 2009
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