The following is a letter I sent to the Borders corporation and to the Borders bookstore on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, which right now is planning on closing shop in January 2010.
Greetings people of Borders. I heard recently that you are planning on closing the Borders bookstore at 830 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL in January 2010. Here’s how to save your location and increase your sales.
I’ll give you the solution right up front
Add more cashiers so customers do not choose to abandon their books and leave.
The situation
We all know that Borders is losing customers to people who buy books from the internet. But when you buy books from the internet, you have to wait for it be shipped. The Borders bookstore on Michigan Avenue in Chicago is extremely popular. There is always a line to purchase.
Borders Unique Selling Proposition
What makes Borders unique is being able to buy the book RIGHT NOW.
The problem
When a customer has to wait in line to buy the book, they will simply leave and purchase it online. Don’t make your customers wait. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I thought of buying a book at Borders, but then changed my mind when I saw that line.
It’s a real problem
It’s a real thing. It happens all the time. Let me ask you, how many unshelved books are there by around the register area. I bet if you ask the employees of the Michigan Avenue store that there are a ton of unshelved books around the first floor. Customers are abadoning their purchases, because of any wait in line they have to withstand.
Don’t block your biggest feature
You are creating a roadblock to your customers completing their purchase. You are blocking the your PRIMARY feature that you offer to customers. Books RIGHT NOW.
Lines are not popular at Borders
Why would you kill your most popular reason why people purchase books from you? Perhaps you have adopted the Apple strategy. You allow people to stand in line, because it makes your products seem popular. “Just look at that line! Everyone is purchasing! Let me join in!” It works for Apple, because people are willing to sacrifice some time waiting in line for a high-priced item. Plus many people do not feel comfortable buying a high-priced item online. But when it comes to buying a book, people do feel comfortable buying the item online. And they won’t wait in line to buy a low-priced book.
There is no reason to let people wait in line. Add more cashiers. In our day and age, people don’t want to wait. You have a huge advantage over the internet. Yet, you neglect this advantage. Add more cashiers.
Waiting five minutes is longer than five days
You might think that a 5-day wait for shipping online is certainly shorter than a 5-minute wait in line at a Borders bookstore. But the difference is in the mind of the customer. The customer wants to be in control. The customer is comfortable with choosing to do 5-day shipping, because that is his choice. Waiting in line is not the customer’s choice.
Your challenge
Let me challenge you. Add more cashiers so there is never a wait in line. Your goal is to never a have anyone waiting in line. Call it the “Zero person line” or “No waiting policy.” Let the public know that you are changing your position on waiting at Borders. Embed in the public’s mind that Borders is THE place where you can buy a book NOW and never have to wait. See what happens to your sales in one month.
If you were do to this experiment, let your employees in on the strategy. Right now I bet they are demoralized by the fact the store will close in January 2010. But if you express to them the opportunity that the store might remain open if this experiment works and sales increases, then they will be extremely happy to hop on a register to eliminate any wait for a customer.
Your sales will increase. I have never in the entire life of this location ever walked right up to a cashier with no line. This is unprecedented in the history of this location. It’s experiment that will prove to work. Your sales will increase for this store. Let it happen.
Sincerely,
Matt Maldre
It seems so simple, it’s ridiculous.
If they can’t afford to hire more people (there are more costs to hiring than just a new employee’s salary) then why not take an idea from grocery stores: install self-check out machines. Make the store friendlier and easier to shop. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone looking for a book and not being able to find it. ZOOM! Out the door I go to find it online. The bummer is that I often think of books as a last minute gift idea so going to Border’s makes more sense than punishing myself by paying for overnight shipping (which isn’t always overnight as in next day as it turns out!! I can pay for overnight shipping, but processing and handling can take days!) … so I go to the store, only to find the book isn’t there or only available via special order. Leave video games, game systems and games to the toy stores. If my book isn’t available because of shelf space, re-think your offerings. Border’s isn’t the first place I go when I need a Wii. Further increase your offerings of international newspapers and magazines. I have subscribed to some super cool international magazines, but that can get expensive. Instead, I would love to give my money to Border’s and pick up the occasional issue. Tout the fact that you sell the widest selection of international media anywhere. Help me get the visual out of my head that the State Street store and the Michigan Avenue store are one in the same! I can picture one and immediately think of the other because they are twins!
But hiring employees cost money. Their first step is probably going to eliminate the majority of their costs… by stocking less books. Less books = less people standing in line waiting to buy books, right? Problem solved. I hope they pay attention to your letter. It seems stupid when profitable (or potentially profitable) businesses just give up. How far away is the next closest Borders to this one?
The next closest Borders is about one mile away, but in a completely different shopping area than the Michigan Avenue Borders. Both have a consistent line. Both will die a slow death unless their realize their core strengths and start actually using them. It’s just like newspapers. They will die a slow death, because they don’t realize what customers are thinking.
I say repeatedly that my idea will work. But I know, of course, that it could not work. But when writing letters like this, the style needs to be positive and provide a vision. Positive solid words inspire more than wimpy half-excited words. In all reality this idea will probably fail. But it’s an idea I have yet to see implemented at either of the downtown Chicago stores. Why kill your main strength? I wonder if they would have to hire more employees. Could they take people off the floor that are helping to work the registers? Personally, I wouldn’t mind not having someone on the floor to help me. That’s secondary. They need to change their priorities from helping on the floor to quick checkouts.
Spud – Your letter is AWESOME. I especially like how you’ve broken everything down into easy-to-digest sections. You’re right. The lines are horrendous. Why don’t they open more cash registers on the upper floors? I know they have them up there, but there’s never anyone there! Tom – Do you ever use Borders’ book-lookup thing? They have computers randomly placed throughout the store. You just type in the title of the book and it tells you what section it’s in. It’s not fool-proof though — you still have to find the book on the shelf, which can sometimes take a while. But at least you’re not wandering around aimlessly 🙂 I was actually really surprised to hear about this particular store closing. That corner of Michigan Ave. (right across the street from Water Tower Place) is a hotbed of tourist activity, especially in the warmer months. I think you’ve hit the nail on the head, Spud — those lines are EXACTLY what turns people away!
why couldn’t they just put some self-checkout lanes in? you know, like the ones at jewel and cvs? those have one employee monitoring 4 registers! and man, books would be sooo much faster and easier to self-check than a cart-full of produce.
I can remember shopping at the original Borders in Ann Arbor, back before they expanded, sold out to Kmart, then bought themselves back again… back then customer service WAS their business.
Carto, Borders was bought out by Kmart. Ha! Wow.
yeah, they have self-checkouts at the library, why not the bookstore… there must be some reason they don’t want to try to save that store. i wonder if they will get back to you.
You should have attached a copy of Owens ideas for design. 🙂