I do think that Borders will survive, but sometimes I do have to wonder if they really know what they're doing.
This morning, in my e-mail, I saw the header "Borders Closing, 40% Off Clearance Sale." It seemed awfully soon -- I thought they had more cash on hand than that -- but many retailers do go belly-up after the Christmas season, and this year was horrible at retail.
But then I opened the message, to see that Borders is closing one store -- and they decided to tell me, in New Jersey, that they're closing the store at 4750 Natomas Blvd. in Sacramento, California. Just in case I want to drop by for some deals, I guess.
A company that sends an e-mail to the entire country about one store closing, with a title that could be very easily misconstrued, is a company with some serious problems. Borders, I want you to succeed, but you'll have to do better than this.
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11 comments:
I received the same email and chided Borders about it on my livejournal.
I figured it was a glitch just for me--but it does look like they decided to spam their entire list.
I live in New Jersey too, and I received the same message.
After I received it and saw the Sacramento address, I assumed it was targeted at California recipients generally for some bizarre reason. (I'm in San Diego.)
That they didn't bother to send it to only those in the Sacramento area is pretty pathetic.
yeah, there's a lot they don't get. for example, pre-christmas during their crisis they sent me coupons for eg 25% of select items (THEY selected the items). the best deal i got was 40% of a single item (i made it work for me, but still). you'd think a store desperate for quick cash flow, product movement, and customer loyalty would be dropping some deals that actually lured people into the store. sigh.
it's too bad, because i do love borders. i think they're very responsible with their product selections and i respect that they make such an effort to support new authors and literature. but... seriously, guys. get a clue.
Me too (in Texas, so it's not just confusion between east/west coast). Worse, the email actually says "in your area", which is pretty pathetic considering they should at least know the location of the store I registered at.
To be fair- they have since e-mailed a retraction apologizing for sending out the e-mail en masse rather than just Sacramento.
Well, they didn't send me one. But maybe they don't have my email . . . Anyhow, I happen to be out here in Sac right now, so maybe I'll do a little book shopping.
moonrat: I get coupons from Borders via e-mail every Thursday (like clockwork), usually 30% off any one DVD set/book/unspecified item. (But sometimes better than that, and the offer varies from week to week.) I thought those were going out to their e-mail list in general, but I guess not.
Perhaps they have tiers to their loyalty program that they don't disclose to the outside world.
Huh. I didn't get the email and I am in the Sacto area. Interesting. I think I will have to do some book shopping soon.
Yes, they did send out a retraction. Yes, they do have various tiers to the Borders Rewards e-mails based on where you live and other things so that they can test different programs for open rates, responses, etc., and I'm sure B&N does the same kinds of things. The fine print on some of the recent DVD/CD offers has this list of places where the offers aren't accepted where they are no doubt testing different offers.
http://www.natomasbuzz.com/2008/12/borders-store-set-to-close.html?showComment=1228760700000
the really bad thing about this Sacramento closing is that the employees didn't find out until after a signage package showed up.
They were closing another one in Gaithersburg, Maryland, according to a roadside sign, so maybe the idea was that you should check if a Borders store was closing in whatever area you live.
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