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Borders UK launches beta site

02.06.08 Anna Richardson

Borders UK & Ireland has launched the beta version of its new transactional website. The retailer announced last year that it would launch its own website, ending its ties with Amazon, and from today users are able to register at www.borders.co.uk to browse the new site.

On the log-in welcome screen, the website announces: "Our new website is in beta testing, but we thought you might like to try it now rather than waiting for the doors to open officially."

Borders also promises a "spookily accurate book suggestion system", "innovative search and browsing" and a "unique online community of blogs, discussions and product reviews".

It also offers exclusive video content from Borders.tv, a site that broadcasts streaming videos of book-related television shows, author interviews and book trailers, and launch offers for new users.

Talking about the new website last month, recently departed commercial director David Kohn said it would aim to "create something which is a little bit different and something that reflects the Borders brand".

Last week, its former parent company Borders US, launched its transactional website after its deal with Amazon.com came to an end.

 

Retail Anna Richardson Borders e-books Home David Kohn e-commerce

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By Jan Welch

I've registered with the Borders Beta site, and have been delighted to discover how user friendly it is. Well done to the Borders team!

02 Jun 08 09:26

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By Michael Rose

I've also registered and am impressed. It's hard to see how anyone can beat Amazon, but there are some nice points of difference here. The suggestions are good and the search results excellent, although the range seems slightly short. The blogs and forums area looks like it could be a lovely addition to the world of book sites.

02 Jun 08 10:37

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By Phil

Some good stuff here. I particularly like the advice offered by their "Spookily Accurate Book Suggestor". How do they do that? I presume it works much like Amazon's "Customers who bought 'X' also bought 'Y' and 'Z'". Still some teething problems, but that's to be expected. Had hoped they'd include a central listing of all their events across the country, a la Waterstone's.com but not yet it seems.

02 Jun 08 12:02

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By Jason Hughes

It's a far cry from the original website, and looks like it will provide some good searching. Well done to the borders team, I look forward to shopping at my favourite store online.

02 Jun 08 16:43

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By BorderHorder

To be fair the last version of Borders.co.uk had all the usability of a £1 coin superglued to the underside of a tall roof, so not hard to improve on that, but still, quite nice, although the chance to interact with other readers fills me with dread.

02 Jun 08 21:37

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By June Austin

Now that is so much better - even my book is on it so that has to be good ! The old site though really was a peice of tosh - nothing but fiction paperbacks and celebrity rubbish - this to me is not books ! The forums are also a clever idea. As for the 'customers who bought this also got' bit - I guess we will only know that one once the site is live and people start buying ! My next question though is do they have an affiliates program so I can add buy buttons to my own site, giving my customers a choice as to whether to use the mighty Amazon ?

03 Jun 08 07:17

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By jamie

Much better than the original site but still way to go. Good use of searching but still feels clumsy and the search relevancy is not that accurate. The site is littered with bugs trying a blank search and you get 7 random results with some navigation links above which take you nowhere, there’ also developer comments in tabs across the site. It also completely crashed my browser several times a bit frustrating. It also looks like someone just leaving university designed the site. The spookily accurate search is definitely spookily strange how it works first of all nothing more than pattern matching try the word fiction you get anything with the word fiction. Add an “r” – fictionr – nothing appears. Now delete the r and still nothing appears. Spookily nothing appears until you delete everything and start again. I know it’s a beta but I expected a more stable and finished product. Hopefully they haven’t paid too much for it as it definitely a bargain basement site as far as site go today.

18 Jun 08 14:38

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