Borders Relaunches Online Bookstore

Bookstore retail chain Borders relaunched Tuesday its own online bookstore, after seven years of conducting its e-commerce through a partnership with Amazon.com. Borders originally left the e-commerce industry in 2001 after the first Borders.com was unprofitable due to the dot-com bust.

But now Borders has decided to try the e-commerce market again, Reuters reported. The relaunch of Borders.com is the latest in a series of e-commerce moves by Borders. In December of 2007, Borders teamed up with Sony to offer over 25,000 e-books online to customers for digital download.

As part of the new Borders.com, Borders is hyping the personalized "Magic Shelf" feature, which displays book titles customized to each user on a virtual bookshelf that looks much like a shelf in a brick-and-mortar bookstore. Borders is also incorporating its "Staff Picks" into the online store, and allowing Borders Rewards members to earn points through online purchases.

In addition to an extensive inventory of 2 million new books, 100,000 movies, and 400,000 CDs, Borders is also offering second-hand and rare books through its "Borders Marketplace" in a partnership with Alibris.com.

The relaunch of Borders.com is part of broader restructuring announced in March by Borders, to make it more attractive to potential buyers, such as rival bookstore chain Barnes & Noble, which also runs its own online bookstore.