Borders.com Metrics Blast Off in Post-Amazon Launch

By  Joe Skorupa
With its future at stake, the Borders Group embarked on an 18-month turnaround effort to take control of its online destiny. It severed ties with Amazon and launched an ambitious new Web site on May 27. Within a week, the unique visitor count rocketed up more than 600 percent, and the current level through the month of July shows a stunning 700 percent gain.

"The success at Borders.com is an interesting story from many angles," says Matt Pace, director of retail at Compete a Web site analytics firm. ''They have been around the block, but they've recently relaunched their Web site to great success. We not only show a big leaped in visitor and site metrics, but we also see their purchases and conversions have jumped as well"

Borders.com by the Numbers
At its peak, the Borders relaunch project employed 100 people and involved every department in the company. But the fact that its lucrative online future was in the hands of one of its biggest rivals was not lost on anyone, least of all Kevin Ertell, senior vice president of e-business, upon whose shoulders fell the job of converting a neglected e-commerce operation into a Web 2.0 powerhouse.

Ertell's job was complicated by the fact that while Borders ignored its Web site the competitive landscape filled up with mature players, not the least of which was top dog Barnes & Noble, Books A Million and Powell's Books, the largest of the independents.

Although Borders is the second largest book seller in the U.S., its Web site was dead last compared to its rivals, according to Compete. How far behind was Borders? In the four weeks leading up to the May 27 launch, Borders.com was averaging about 85,000 unique visitors per week and less than 400,000 per month.

Much smaller BooksAMillion.com had roughly 135,000 unique visitors per week and around 500,000 per month. Even smaller Powells.com, a regional book seller out of Portland, Oregon, was averaging more than 160,000 per week and more than 600,000 per month.

After the Launch
However, in the first full week the new Borders.com became operational unique visitors leaped above the 500,000 mark. The figures fluctuated over the next few weeks, but the average stayed above 500,000 until a major promotional effort kicked in the week of July 19.

This was a watershed moment for Borders.com with unique visitors per week topping the one million mark. But more importantly, the post-promotion average settled into the 700,000 range, which indicates that once Borders.com gets visitors to the site they return again and again.

This massive weekly gain translates into a monthly figure for July of 2.6 million unique visitors.

Other positive results for Borders include a big jump in average length of stay per visit. Prior to the launch, visitors stayed on the site for about half a minute. Now visitors are sticking around for more than seven minutes per visit.

This has produced a corresponding leap in page view per visit. Prior to launch it was less than two pages per visit. Post launch it is just shy of 12.

BarnesandNoble.com is still the leader in the category, with a monthly average of roughly 5 million unique visitors.

Future Looks Bright
But Borders.com has taken a big step in seizing an important opportunity and ensuring its online future.

"The future looks bright for Borders.com, because in the first couple of months after a big relaunch you get a lot of window shoppers and cross shoppers between sites" says Pace. "But over time the casual shopper is replaced by the more serious shoppers, and Borders is beginning to get the benefit of this transition."

Kevin Ertell will do a major presentation at the upcoming Cross-Channel Executive Summit, hosted by RIS. It will take place October 1-3 at the Four Seasons Westlake Village in Los Angeles. Click here for more information.

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