Borders Australia lays down challenge to Amazon.com

By Neerav Bhatt on May 10, 2010 6:56 AM
Filed under Software

Price guarantee - and on any device.

Borders Australia has announced plans to launch online bookstores powered by e-books download service Kobo and sell its own e-book reader devices.

The book retailer is selling content in its online book store which is compatible with many devices besides its own e-book reader, aiming to catch up with rivals and win a piece of the fast-growing e-book market.

Dave Fenlon CEO of Borders Australia parent company REDgroup retail said Borders would offer a price guarantee that printed books would always be "cheaper on Borders Australia online than on Amazon.com", which resolves the anomaly of printed books being cheaper to buy online from the USA than within Australia.

To mitigate the price of books fluctuating constantly with currency movements, Fenlon said his company would refund the difference plus 10 percent if an Australian customer finds a book sold cheaper on Amazon.com (inclusive of freight costs) compared to Borders Australia.

Borders' rival online retailer Amazon.com launched its Kindle e-book reader in 2007, giving it a headstart on the industry-wide switch to e-books that Borders Group (USA) and Borders Australia have so far missed out on.

The Borders Australia online bookstore - to be launched on May 19 - is expected to offer over a million items including e-books, magazines and newspapers for purchase as well as the Kobo e-book reader device, at an expected price point within the vicinity of AUS$200, according to The Australian.

Importantly, this electronic content will be able to be read on a variety of devices including smartphones such as the iPhone, BlackBerry and Android-based phones, the recently announced iPad tablet as well as on personal computers, rather than being locked into a single device such as the Kindle.

Additional Reuters Reporting by Phil Wahba.

Borders Australia lays down challenge to Amazon.com

4 comments in this discussion

"Plenty of successful examples of online stores selling ebooks in competition to Amazon. Not everyone wants or uses a Kindle and its locked in AZW(MOBI)format, as there is a plethora of affordable ..."

By sabredog66

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Comments: 4

sabredog66 May 10, 2010 1:10 PM	As long as Borders/Kobo offer a geographically unrestricted selection of ebooks then more power to them. If this proves the case I will certainly open an account and buy my wife a Kobo reader. Aussie ebook readers are currently being shafted by such restrictive business practices and there is no point complaining about DRM or high prices when you CANNOT buy the ebook in the first place. Little wonder potential buyers are frustrated and look elsewhere for a copy to download.
BlastedUser May 10, 2010 1:41 PM	I hope the price guarantee means the ebook is cheaper than the paper version. And by that, I mean cheaper than getting it from the UK online book shop BookDepository. It's books are up to 1/2 Australian book price.
Bourkie May 10, 2010 4:10 PM	Inside Info: A friend went for a job interview for a company that has the same name as a South American rainforest... Seems like they'll be opening an Australian online store soon... And in the UK that killed Borders (both Borders online and Bricks'n'mortar stores). I think Borders days are numbered.
sabredog66 May 11, 2010 9:58 AM	Plenty of successful examples of online stores selling ebooks in competition to Amazon. Not everyone wants or uses a Kindle and its locked in AZW(MOBI)format, as there is a plethora of affordable ereaders now available using EPUB as a standard. The new Kobo Reader seems to be a very well priced alternative that will be available here that can display ebooks available from a multitude of sources. Time will tell I guess.