Unfortunately for Borders, it’s likely that their loyalty program will be matched (although it might not be copied) by Barnes & Noble almost immediately. Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and Borders are exquisitely sensitive to any initiatives taken by any the Big Three and tend to react almost immediately. I’m sure Vin Altruda knows this and has anticipated the other 2 companies’ responses.

This sounds like a reasonably innovative program, so they should get a gold star for that. But, their stores get low ratings from this frequent book shopper. Although they have the nearest book store to me, it’s just a heck of a lot easier to shop via Amazon or bamm.com. In my store at least, the kiosks to look up whether they have a book are either broken, or too slow to use. On a recent visit, one of the keys was inoperable, so any search with that letter in it wouldn’t work. And, they use a DIAL UP connection. So, you end up standing in line to wait for a salesperson to use their terminals, which aren’t much faster. The bottom line for me is they don’t have enough staff in the stores, and they aren’t keeping the stores well maintained. And, via their e-mail club, I get a coupon several times a month for 30% off any regularly priced item, reinforcing the idea that their prices are too high. My takeaway is that… Read more »

Best positive about the Borders Rewards program is that the greatest rewards accrue to the most frequent customers. In this structural respect at least, it tries to reverse the loyalty arrow. Next best positive about this program is the absence of an enrollment fee, which compares favorably with B&N last time I checked.

Well-aligned shopper incentives are great, but the description of the program does not address how or if the firm will apply accrued data toward segmenting its customer base and tailoring offers and messages. Rewards without personalization may tend to create impersonal, economic-centered behavior without the affective (emotional) loyalty that leads to long-term profitable relationships.

With its low enrollment barrier, this program will be worth watching.

This is a terrific alternative to the Barnes & Noble offering. It is easy to join, provides a unique benefit concept with the holiday savings program, and offers shopper frequency incentives. Very well done by Borders!!!

The upside to this program compared with the Barnes & Noble membership program is that it is free to enroll and offers a Holiday Savings account. B&N members pay $25 but get 10 percent off for the entire year. The program is not unique or clever by any means but it is an interesting concept to drive sales and increase loyalty.

I’m not so sure B&N and Amazon will respond with a similar program. B&N has an extremely loyal customer base to begin with. B&N’s niche is the comfortable store atmosphere. Amazon’s niche is convenience. I think a quick response to implement a similar program would be made in haste. It would be wise give this time to play out.

I like the idea of the program but I also agree with Al. Take care of the basics first. Retailers across all channels will be very interested in this program if it starts to take off.

The Borders stores in Columbus are excellent, but their lack of rewards program would frequently stop me from making large purchases, when I knew I could drive another block or two and use my Barnes & Noble card to save 20%.

This is still not my ideal of a discount program I would create for myself — but it’s certainly better than nothing!