Borders to Focus on Stores, Not Web Site

Borders Group Inc., the No. 2 U.S. bookseller, plans to concentrate on opening retail stores to boost sales rather than focusing on its Internet business to compete with more successful online booksellers, its vice chairman said. Borders, which operates about 1,200 Borders, Waldenbooks and Brentanos stores, plans to add about 45 U.S. superstores this year, bringing its total to 290. Traditional stores will account for 85% to 95% of industry sales in the long term, Vice Chairman George Mrkonic said. While Borders’ Internet sales will increase fivefold to about $25 million this year, they’ll account for only about 1% of an expected $3.1 billion in total revenue, Mrkonic said. “We’re focusing on our profitable business,” Mrkonic said at an investment conference sponsored by Robinson-Humphrey Co. in Atlanta. “Doubling or tripling our Internet sales [further] wouldn’t do anything for our profit.”