Borders has confirmed our report on Friday that it is expanding its agreement with the inventory management system Above the Treeline. The chain, which has been testing Above the Treeline in its bargain books segment, will use the system to collect and analyze point-of-sale information for all of the company’s superstores. According to Bill Nasshan, senior v-p of trade books, Borders’s "collaboration within the bargain book category has yielded strong results" in monitoring its inventory needs. Above the Treeline founder John Rubin stressed that the Borders sales data will be kept confidential and separate from sales collected from independent booksellers. Above the Treeline has deals with about 350 independents.
Separately, Borders announced this morning that it has selected Sterling Commerce, an AT&T subsidiary, to do order management for Borders.com when the company launches its own e-commerce site early next year. Borders’s site has been run by Amazon, but the chain announced earlier this year that as part of its restructuring it would operate its own e-commerce business. Sterling will help coordinate ordering and fulfillment through Borders.com, including allowing customers to have a book shipped directly to their home or to a store.
In a third agreement, Borders said it will use Source Interlink as its sole supplier of magazines to all domestic stores.
