Borders Adds Category Management Expert

In a further show of commitment to its category management strategy, Borders Group has named Bill Nasshan senior v-p for trade books. Nasshan is one of the partners of the Partnering Group, the Cincinnati consulting firm that is helping the retailer implement category management. For the past 18 months, Nasshan has been one of the leaders of the training seminars Borders has been conducting with employees and suppliers about the category management concept.Commenting on the appointment, Michael Spinozzi, Borders Group executive v-p and chief marketing officer, said, "Trade books represents the largest portion of our business and, therefore, we believe it is critical to bring someone in who can immediately lend a depth of category management expertise and solid retail merchandising experience. Bill has these strengths and more." Spinozzi added that the appointment reflects the company's "long-term strategy to align our organizational structure with the category management process."

For his part, Nasshan praised "the incredible passion everyone in this industry feels for what they create and sell," adding that he hopes "to work toward bringing just the right dose of retail discipline to this very stimulating environment. There is a real opportunity to enhance the collaboration between Borders and publishers to help the entire industry grow."