When Borders began liquidating its 399 stores this summer, nearly 11,000 employees lost their jobs. Today a handful of these individuals took to the streets of New York City to sell books again—this time, their mission, to communicate to businesses that it’s time to adapt to the digital age or else risk the same fate as their former employer.  

From Tuesday, November 1 to Thursday, November 3, a group of former Borders employees will be operating a mobile bookstore at multiple locations throughout Manhattan to emphasize the importance of the lessons taught in my book, the only one they’re selling, Users Not Customers:  Who Really Determines the Success of Your Business.

By 2012, half of all retail purchases in the United States will be either influenced by or transacted on the Internet, according to Forrester Research—and this figure is only set to rise. What happened to Borders is a good example of what will happen to any company that is not treating this evolution in consumer behavior as the most important issue facing its business right now.

Here’s what Borders did wrong. Borders was years late to sell books online. When it did, it outsourced the project to one of its chief competitors, Amazon. At the start of 2011, after the company took back control of its Internet operations, online hardcopy sales accounted for less than 3 percent of Borders’ revenue—that’s less than a third of what Barnes & Noble derived from its online hardcopy sales. Then to add insult to injury, it was also late on the e-book craze, creating a me-too e-reader almost three years after Amazon introduced the Kindle.

The single, most effective remedy to this scenario is for business leaders to prioritize their users, the people who interact with their company through digital media and technology, above all else. They must research the needs of their users and then use these insights to guide everything from product development to marketing, sales, and customer service. Learn more by reading my book—a former Borders employee would be happy to sell it to you. 

Question? Ask Aaron on Twitter.