Dive Brief:

• Books-A-Million has named James Phelps as vice president of e-commerce, in charge of branding, merchandising and marketing for the company’s booksamillion.com site. 

• Phelps was most recently director of digital production at the Home Shopping Network and has working in e-commerce with Kohl’s department stores and Brookstone, among others.

• The VP of e-commerce position is new for Books-A-Million.

Dive Insight:

With the hire of an experienced digital expert, Books-A-Million — which is often overshadowed by rivals Barnes & Noble and Amazon and has been struggling in part due to its lackluster e-commerce — appears to finally be making a move to improve its online efforts. The bookseller also recently received dubious attention for its management and corporate culture.