Borders is to axe an undisclosed number of jobs as it implements “fundamental change”.

Sources close to the situation said that between 20 and 30 head office jobs would be axed, although it is believed a final number is yet to be decided. It is also understood that some redundancies will be made on the shopfloor.

Borders chief executive Philip Downer declined to comment on the job losses. He said: “Any action we take is about streamlining our structure as we implement a new IT system, which will benefit the way we work. It is the most fundamental change to Borders. It is a re-engineering of our business.”

Last week, Borders unveiled a test version of its new transactional web site, which Downer expects to make a “very significant contribution” to sales in the long term.