Asda goes online with the sale of music and games |
|
|
|
Published
:
Wed, 25 May 2005 09:30
|
Supermarket giant, Asda, has got on to the online entertainment bandwagon, and is now going to sell music CDs, DVDs, games and more, through its website. Wal-Mart owned Asda has planned to supply about 120,000 CDs, 20,000 DVDs and 1,700 games to people via its website.
Asda’s entry into this business will place it squarely against other supermarket leaders, Amazon and Tesco who have already ventured online for the sale of music albums and games and have a strong foothold in the arena now.
Whatever the case may be, there surely is some good news for music and game lovers! Chart CDs and tapes will now be available online for as reasonable as £8.97, against the £9.77 available in stores. What’s more, items could be ordered online even in advance of their release in stores.
Latest DVDs that generally cost nothing less than £30 will be sold online at less than half the price, i.e. £15 by superstores like Tesco and J Sainsbury along with Asda.
| The Jersey service, which means that items worth less than £18 will be exempted from the 17.5% value added tax levied on mainland sales, will also be valid in Asda’s online service. Tesco initiated its Jersey service last year in 2004 taking the cue from the store, Amazon.
If you’re wondering what’s making supermarkets turn towards subsidiary products, like music, medicines, stationery etc. other than food related items, the answer is quite obvious; the mighty moolah! Yes, products like CDs, books, albums medicines, clothes, have proven to be lucrative businesses with better scope and potential for higher profits and growth as compared to the nominal margins derived from food items.
According to Tesco’s annual report that was released in April, home entertainment products almost stole the show with its 20% increase in sales last year. In fact, this rate was twice the overall growth rate of the superstore. Therefore, one can well imagine how magnificently internet shopping is gaining momentum and entering regular households via the internet.
Retail analysts, Verdict’s statistics revealed online sales in the country reaching £6bn, which was 27% higher than last year. Nevertheless, if the total retail market is taken into consideration, online business still contributes a meagre 2.4% in the entire sales.
|
|
|
|
Print this Story
