Value fashion chain Peacocks is to start selling a selection of chart CDs alongside its usual merchandise in hundreds of stores across the UK.

 

CDs by artists such as Lady GaGa, Cheryl Cole, Take That and the Saturdays will be sold in 150 Peacocks stores as of this week at the price of £9.50.

 

The move is reportedly an effort to stop a gap in the market following from the closure of high street music retailers Woolworths and Zavvi. Peacocks hope that the initiative will become a long-term feature of the brand, rather than a short-term effort which will boost profits in the run up to Christmas.

 

“The current trends that appeal to our fashion conscious customers are more and more influenced by the music scene,” Peacocks managing director Tim Bettley tells Retail week. “We will offer a combination of the two for customers who know and love their music just as much as their fashion.”

 

Licensed t-shirts of selected artists will also be sold within stores. Sales of rock t-shirts are 20% up on the year according to Peacocks. They aim to provide customers with a ‘gift package’ of a t-shirt and CD.

 

 

Source: MW

Never really shopped in Peacocks much before, but I will start now :)

^^^Same here, abit 'bargin basket' for my tastes tbh! but sounds interesting, maybe a growing trend?

Actually come to think about it more, this could have been the problem with Robbie's album on Tuesday, Peacock was not registered with OCC

....and according to Music Week a familiar name is set to return to the High street.....

 

A familiar name will be making an unexpected return to the retail spotlight this Christmas – Zavvi.

 

The brand is being relaunched as a major “cutting edge” music and entertainment retailer, operating a download site alongside physical CD sales.

 

The public re-emergence of the brand will be celebrated this Wednesday at London’s The Dome with a gig by 4AD band The Big Pink.

 

The original Zavvi, created by an MBO at Virgin Retail in 2007, was a shock casualty of the recession last year, going into administration on Christmas Eve. While Zavvi chief executive Simon Douglas went on to create Head Entertainment, online retail specialist the Hut Group bought the rights to Zavvi.co.uk and its database.

 

Hut re-opened the site last March selling perfume, lingerie and sportswear, alongside a mix of entertainment products. But the company, which provides online retail services to the likes of WH Smith, subsequently acquired the rights to Zavvi.com and – after months of low-key promotion – is set to take the Zavvi name back into the public arena with high-profile TV ads and posters on the London Underground.

 

“We want to bring Zavvi back to life, to tell them we are back and here to stay,” explains commercial director Richard Chapple.

 

 

But this is only the first step of what will be a comprehensive revamp of the Zavvi site. In January, The Hut will be adding download sales to the site – something the original Zavvi never did – with Chapple promising that new features will be added each week. These will include blogs, customer reviews and videos.

 

Chapple says that the site will be going for the “cutting edge” music market, mentioning The Dead Weather, The Chapman Family and The Big Pink as bands the site will champion. “Our other retail partners are more concentrated on the Top 10 and mass market. But it’s not an easy thing for us to achieve,” he says. “Music is part of our strategy to become a hardcore entertainment website.”

 

Chapple acknowledges the move is not without risk: the collapse of Zavvi sent shockwaves throughout the industry, while many consumers were angered by problems in receiving their money back from Zavvi gift vouchers.

 

However, Chapple says that the Hut Group has factored this into its strategy. “We need to tell people that we are back and separate from the previous owners,” he says.

 

“We have got a lot of work to do to bring it back. But there are a lot of positives around what Zavvi means in the entertainment space. That is why Hut invested in it.”

 

Source: Music Week

 

 

I've seen 2 adverts about Peacocks selling music today on ITV2. I never saw this article so I was shocked LOL. The ads were for BEP's and Snow Patrol, but I really am hoping this works! And with GAME and stuff too!

i saw the Snow Patrol ad on ITV2 too, was pretty shocked. it'l work though, the idiots that buy clothes there will obviously buy anything.