Off its trolley?
Sainsbury's plans to launch a digital download service in time for Christmas, wading into an already crowded market.
The supermarket said the move is part of a wider initiative to ramp up its online entertainment offering, with a new website launched just last week.
The new site, www.sainsburys.co.uk/entertainment, provides people with access to over 150,000 books, DVDs, Blu-rays, CDs and games to pre-order and purchase online, but in doing so is going head-to-head with the likes of iTunes and Amazon.
In a ‘few weeks' visitors to the new site will be able to download singles and albums plus back catalogues at ‘competitive prices,' according to Sainsbury's, although it has not confirmed how competitive costs will be.
It said downloads will be compatible with all music libraries and MP3 players, including iTunes and iPods and believes it will be the first supermarket website to offer films to purchase and download. Sainsbury's will also launch a range of e-books in early 2011 and seems to be hoping that shoppers will add them to their cart along with their groceries instead of visiting dedicated entertainment websites.
Richard Crampton, head of entertainment at Sainsbury's, said: "Online enables us to offer much more than we can in store. The new site will join seamlessly with our existing non-food online offer so customers can browse and discover their favourite music, films, books and games easily."
All products are currently delivered free of charge and earn Nectar points too.
