Musicland Goes Online; Books to Pick Up in 2000

-- Publishers Weekly, 6/28/1999

Last Wednesday, June 23, Musicland opened Web sites that mirror its four retail divisions: SamGoody.com, Suncoast.com, MediaPlay.com and OnCue.com. The sites offer a complete selection of music and video from the stores, but will initially contain just 1600-2000 book titles relating to celebrities and with entertainment themes.

Next year, however, the company plans to offer its full complement of books, currently some 40,000-60,000 titles (most of which are sold through Media Play and On Cue). All the titles will be sold on each of the Web sites, even though Sam Goody and Suncoast stores sell few books. The company intends to increase its book offerings beyond the number of titles carried in stores. Musicland d s not, however, aim to offer all in-print titles. As Marcia Appel, senior v-p of advertising and marketing, told PW, "To put out a million books is not strategic."