Woolworths steps into digital media

Woolworths has launched a digital download site for music, video, games and mobile, while announcing that it will no longer sell CD singles in its stores from August.

The high street retailer said that 55 million CD singles were bought in the UK in 2000 but that this had slumped to just eight million in 2007 and that the trend has moved to online sales.

Woolworths will axe sales of CD singles in its stores with the exception of one-off events like the X-Factor winner which still sell hundreds of thousands of copies.

"Digital downloading is now the true customer choice for listening and purchasing single music tracks," said Jim Batchelor, commercial director at Woolworths.

"CDs are alive and well for album sales, but the physical singles market is in terminal decline. Our customers are now embracing the world of download which is why we feel the time is right to launch our new digital site."

Special promotions will run during the first week of the site's launch, but in general most tracks will be priced at 77p, albums at £7.97, films and TV shows from 97p and mobile content from £1.50.

Downloads will be managed through an application that has to be installed on customers' PCs.

The old Woolworths download site, which was music only, has now been switched off and will be replaced by the new service.

Woolworths boasts over 1.2 million tracks available in MP3 or WMA format from all major UK labels.

The new site will also include over 1,000 films and TV shows, over 200 PC games to download or play online and a range of mobile wallpapers, games and real and polyphonic ring-tones.