News

Newsweek lauds Virgin kiosk project

April 21, 2002

Virgin Entertainment Group, which has launched several kiosk initiatives in the past year, is featured in the April 29 issues of Newsweekmagazine courtesy of one of those programs.

The corporation is among 11 companies featured in the magazine's cover story, "Companies of the Future," which is part of Newsweek's"Next Frontiers" series on modern technology.

Virgin is profiled courtesy of its MegaPlay kiosk, which offers music buyers sampling access to roughly 250,000 CDs at the company's entertainment megastores. Customers are able to listen to songs off CDs, access information about the CD, and read reviews of the recording from leading music magazines including Spinand Rolling Stone.

Jan de Jong, Virgin vice president for information technology, said the company currently had 15 kiosks located at four stores -- at a cost of $5,000 apiece -- and plans to expand the program to each of its 22 outlets in the United States and Canada during 2002 and `03.

The kiosks were created after Virgin officials realized music customers could not sample a wide variety of CDs in their stores.

"The biggest problem we have as a music retailer is that we sell a product that is shrink-wrapped," de Jong told Newsweek. "You can look at it, smell it and see it, but not hear it."

Last year, Virgin Records in the UK launched V.Shop, a record-store-in-a-kiosk concept, allowing customers to purchase and pay for music and other entertainment products at a kiosk. The purchases are then shipped to the customer's home.