The Columbia House Co., a
unit of Sony Music Entertainment and the Warner Music Group, launched Total E, a full-service entertainment
shopping site.
The site will sell music CDs, videos, CD-ROMs, audiobooks, and books. Total E
offers customers “a personalized, content-rich site in an easy-to-use, non-
club shopping environment,” the company said.
The launch of Total E follows record growth for Columbia House’s Club Web
site.
Columbia House said it will leverage its business skills in the areas of
targeted consumer marketing, customer service, and direct-to-consumer
fulfillment in the creation and expansion of Total E. And it will profit from
its ability to tap into Columbia House’s huge, in-house preexisting
advertising base and in-house customer files.
“Our experience and success with electronic commerce is second to none as
proven by our highly trafficked Club Web site,” said Richard Wolter, chairman
and CEO, The Columbia House Company.
“We see this as the ideal opportunity for Columbia House to use its
expertise to develop a non-club business to meet the demands of the rapidly
growing online market. We also see this as an opportunity for Columbia
House to extend its customer relationships beyond the lifetime of club
membership.”
By combining Total E customer profile and sales information with the
purchasing information housed in Columbia House’s databases, Total E will be
able to automatically deliver to each registered user a highly targeted
selection of products on its homepage, the company said.
The site also offers audio clips, reviews, in-depth artist profiles and
information on artists, labels/studios, writers, producers, etc.
