Record companies look to M&S to bring back 'intimidated' customers

Traditional music shops are so intimidating to women and older buyers that the world's biggest record company has decided to bypass them and sell music by some of its top artists at food and clothes stores such as Marks & Spencer.

Traditional music shops are so intimidating to women and older buyers that the world's biggest record company has decided to bypass them and sell music by some of its top artists at food and clothes stores such as Marks & Spencer.

Universal Music, the giant entertainment conglomerate whose roster includes Sting, U2, S Club 7, Hear'Say and Pavarotti, is convinced the female shopper wants to be able to buy her clothes, weekend food and a funky compilation CD as one shopping package.

The company has negotiated CD racks in 200 M&S stores including the flagship store at Marble Arch in London. Sales during an experimental period have been so successful that Universal is now about to start a marketing campaign in women's magazines luring women to buy music without entering a record shop.

Steve Gallant, commercial director at Universal Music, said yesterday: "Conventional music stores are quite masculine. They are very noisy, with stripped steel and black ceilings and are very claustrophobic compared to the bright environment of other stores.

"HMV and Virgin tell us they are happy with that because their core customer is 18-24 and male. But we know that there is a massive market out there of women and lapsed buyers who don't go into record shops. With our CD compilations in Marks & Spencer they tend to come in and ask for mood music, perhaps music for a dinner party, and we are doing compilations which answer that need. But individual artists who are popular with this market are also selling very well. A Dusty Springfield album has sold 30,000 copies in M&S."

Now Universal executives are discussing using other "non traditional outlets" for selling CDs. They have had staff studying the success in France at selling music at news kiosks; and newsagent shops in Britain may be used. They are also speaking to car manufacturers about a suggestion to include CDs with each new car sold.

And where companies use music in their television adverts, they will be urged to send CDs to their direct mail customers.

A spokesman for HMV said: "Among the core buyer age group we actually have a fairly even split between male and female; but as music buyers get older it does tend to become a bit more male biased as the younger women become mothers and their focus changes."