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Sainsbury's Technology

Sainsbury's gives up on its digital entertainment business less an a year after relaunching it

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By Tony Connelly, Sports Marketing Reporter

September 21, 2016 | 2 min read

Sainsbury’s is closing its digital entertainment arm less a year after re-launching it following a detailed review in which the supermarket concluded it would focus more on its core businesses.

Sainsbury's

Sainsbury's

The company has already initiated the shutdown of its Entertainment on Demand service with the film and TV arm already closed and the music and eReader services shutting down completely on 30 November, although customers will no longer be able to make purchases from 1 October.

“Following a commercial review we have taken the strategic decision to close the Sainsbury’s Entertainment service,” it said in a statement. “We know many customers valued this service and we regret to disappoint them. We’re now contacting these customers to let them know what options are available to them, including e-book customers who can migrate their libraries across to a new platform.”

In January this year Sainsbury’s re-launched the service in an attempt to open up more digital revenue streams to offset the decline in its physical entertainment sales. However more popular services such as Amazon, Apple and Netflix have made the digital entertainment market fierce and hugely competitive, leaving Sainsbury’s to conclude that trying to compete in the space was not a worthwhile investment.

Customers who have purchased music from the service will be able to download their music libraries and export them to other platforms including iTunes and Google Play Music. As for the customers who made eReader or film and TV purchases, Sainsbury’s stated that it would be in touch with them before 15 October to offer refunds.

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