zavvi

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zavvi
Type	Public
Founded	September 2007 (2007-09) (as zavvi) 1971 (as Virgin Megastores)
Headquarters	London, England, UK
Key people	Simon Douglas, managing director Steve Peckham, finance director Guy Meisl, head of logistics Gary Williamson, head of music Steve Kincaid, e-commerce director
Industry	Retail
Products	Books Consoles DVDs Games Magazines Music T-Shirts
Employees	2,500 (2007)[1]
Parent	zavvi entertainment group
Website	zavvi.co.uk zavvi.ie

zavvi (also known as zavvi.co.uk) is an entertainment retail chain in the UK and Ireland, originally Virgin Megastores. zavvi was formed in September 2007 when a management buy-out team purchased the company from Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Virgin era 1.2 zavvi era 2 Awards 3 Discounts 4 In-store events 5 Merchandising 6 Product range 7 Staff uniform 8 Stores 9 Technology 10 zavvi.co.uk 11 Future 12 See also 13 References 14 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Virgin era

Main article: Virgin Megastores

Sir Richard Branson started his first Virgin store on London's Oxford Street in 1971. In 1979 the company opened their first Megastore at the end of Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road.

Between the 1980s and 1990s, the chain grew steadily, most notably through its merger with Our Price whilst under the ownership of WH Smith. By the 1990s Virgin Megastores had become an international franchise as part of the Virgin Group.

[edit] zavvi era

During the early to mid 2000s Virgin Group decided to sell off most of its Virgin Megastores to various companies, including the Lagardere Group. The UK and Ireland arm of Virgin Megastores was purchased by members of the management, led by managing director Simon Douglas and finance director Steve Peckham, for an undisclosed sum.^[2]

On 17th September 2007 it was announced that the UK arm of the Virgin Megastores brand was to break away from the Virgin Group.^[3] A management buy-out offer was accepted which resulted in the Managing Directors taking the company on as the largest independent entertainment retailer in the UK. EUK, the company's main stock supplier, also the supplier to chains including Woolworths and Sainsburys, were not involved with the MBO but are investing heavily to support the new management team, employing most of the ex-Virgin buying team. After the change of ownership all 125 stores continue to trade under the name "zavvi" rather than "Virgin Megastores".

On 8th October 2007, Simon Douglas unveiled his "clear and simple" logo for the zavvi stores and website. The distinctive portion of the logo is the Z in the dot of the i.^[4] zavvi also appointed creative marketing agency Live & Breath to lead the rebranding of the stores.^[5] Rebranding began in November 2007.^[6] In January 2008 the online system was rebranded to "zavvi.co.uk" and Virgin Megastores Ireland changed to 'zavvi Ireland'.

[edit] Awards

On 11th April 2008, zavvi's Oxford Street outlet won the MCV Industry Excellence Star Store award due to its "fine retail experience"^[7].

[edit] Discounts

zavvi remains partners with the Virgin Group, Virgin Money cardholders are entitled to 10% off both online and in-store^[8], stores will also continue to accept Virgin vouchers for the foreseeable future^[8]. Virgin Tribe members receive 10% off most purchases and 5% off hardware^[9]. Staff members are entitled to 20% off most purchases and 10% off hardware^[10]. Students are able to qualify for a zavvi student card when a valid form of identification is provided such as a NUS card or a UCAS card.

Virgin Addict cards are no longer issued or stamped as of February 2008.

[edit] In-store events

In November 2007 Wet Wet Wet were the first band to play two gigs at zavvi stores, in Glasgow and London.^[11] zavvi continues to hold signings, performances and appearances from a variety of musicians and authors^[12].

[edit] Merchandising

zavvi has begun the pricing of its products at round figures, similar to Fopp. The managing director ruled out 'crazy discounting' of its products though still maintains the need to compete against other firms^[13]. Items can be returned within 28 days as long as they are in perfect condition^[14]. zavvi aims to differentiate itself from its competitors by introducing limited edition and exclusive products in the future^[15]. zavvi launched its first advertising campaign over the 2007 Christmas trading period^[16].

As of April 2008, zavvi promotes its 5 for £30 offer on DVDs, 2 for £30 on Nintendo DS games and a Buy one get one free offer on selected Xbox 360 titles. Also available is the offer of spending over £20 or more, selected items are £4. This particular promotion has previously included albums by Amy Winehouse, Michael Bublé, Oasis and Take That with selected PC games, DVDs and Accessories also being available.

[edit] Product range

zavvi stores can be divided into three primary sections: Visual Media, Games and Music.

The games department compromises of games and accessories for all of the major consoles from the Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, DS and PSP along with some PC games.

The visual media department primarily consists of DVDs. As of March 2008, with the demise of the HD DVD format, zavvi stores only stock the Blu-ray High-Definition format. The visual media section can be sub-divided into animation, children's, comedy, documentary, DVD boxsets, chart/new releases, health & fitness, martial arts, music, world cinema, TV drama and films.

The music department features a chart wall of the top 100 albums and a separate chart wall for the top ten singles. The stores back-catalog can be sub-divided into blues, children's, classical, country, dance, easy listening, folk, jazz, metal, hip-hop, rap, reggae, soundtracks and world music.

Music merchandise including badges, magazines, posters, stickers and T-Shirts are also stocked along with board games, MP3 players and wall art among other things. Following a successful trial period for books, eventually all zavvi stores will feature a books department^[17].

Some stores have an individual Virgin Media section that operates individually from the zavvi store.

[edit] Staff uniform

zavvi employees can be identified by their zavvi lanyards that reads "Staff. here to help"; It carries the zavvi logo similarly to the necklace.

[edit] Stores

Country	Number of Stores	Largest Store
England	92	Oxford Street, London
Northern Ireland	5
Scotland	15	Buchanan Street, Glasgow
Wales	2	Capitol Centre, Cardiff
Ireland	12
Total	125[18]

[edit] Technology

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2008)

The computer system at the heart of zavvi is ELVIS (EPOS Linked Virgin Information System), which was designed for Virgin Megastores in 1991. ELVIS collects data from shop's point-of-sale terminals for stock and sales reporting, provides instant information for customers on all the shop's product lines and allows for electronic re-ordering from suppliers. In September 2006 ELVIS was updated to utilise "RealTime Polling", with inventory updates every 15 minutes providing accurate on-hand stock information and producing up-to-date sales reports.^[19]

zavvi also uses an in store customer ordering system named WES.

[edit] zavvi.co.uk

The zavvi.co.uk website operates as zavvi online limited, a subsidiary of the zavvi entertainment group. It is registered in Guernsey. Hybris, a multi-channel communication and commerce software vendor and its implementation partner Javelin Group played a key role in the 70% increase in zavvi's online during its first Christmas in 2007^[20].

[edit] Future

On 21st September 2007, Simon Douglas announced that zavvi would be making a fresh start in the entertainment retail space. This included the plans to focus more on the sale of games, to compete with GAME and Gamestation^[21]. This was followed up by the announcement that zavvi's in-store games department is to expand by 15%^[22] due to its success over the 2007 Christmas trading period. An announcement two days later also revealed that zavvi will differentiate between the store and their competitors with limited editions and exclusive products in addition to increasing the stores online market share during 2008^[23]. All zavvi stores will feature a book department following a successful trial^[24].

However, zavvi Ireland is burdened with a loss of €3.4 million in the year ending March 2007 which the management team will need to work hard to reclaim^[25].

[edit] See also

• Virgin Megastores

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• zavvi.co.uk
• zavvi careers
• zavvi.ie