Dixons to create pleasure palaces for women

Debbie Davies — Fri, 10 Jun 2005 13:30:00 +0100

Dixons get female friendly zones

Electrical retailer Dixons is to turn some of its high street shops into pleasure palaces for women.

The high street multiple is planning in-store events for women and better information that explains product benefits rather than listing product specifications.

Research by the high street retailer showed that men were far more likely to consider Dixons for technology related purchases than women.

Last year, Dixons slimmed down its high street chain, closing a third of its branches.

Dixons is not the only company trying to overcome gender stereotypes. Boots has successfully attracted men into its beauty departments to buy cosmetics and Argos has just started describing irons as turbo, precision and ultimate control in the hope of making ironing more mascline.

Yahoo unveils music service in the US

Debbie Davies — Wed, 11 May 2005 17:23:38 +0100

Yahoo goes in download business

Music stocks hit a low note Wednesday after Yahoo! Inc. unveiled its new online music subscription service and drastically undercut the prices of the current industry leaders.

"Yahoo! Music Unlimited" allows consumers to download an unlimited number of songs onto their portable MP3 players for $60 annually.

Yahoo!'s (Research) new online subscription music service is a direct challenge to such rivals as Apple Computer Inc. (Research), Real Networks Inc. (Research) and Napster Inc. (Research).

Apple shares fell over 3 percent on the Nasdaq, while RealNetworks shares plunged 22 percent.

Shares of Napster sank over 30 percent in trading on the Nasdaq. The company will post fiscal fourth-quarter earnings after the bell; analysts, on average, expect the company to report a loss of 63 cents a share according to First Call.

Yahoo! shares edged higher.

In separate news, Warner Music Group Corp. (Research) shares fell more than 7 percent in their market debut after the record company's initial public offering raised a less-than-expected $554.2 million.

Late on Tuesday, the record company's 32.6 million-share IPO was set at $17 per share, which was far below its estimated range of $22 to $24 per share.

Debbie Davies News Archive

Dixons to create pleasure palaces for women

Yahoo unveils music service in the US