THE MARKET When South Africans look for digital entertainment of

THE MARKET
When South Africans look for digital entertainment
of any sort, they head for Look & Listen. From
CDs that cover the spectrum of musical genres to
DVDs, games, Apple iPods, MP3s - and “must
have” accessories in each format - Look & Listen
is a treasure trove for the senses.
Music and movie buffs, along with the gaming
fraternity, digital fundis and MP3 fanatics find
everything they need under one roof in any Look
& Listen branch across South Africa.
With an incredibly high market share given
the relatively small number of stores in the chain,
the Look & Listen Group is a growing force
on the home entertainment front. The Group
comprises two retail chains: Look & Listen and
Jive City. Look & Listen is about broad middleto up-market appeal, while the Jive City chain
has appeal in the lower end of the market in rural
areas.
Look & Listen shoppers are in the mid
to upper end market segment, LSM 7 - 10. Its
primary target market is the 16 - 34 year age
group, but secondary market targeting covers the
lucrative 35 - 64 year age group.
The Group puts enormous effort into staying
on top of international entertainment retail trends
and has been successful in being at the forefront
of locally available and specially imported music
and movie DVDs.
The brand has also taken cognisance of the
fact that Gaming is one of the fastest growing
entertainment sectors in the world, and has
upgraded its Gaming offerings to capture a sector
of the market that is dedicated to its craft (this
includes PC, PSP, PS2, PS3, Xbox and Nintendo
formats). Look & Listen has also introduced a
dedicated kiddie’s DVD and CD area in each
store that focuses on Disney products and other
well known titles for children. An online store
wraps up the baby-to-boomer market, with many
people browsing and buying from the comfort of
their own homes.
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Established in 2003, Jive City is based on
the successful Look & Listen retail formula
tailored to the specific market in which these
stores are located. Jive City operates in CBDs,
shopping centres and outlying rural areas where
significant growth has occurred, especially in the
new shopping centre developments.
Jive City offers a vast range of products that
match the demographics of the stores’ locations,
including CDs, DVDs, tapes and consumer
electronics. All Jive City stores are managed
centrally from the Group’s head office, thereby
ensuring consistent quality standards across the
chain.
ACHIEVEMENTS
Among its many achievements, Look & Listen is
particularly proud of the following:
• Look & Listen is the exclusive entertainment
retail partner of Discovery Vitality and
eBucks, two leading South African loyalty
schemes
• The brand’s commitment to innovation saw
the early adoption of Digital Kiosks, which
offer a wide range of MP3s, digital products
and related accessories, as well as the Apple
“store within a store” concept at selected
Look & Listen sites. Innovations like these
have made Look & Listen a market leader in
both Digital and Apple computer products
• 2005 saw Look & Listen listed in fifth
position in the Generation Next brand survey.
By 2006, the youngsters had voted it into
second position in their “favoured places to
shop for music” category
HISTORY
The brand was born in 1969 with a store in Eloff
Street, Johannesburg. Look & Listen’s landmark
Hillbrow store opened in 1974 and is still in the
family, now operating as Jive City.
In 1993 the chain grew from two to six
stores in a move that set the tone for the Group’s
future expansion. August 1999 saw investment
company Vestacor identifying the brand as a
superior retail investment opportunity, with what
it called “significant growth and value creation
potential”.
In September 2000, the four stores in the Spin
City Group were acquired and re-branded as
Jive City. The stores got the brand climbing the
charts, and have since grown to 36 outlets across
the country.
Look & Listen rocks on: Since 2004, the
brand has opened a further 15 stores across South
Africa.
THE PRODUCT
The products that Look & Listen carries
include:
• CDs
• DVDs
• Music DVDs
• MP3 players and digital accessories
• Speakers for iPods and MP3 players
• Gaming consoles and games across all
formats, including PC, PSP, PS2, PS3 , Xbox
and Nintendo
• Accessories such as t-shirts, CD wallets,
laptop bags
Look & Listen has developed strong
relationships with the suppliers across all formats,
which enables it to keep its finger on the pulse
with regard to new products and promotions.
This pioneering brand is constantly looking for
innovative products and services to satisfy its
customer’s wants and needs. Stores have loyal
customers who visit frequently and are offered
something different on every visit. The Look &
Listen key differentiator is the range of products
it carries in each format.
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
Constantly upgrading products, services
and offerings, Look & Listen’s most recent
developments include:
• The opening of its 57th store. Currently, 21
stores fall under the Look & Listen brand and
36 stores are Jive City operations
• The signing of a deal that sees Look & Listen
being a prize sponsor for M-Net’s South
African Idols 2007, directly targeting its
market, for the second year running
As the Group continues to move with the
pulse of the market, Look & Listen and Jive City
look set for greater market share.
PROMOTION
Look & Listen has both an above-the-line and
below-the-line approach to advertising and
promotion. The brand collaborates with credible
media partners and radio personalities, like Barry
Ronge on 702/Cape Talk, which helps it to maintain
a strong presence.
The Group actively pursues a variety of
new projects in the music, DVD, gaming
and accessories markets. Its well established
relationship with suppliers allows the negotiation
of co-operative deals that benefit both the supplier
and Look & Listen.
Look & Listen is edgy, fun and innovative
in its approach to branding and promotions.
The company makes use of print, online, radio
and TV advertising. It also adds value through
exciting in-store promotions
with suppliers where, for
example, customers buy a
DVD and get a free t-shirt,
or some other high-quality
promotional item.
In 2006 Look & Listen
appointed
the
services
of one of South Africa’s
top five ad agencies and
subsequently introduced the
slogan “For the Fans”, which
captures the essence of the
brand’s commitment to the
communities it services.
Heavily driven through
radio, print and online, the
campaign has been successful
in keeping Look & Listen
top-of-mind. This campaign
was followed up in 2007
with the “365 days of music,
movie and gaming facts”
campaign. The introduction
of these dedicated brand only
campaigns has been highly
successful in achieving brand
awareness and establishing
the relationship between the
brand and the Look & Listen
customer.
Look & Listen strives
to maintain a consistent
message in all its advertising:
Company strategy is to target
the relevant media partners
that will drive the various
formats Look & Listen sells.
This is why Look & Listen has
become the preferred retail
partner of NAG, South
Africa’s only Gaming
magazine specifically
targeted at gamers.
Both Look & Listen
and Jive City make use
of exciting in store and
window displays to
highlight new releases
and ongoing promotions,
inviting fans in to explore
the retail experience.
The brand also
supports and sponsors
local events such as
Oppikoppi, the annual
event that has become
one of South Africa’s
most
successful
alternative
music
festivals. Local events
are seen by the company
as
great
branding
opportunities.
BRAND VALUES
It’s all “For the Fans”: If you are a fan of
entertainment - music, Gaming, DVDs, MP3s and
all their respective accessories - this is the brand
that has what you’re after.
The vision statement: “To
constantly fuel our customer’s
enthusiasm for entertainment
that in turn fuels our success.
Look & Listen is for the fans”
is pivotal to growth across
both the Look & Listen and
the Jive City brands.
A
company
policy
is to remain the leading
entertainment retailer in
South Africa by consistently
adapting to provide a superior
shopping experience. Look
& Listen does this through
quality customer service and a
range of products that always
meets consumer demands.
All of its stores are
corporate
owned,
Look
& Listen believes that
franchising would dilute
the outstanding product
knowledge
and
buying
expertise of all staff. This
further enables the company
to manage all aspects of retail
operations and merchandise
procurement to the strictest
standards, while adhering to
the overall quality experience
it has designed for its
customers.
A trip to Look & Listen
shouldn’t be a hurried affair,
so trading hours in most
stores have been extended
to include a 7-day week and
public holidays, 9:00am to
10:30 pm. Staff members
are trained to assist the
customer,
regardless
of whether the request
is about DVD’s, CD’s
or MP3’s. Anyone who
works for Look &
Listen had better know
their stuff!
A final touch to
its superior service is
that if Look & Listen
doesn’t have what
you’re looking for,
they’ll find it for you.
It is customer care like
this that has seen this
brand grow from one
small store to the place
that springs to mind
first for South Africans
looking for their digital
entertainment fix.
THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT
LOOK & LISTEN
¶ Look & Listen is open from 9:00 am to
10:30 pm Monday to Sunday, including
public holidays
¶ Customers can also get what ever
they are looking for online on
www.lookandlisten.co.za
¶ The Look & Listen brand was established
in 1969 with a store in Eloff Street
¶ The company now operates 57 stores
across the Look & Listen and Jive City
brands
¶ Look & Listen offers a vast range of
special imports on CD and DVD
¶ Look and Listen carries the widest range
of CD, movie DVD, Music DVD, Games
and digital products and accessories
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