Live From Grantham Lincolnshire, the Future for the UK Retail Sector: The UK's First In-Store TV Shopping Channel

Live From Grantham Lincolnshire, the Future for the UK Retail Sector: The UK's First In-Store TV Shopping Channel

LONDON, September 22/PRNewswire/ -- As high-street retailers continue to struggle, Grantham-based Downtown, the largest single-site garden centre and department store in Europe has been bucking the trend and has found an unprecedented way to further accelerate that success. On October 1st 2005, the retailer will launch Downtown Superstore TV, a shopping channel, which will broadcast live on Sky channel 640 from a 2000 sq ft glass sided studio located in the middle of the store's 25 acre complex at Gonerby Moor near Grantham. Downtown attracts 2m visitors a year, the channel will give the retailer access to an additional 2m shoppers a day.

Downtown, and Superstore TV, a retail merchandising company, which owns a dedicated TV channel, spotted the opportunity to combine forces and offer both companies' huge product ranges through a dedicated shopping channel - Downtown Superstore TV. In so doing, Downtown has found an extremely cost effective solution to expansion challenges.

The channel will sell identical products to those available in the Downtown store including furniture, home wares, cosmetics, fashion, gardening tools, hardware and sportswear. It will combine a range of popular programming formats such as reality TV, gaming, chat shows and 'shop opera' to make it more than just a shopping medium, but an all-round entertainment channel.

6.7m homes subscribe to Sky services, giving Downtown Superstore TV an estimated daily audience of up to two million viewers. The company estimates that it will have the potential to turnover in excess of GBP100m in the first three years.

Steve Whatley, MD of Superstore TV and joint MD of Downtown Superstore TV commented, "This is the future for retail offering true multi-channel convergence: on-air, on-line and in-store. As a family owned business Oldrids has the flexibility and vision to invest in this potentially hugely profitable sales mechanism. That they have done so by taking a whole channel is testament to their belief in the potential that TV shopping holds."

Martin Isaac, MD of Oldrids and joint MD of Downtown Superstore TV agrees, "We were looking to expand Downtown, but to find a 25-acre site with good communications and planning permission in our heartland is virtually impossible. When Superstore TV offered the chance to take up branded programming, we realised that a solution was immediately available which would enable us to achieve the sales growth we were looking for without the requirement to invest in significant additional infrastructure. We already have a huge logistics and distribution centre, a significant back office facility and a team of 40 expert buyers, so we are generating incremental sales with little addition to existing overheads.

"With Downtown Superstore TV we're able to offer existing and new customers all the benefits of shopping at Downtown; friendly staff, a huge range and brilliant value, from the comfort of their own homes. Everybody can purchase with the peace of mind that the product can be returned or exchanged just like in a real store."

Henry Scott, CEO of Simply Media TV Ltd comments, "Downtown Superstore TV is a demonstration of the coming of age for shopping TV. Offering the same branded products for sale on-air, on-line and in-store is the future for retail and at Simply Media we have the technology and the air-time to make it possible."

- Simply Shopping (channel 638)

- Superstore TV (channel 640)

- Simply Ideas (channel 641)

- Shop Vector (channel 642)

Simply Media's transactional website can be found at www.simplyshoppingtv.co.uk.

Source: Downtown Superstore TV

Richard Rawlins, +44-(0)7766-776508

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