Supermarket shuns Internet selling, for now

Asda started its home shopping service on Friday, but is holding off on a move to the Web. The service will sell books, videos and CDs over the phone from a depot in South London.

The supermarket will make 140 000 book titles available, compared to the 1.5 million books Amazon.co.uk claims to offer. Asda, which has 4 per cent of the UK entertainment market, will not produce a catalogue relying instead on people to ring up with requests. The call centre will run on two databases - one for books and one for videos and CDs.

Julian Graham-Rack, responsible for the project at Asda, said: "We are looking for the mass market. The Internet - with only about 10 per cent penetration - is not that yet." However, he added that the company will be setting up an ecommerce site next year.

Dermot Hill, MD of online retailer, CDdirect, said: "Selling on the phone is OK for very well-known brands. The problem is with slightly less well-known brands which need visual reinforcement That's when the Web comes in - you can have pictures and even play clips of songs."

Jenny Rogerson, customer services manager at online lingerie store, Bras Direct, said: "I think it is a shame that Asda has not set up a site. Our site, although only a small percentage of our total business, is growing at a phenomenal rate. Ecommerce is really starting to take off in this country now."