Play.com
Encyclopedia
Play Ltd., trading as Play.com, is a Jersey
-based online retailer of DVD
s, CD
s, book
s, gadget
s, video games, DRM
-free MP3
downloads, and other electronic products, as well as clothes
and accessories
. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Rakuten
Group.
Founded in 1998, Play.com was one of the first online retailers targeting the UK. It is the second biggest online retailer
in the UK market, according to traffic monitor Hitwise
, and it is in the top 50 globally. Play.com was ranked second on the November 2006 UK "Hot Shops List" compiled by IMRG and Hitwise
. Play.com has 7,000,000 registered customers, a catalogue of over 8,000,000 products, and it employs some 500 staff.
On 15 January 2009, a survey published by Verdict Research
found Play.com was the UK's second favourite music and video retailer, behind first place Amazon.co.uk and ahead of (now defunct) entertainment retailer Zavvi which was third. On 24 February 2009, it was reported that Play.com had topped the National Consumer Satisfaction Index, ahead of Amazon.co.uk and iTunes
.
s and electronics
, in 2006 it started selling personal computers, posters & T-Shirt
s and in 2007 it started selling HD DVD
s and Blu-rays, with sister site PlayUSA.com selling region 1 DVD
s, HD DVD
s and region A Blu-ray Disc
s and offering sales in a range of currencies. The site's interface has been redesigned on a number of occasions, partly based upon customer feedback. The PlayUSA.com website was closed down in February 2011.
The site was originally popular because it stocked every DVD available and offered free delivery on all items. One of the reasons for its success with United Kingdom
customers is that they can import items costing £18 and under without paying VAT.
Play.com now has approximately 500 staff and 8,000,000 items for sale. A feature called PlayTrade allows third party sellers to operate on the site. When using Playtrade, a seller chooses either to pay a monthly subscription plus a percentage-based closing fee, or no subscription and a per-item flat closing fee plus percentage. As there are no listing fees, this second option allows sellers to set up with no upfront costs.
In 2008, Play.com started selling DRM
-free MP3
s, clothing, accessories, and tickets for events
, allowing customers to buy and sell tickets. They also held a consumer games show which was open to the public, with tickets available through Play.com. This event was backed by Sony, Microsoft, Ubisoft, Activision, and THQ among others.
May 2009 saw Play.com launch their own Visa credit card in partnership with MBNA
. The card holder will earn PlayPoints for any purchase they make - these can then be redeemed against anything for sale on the Play.com website. Although it can be used for any purchases, if used on the Play.com website the card holder earns two PlayPoints for every £1 (GBP) spent; any other purchases outside of the website sees one PlayPoint awarded per £1 (GBP) spent (1000 PlayPoints = £10 Play.com gift voucher).
In September 2011, Japan-based
Rakuten, Inc. purchased Play.com for £25million.
Jersey
Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and...
-based online retailer of DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
s, CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
s, book
Book
A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...
s, gadget
Gadget
A gadget is a small technological object that has a particular function, but is often thought of as a novelty. Gadgets are invariably considered to be more unusually or cleverly designed than normal technological objects at the time of their invention...
s, video games, DRM
Digital rights management
Digital rights management is a class of access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after sale. DRM is any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that...
-free MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
downloads, and other electronic products, as well as clothes
Clothing
Clothing refers to any covering for the human body that is worn. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic and is a feature of nearly all human societies...
and accessories
Fashion accessory
Fashion accessories are decorative items that supplement and complement clothes, such as jewelery, gloves, handbags, hats, belts, scarves, wigs, watches, sunglasses, pins, stockings, bow ties, hand fans, leg warmers, leggings, neckties, suspenders, and tights....
. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Rakuten
Rakuten
operates and manages business to consumer electronic commerce site, Rakuten Ichiba, and consumer to consumer auction site, Rakuten Freemarket. Its business is centered in Japan, although it has began international expansion through acquisitions. The chief executive officer is Hiroshi Mikitani...
Group.
Founded in 1998, Play.com was one of the first online retailers targeting the UK. It is the second biggest online retailer
Online shop
Online shopping is the process whereby consumers directly buy goods or services from a seller in real-time, without an intermediary service, over the Internet. It is a form of electronic commerce...
in the UK market, according to traffic monitor Hitwise
Hitwise
Experian Hitwise is a global online competitive intelligence service which collects data directly from ISP networks to aid website managers in analysing trends in visitor behavior and to measure website market share. The Hitwise product is a commercial platform whereby customers pay Hitwise a...
, and it is in the top 50 globally. Play.com was ranked second on the November 2006 UK "Hot Shops List" compiled by IMRG and Hitwise
Hitwise
Experian Hitwise is a global online competitive intelligence service which collects data directly from ISP networks to aid website managers in analysing trends in visitor behavior and to measure website market share. The Hitwise product is a commercial platform whereby customers pay Hitwise a...
. Play.com has 7,000,000 registered customers, a catalogue of over 8,000,000 products, and it employs some 500 staff.
On 15 January 2009, a survey published by Verdict Research
Verdict Research
Verdict Research is a United Kingdom-based company founded by retail analyst Richard Hyman in 1984. It conducts research into all aspects of retailing and consumers producing both syndicated publications and tailored consulting projects and is headquartered in London.Verdict specialises in analysis...
found Play.com was the UK's second favourite music and video retailer, behind first place Amazon.co.uk and ahead of (now defunct) entertainment retailer Zavvi which was third. On 24 February 2009, it was reported that Play.com had topped the National Consumer Satisfaction Index, ahead of Amazon.co.uk and iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
.
History
Play.com was founded in 1998 under the name Play247.com, but re-branded as Play.com in 2000. Play.com originally sold region 1 and 2 DVDs only, but has since expanded its range to include CDs and video games and other electronic items. Since 2004 it has sold bookBook
A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...
s and electronics
Electronics
Electronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...
, in 2006 it started selling personal computers, posters & T-Shirt
T-shirt
A T-shirt is a style of shirt. A T-shirt is buttonless and collarless, with short sleeves and frequently a round neck line....
s and in 2007 it started selling HD DVD
HD DVD
HD DVD is a discontinued high-density optical disc format for storing data and high-definition video.Supported principally by Toshiba, HD DVD was envisioned to be the successor to the standard DVD format...
s and Blu-rays, with sister site PlayUSA.com selling region 1 DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
s, HD DVD
HD DVD
HD DVD is a discontinued high-density optical disc format for storing data and high-definition video.Supported principally by Toshiba, HD DVD was envisioned to be the successor to the standard DVD format...
s and region A Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
s and offering sales in a range of currencies. The site's interface has been redesigned on a number of occasions, partly based upon customer feedback. The PlayUSA.com website was closed down in February 2011.
The site was originally popular because it stocked every DVD available and offered free delivery on all items. One of the reasons for its success with United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
customers is that they can import items costing £18 and under without paying VAT.
Play.com now has approximately 500 staff and 8,000,000 items for sale. A feature called PlayTrade allows third party sellers to operate on the site. When using Playtrade, a seller chooses either to pay a monthly subscription plus a percentage-based closing fee, or no subscription and a per-item flat closing fee plus percentage. As there are no listing fees, this second option allows sellers to set up with no upfront costs.
In 2008, Play.com started selling DRM
Digital rights management
Digital rights management is a class of access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after sale. DRM is any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that...
-free MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
s, clothing, accessories, and tickets for events
Ticket (admission)
A ticket is a voucher that indicates that one has paid for admission to an event or establishment such as a theatre, movie theater, amusement park, zoo, museum, concert, or other attraction, or permission to travel on a vehicle such as an airliner, train, bus, or boat, typically because one has...
, allowing customers to buy and sell tickets. They also held a consumer games show which was open to the public, with tickets available through Play.com. This event was backed by Sony, Microsoft, Ubisoft, Activision, and THQ among others.
May 2009 saw Play.com launch their own Visa credit card in partnership with MBNA
MBNA
MBNA Corporation was a bank holding company and parent company of wholly owned subsidiary MBNA America Bank, N.A., headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, prior to being acquired by Bank of America in 2006...
. The card holder will earn PlayPoints for any purchase they make - these can then be redeemed against anything for sale on the Play.com website. Although it can be used for any purchases, if used on the Play.com website the card holder earns two PlayPoints for every £1 (GBP) spent; any other purchases outside of the website sees one PlayPoint awarded per £1 (GBP) spent (1000 PlayPoints = £10 Play.com gift voucher).
In September 2011, Japan-based
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
Rakuten, Inc. purchased Play.com for £25million.