Food giants check out IT sales

The ranks of supermarkets entering the channel are set to grow with Sainsbury's entering the fray and Morrisons also rumoured to be preparing its own pilot.

Sainsbury's tested the waters over the Christmas period by partnering with Planet distribution to provide PlayStations to its Savacentre stores.

A representative for Sainsbury's said: 'PlayStations went into Savacentres over Christmas. They won't go into the normal supermarkets. There is an 80/20 mix of food to other goods in Savacentres and PlayStations suited the model. We do not plan to sell PCs - we'll leave that to our competitors.'

Martin Monnickendam, associate director of Planet Distribution, added: 'This initial trial has huge potential - Savacentre is assured of success.

However, we hope it will continue to expand its home entertainment and video game sections and that it will become a permanent feature in store.

We look forward to a long-term relationship with Sainsbury's.'

Bradford supermarket chain Morrisons is also rumoured to be interested in running a pilot operation selling software or hardware by the end of the year. It follows the success of Tesco, which recently continued its PC sales operation by launching Fujitsu 400MHz-based machines at #899.

An Asda representative revealed that its PC sales operation would also continue: 'PC sales have surpassed our initial expectations. It is a good basis for going forward with the development of the business.'

Peter Day, analyst at Inteco, added: 'General retailers have seen the precedent set in France and Germany. The fact that Tesco's pilot did not fall flat on its face has spurred others on.'

But he added that the provision of technical support would always pose a problem to non-specialist retailers: 'PlayStations are more attractive and set-top boxes may also join them because they are cheap with fewer support issues.'