Monday, September 19, 2005
S&S Sales Site Goes Live

After adding a number of enhancements that include making the shopping cart more prominent, Simon & Schuster began selling books and spokeword audio products directly to consumers last Thursday via its www.simonsays.com Web site. S&S has been working on adding a sales capability to its site for most of this year. "Offering products for sale yourself is the next step in the Net's evolution," says Kate Tentler, v-p and publisher of S&S Online and who oversaw the development of the sales feature.

Books and audios sold on the site will be offered at full price and consumers will pay all shipping and handling charges. S&S has been selling e-books on simonsays for several years, but now all books and audios listed on the site will have a button that will allow them to buy the item straight from the site. Links to other online e-tailers, who in all likelihood are selling the book at a discount, will continue to be included.

Ingram is handling fulfillment for all orders. In addition to its own titles, books from S&S' distribution clients are also available for sale on the site.

While S&S is clearly eager to see how consumers respond to the sales option, in a nod to its retail accounts, the company is not planning any major efforts to promote the new feature.--Jim Milliot

from PW Daily: SimonSays Buy; Chilly NEBA (Monday, September 19, 2005)