Russian mobile phone retail chain Svyaznoy is testing CD sales in its outlets nationwide.
The retailer has a non-exclusive arrangement to stock “Proptiv Pravil” (“Against the Rules”), the most recent album by Dima Bilan, winner of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.
The move is an attempt to diversify the range of goods carried by Svyaznoy, which says it may soon offer a broader variety of CDs by domestic as well as international artists, bringing the number of titles to 40.
With 1,670 retail outlets throughout Russia, Svyaznoy occupies the No. 2 position among the domestic mobile chain stores behind Euroset, which has more than 5,000 outlets in Russia and other CIS states.
Euroset was the first mobile retailer in the country to trial CDs sales. Last year, the company exclusively sold a CD title by popular pop/rock singer Zemfira. The company reported 140,000 sales of the album from October through December.
The CD format dominates recorded music sales in Russia, accounting for 96% of the market, according to the IFPI’s “Recording Industry In Numbers” publication. The country’s digital music market, notes the report, has “grown considerably” and is driven by mobile.
