Home > J&R in the News > "J&R E-service"

By Janet Pinkerton

J&R Music and Computerworld's web site, www.JR.com, looks like one of its famous, strategically placed newspaper advertisements.

The site is a patchwork of product offers, accented with easy-to-view product photos The retail prices are prominent, but then so are the product features. And what you see is diversity--it's hard not to look at the page and not really want at least one item, more likely about five.

"The way we look at our web site," Abe Brown, J&R's advertising and marketing coordinator, said, "is that it's an extension of the mail-order business."

A 27-year-old mail-order business, one might add.

"It's emulating the thing we do best: offer a huge, huge selection at the lowest possible prices and never, never compromise customer service," Brown said.

J&R has been selling product on the web for approximately three years, "We began with everything that we sell (from its Park Row location in Manhattan) but music," Brown said.

Other retailers are only now beginning to carefully negotiate manufacturer authorizations to sell on the Internet, but Brown said, "We've had no major problems with any of the vendors when we started. The way we conduct ourselves on the web is a mirror of the way we conduct ourselves at the stores."

J&R staffs a toll-free number 24 hours a day, seven days a week and answers customer questions on-line as well. "One area that we can't neglect is customer satisfaction," Brown said. "There are no short cuts."

The web site has allowed J&R to fully leverage its advertising in national-but-still New York-centric newspapers, such as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. "We use those vehicles to promote our web site," Brown said. "We find this is one of the most effective ways to attract people to our web site."

At the upper left of each ad is a "Walk In, Phone In, Log In" graphic underscoring J&R's accessibility to the consumer.

Ever mindful of its target demographic, J&R last month began streaming WBGO Jazz 88.3 FM's 24-hour broadcast of jazz, blues, and public affairs live on www.JR.com.