Tambala Joins Digital Stores’ Board

Digital Stores, the UK’s leading direct-to-consumer retail services company, has appointed digital music veteran Rudy Tambala to their board as a non-executive director.

With more than two decades’ experience working within the music business, as an artist, label boss, e-business consultant, Head of Digital for Virgin Retail (UK & EIRE) and most recently as Head of Internet and Innovation for Ministry of Sound, Tambala has an unequalled eye for how the internet has irrevocably changed the music business, and how best to adapt and flourish within this new environment.

Tambala has already begun working with the Digital Stores team to refine and develop the company’s strategy for connecting with the new generation of ‘digital natives’, as the company consolidates its position as the first port of call for leading bands and brands wishing to embrace D2C.

This has involved a complete analysis of Digital Stores current sites and the development of a measurable framework for consumer engagement in the social media space.

While the company has already made strides in this area – creating a widget for its flagship site Recordstore.co.uk for fans to display the latest news and releases on their MySpace and Facebook pages, as well as regularly blogging and tweeting – it has recognised the need to re-evaluate the entire retail process for the new generation of digital consumers.

Tambala’s appointment is a key step in Digital Stores’ ongoing mission to stay ahead of the curve and provide their customers with the best online retail experience possible, to not just cater for today’s needs but to anticipate tomorrow’s wants.

Said Rudy, "These guys are among the few that really understand the need to fully embrace the disruption caused by digital media, and thus turn issues into commercial opportunities.

"I bring in frameworks for social commerce, consumer engagement marketing, niche eBoutiques and so on, and it is a tremendous opportunity – and great fun – for me to apply these to some of the worlds most loved brands."

Commented Digital Stores CEO Russel Coultart, “I'm delighted that Rudy is joining the company. I've worked with him on a number of projects, and I'm very impressed with his knowledge and understanding of the changing retail landscape and existing and forthcoming changes in consumer behaviour in the digital world we all now inhabit. I'm confident he will work well with our team and help us maintain our position as the leading D2C music company in the UK.”

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ABOUT DIGITAL STORES:

Digital Stores is the UK’s leading direct-to-consumer retail services company, providing entertainment brands with complete end-to-end e-commerce, live-event ticketing, interactive marketing, data collection & fulfilment services.

The company builds and runs online stores for globally recognised, high profile entertainment and character brands including:

• The Beatles
• Queen
• Cartoon Network
• ITV

The state of the art e-commerce system allows fans to purchase a wide variety of products from clients’ stores in one single transaction, including:

• Tickets
• Digital Downloads
• Merchandise
• CDs & DVDs

The company also owns and operates the award winning, independent online retailer recordstore.co.uk.

For more information, please visit www.digitalstores.co.uk

ABOUT RUDY TAMBALA:

Rudy has over 2 decades’ experience in the music industry, initially as a recording artist and producer in the bands A. R. Kane and M|A|R|R|S, who pioneered the use of sampling in their UK number one single “Pump up the Volume”. More recently Rudy was Head of Virgin Digital, UK and Eire from 2005-2007, and has been Head of Internet and Innovation at Ministry of Sound since 2007.

Since 1996 he has also been an Internet professional, and was responsible for building the original Easyjet ecommerce site. He recently started a consultancy (tambalaconsulting.com and /blog) and has defined the service features for the new D2C platform (d2mondo.com) for building artist-fan sites with eCommerce and community.

Rudy has two distinct roles within the digital arena:

• Strategy and implementation, specialising in the areas of direct-to-consumer (D2C), combining technology, eCommerce and social marketing.

• Innovation - developing solutions that make organisations more competitive and more efficient, applying his experience from the areas of technology, new media, eLearning, digital marketing and ecommerce.