Zavvi zones in on T-shirt sales.

Zavvi is to roll out T-shirt zones in 19 of its stores by the end of July, as the retailer looks to merchandising to boost sales.

The initiative is one of the first from the company's new head of music Gary Williamson, who gained his position thanks to his vision for the retailer's merchandise offer. He aims to roll this out to the rest of the chain in due course, with plans for zones dedicated to books, posters and accessories.

"Traditionally, these types of formats have been an afterthought," he explains. "When I joined Zavvi, part of that was because I had come up with new ideas of doing merchandise in-store."

"If you go to buy the Killers' album there is never the T-shirt for sale. I wanted to put that right," he adds. "You take the music and DVD charts, if you put them randomly in the store no one would know where they are. We are trying to take these sectors and put them into a correct retail framework."

The move comes at a time when merchandise sales are becoming increasingly important to the ...