Demise of MCI Communication (E-commerce failure and its causes)

1-800 MUSIC NOW was a short-lived venture by MCI communication to open a music store operated through automated telephone prompts. It also introduced one of the first ever serious attempts at an e-commerce music store. The service was run out of MCI's Consumer Markets Headquarters offices in Arlington, Virginia (Pentagon City)

MCI communication’s 1-800 Music Now, which permitted both telephone and online ordering of CD’s, shut down in December 1996, only one year after it was launched. Below are the few factor that causes the failure;

- weakness in the music industry that year, leading to deep discounting by retailers

- the site was not easy to use, consumers seemed to prefer ordering through traditional stores

- its prices were relatively high, compared once again to traditional stores.