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Woolworths has made its high-profile e-commerce chief Howard Unna

redundant after a drastic scaling back of its online operations.

Unna, who was electronic channels manager for three years, was credited

with establishing Woolworths as an interactive TV pioneer. He

spearheaded its move to become the first operational service on Open.

Last year, it clocked up sales equivalent to its third-best performing

store.

Of the company's e-commerce team, 50 are poised to lose their jobs as it

secures its independence from the Kingfisher group.

A spokesman for Woolworths said: "The running costs of the company's

e-commerce activities had become insupportable. The majority of the

e-commerce team will leave by the end of August."

Woolworths has opted to sell only entertainment-related products over

its internet site and its home shopping channel on Sky Digital's Open

platform.

It has retreated from offering its full product range, covering

everything from furniture to clothes. Consumers can now order only

music, films and videos online.

The decision is understood to have been driven by Woolworths chairman

and former Railtrack chief Gerald Corbett, and comes as it is expected

to start trading shares in its new incarnation as an independent company

later this month.

The retrenchment from the coincides with former Kingfisher stablemate

Superdrug's decision to freeze all its e-commerce activities.

Superdrug, the sale of which from Kingfisher to Dutch holding company

Kruidvat was finalised on July 20, ceased taking orders on Superdrug.com

last week. A spokeswoman for the health and beauty high-street chain

said the move had nothing to do with its ownership change. She said all

but four people whose jobs had been affected were being redeployed

elsewhere within the company.

The superdrug.com site, which launched last year, has been reduced to a

store-finder facility.

A statement from the company said: "We are reassessing the online

offering within our portfolio and are currently undertaking a thorough

review of how the internet can best meet the needs of our customers and

our business.

"We are looking at lots of options for the site and will make a decision

on how to take it forward."