Supermarkets accounted for more than a quarter of all CDs and DVDs sold in Britain last year, about double the volume from five years ago, new data show, dealing a fresh dose of bad news for specialist retailers, according to Reuters. Videogame sales have more than doubled over the same period at supermarkets, which now account for 12.2 percent of the market, according to the figures from market research firm TNS Worldpanel. Also, 12 percent of all UK book sales occurred at the likes of Asda, Sainsbury's and Tesco, up from 7 percent in 2001, the study found. "Supermarkets are rapidly becoming a shopping destination in their own right for products such as DVDs and CDs, rather than simply being added to the trolley with the weekly shop," said Lucy Burton, research manager for WorldPanel Entertainment. She noted that 37 percent of newly released DVDs were bought in a supermarket compared with 25 percent at specialist shops such as HMV. About 27 percent of all CDs were bought at supermarkets in 2005 compared with 15.2 percent in 2001. Similarly, 27 percent of DVDs were bought at supermarkets compared with 12 percent five years earlier. "Supermarkets seem to be providing the winning combination of affordability and convenience in an increasingly competitive home entertainment retail environment," Burton said.
