Wal-Mart upping Blu-ray shelf space

Leading US retailer (and owner of UK supermarket Asda) is to replace much of its in-store music CD offering with an increased Blu-ray and consumer electronics presence.

Home Media Magazine reports that Wal-Mart made the decision after seeing music CD sales slump by 23 per cent in the first month of Q4.

Pali Capital analyst Richard Greenfield stated: We believe Wal-Mart is increasing its exposure to consumer electronics, video games and Blu-ray, and reducing floor space devoted to CDs and standard DVDs.”

The move follows recent remarks from Wal-Mart CMO John Fleming lamenting the decline sales of physical packaged media: In electronics, where all the digital products are getting space expansions, and some of the physical packaged media, CDs, movies, are coming down dramatically so that we can space the growth categories.”