Amazon is the UK’s No.1 entertainment retailer

New numbers from Kantar Worldpanel suggest that Amazon overtook HMV in the three months ending December 25th to become the UK’s biggest entertainment retailer for the first time.

Amazon grew its market share from 19.4 per cent to 22.4 per cent throughout the period while HMV’s share slipped 2.1 per cent to 17.5 per cent.

GAME was the UK’s fifth biggest and increased its market share by 0.2 per cent. Gamestation’s market share was up by the same amount, making it the 10th biggest entertainment retailer.

The numbers include all sales of physical videos, games and music, as well as digital music sales.

Note, too, the disadvantage this method places on GAME and Gamestation whose digital sales (which in FY 2010/11 hit 41m) are not factored in.

Amazon’s strong performance is down to a number of factors: it is typically really competitive on price, has a wide range of products with no restriction on display space, and is known for its very good customer service,” Kantar’s consumer insight director Fiona Keenan stated.

Despite Christmas being a popular time for shoppers to buy DVDs, games and music, spending was down on the same period last year. We saw a lot of retailers, particularly supermarkets, promoting savings on big releases like Harry Potter when shoppers spent money elsewhere in store and this will have taken some value out of the market.

The number of people buying items in the home entertainment market also declined this year.”