Woolies expects Xmas games boost

Home shopping and online retail giant Shop Direct anticipates a strong Christmas for games after tripling its share in the software market.

The firm, which bought the rights to the Woolworths brand earlier this year, has bolstered its games offer in 2009 with an even bigger range of products.

It also appointed former Woolworths category boss Gerry Berkley as trading manager for entertainment, which has paid dividends for the firm – with pre-orders of Modern Warfare 2 200 per cent higher than any previous title sold at Shop Direct.

Gaming is hugely popular with our customers and after listening to them, we have increased our range of games and accessories,” said the company’s product director Justin Young.

We are able to offer our customers a unique way of transacting with us, which is different from many of the traditional retailers.

Our customers are able to spread the cost of high value purchases, interest free, over a period of time, making gaming accessible to all.”

The Shop Direct Group is the largest online and home shopping retailer in the UK, with brands including Empire Stores, Littlewoods, Very.co.uk and Woolworths.co.uk.

The company has always been a big seller of video games hardware, with an increasing presence in the software market, and is the fourth largest electrical retailer in the UK.

The firm also announced this week that it’d like to bring Woolworths back to the High Street as a franchised chain.