Zavvis games space set to swell

Zavvi is to make significantly more space for games in-store after the category shone for the retailer during the Christmas period.

The general entertainment store looks set to reduce its music offering to make way for the move, the second time it has increased its dedicated games space in under a year.

For the four-week trading period to January 5th, 2008, Zavvi saw a 10.2 per cent overall year-on-year sales increase, with games the star performer – jumping up 62.7 per cent compared to the previous Christmas.

Undoubtedly we’ll be looking to increase our games space again – particularly with the expected growth in Wii and the amount of titles expected to release on that format,” Zavvi MD Simon Douglas told MCV. PS3’s second year will be another big factor.

I’d estimate that we will see a minimum 10 to 15 per cent growth in space for the category. That’s on top of the 20 per cent increase we implemented last summer. The new space won’t just house games software and hardware. It will take in demo pods and things on the next level. We have a unique platform that not all other retailers can take advantage of – certainly not online.”