HMV tops Amazon on physical music sales

HMV has overtaken Amazon for physical music sales, the entertainment retailer increased its market share to 28% during the 12 weeks to 23 September.

According to research published by Kantar Worldpanel, the release of the 100th edition of Now That’s What I Call Music which sold almost double its predecessor, along with high soundtrack sales for Mamma Mia 2 and The Greatest Showman boosted sales for HMV.

For video games, Amazon was found to have increased its sales of brand new games by 60% helping it to obtain a market share for the total entertainment sector of 23.2%, increasing its lead over nearest rivals HMV to 5%.

In the home video market, Sainsbury’s saw a strong quarter, increasing its share of the DVD and Blu-ray market by 1.7%. According to the research the number of impulse buys of video products has “dramatically” fallen, translating to a loss of £18m to the category compared with the same period last year.

Sam Causley, analyst at Kantar Worldpanel, said: “Amazon’s success was driven primarily by under 35 males, who accounted for £3.9m of the £7.9m growth. This is unsurprisingly a core demographic for video games, but if the retailer works harder to reach more audiences it could improve its performance even further.

“While it does represent a stark loss, retailers could choose to see the drop in impulse purchases as a sign that they should focus on attracting more browsing shoppers. The video market is a great opportunity for retailers to engage with fun, experiential marketing techniques. By making aisles and displays enjoyable to explore, supermarkets can appeal to consumers who aren’t just looking to grab what they need and go.”