Amazon was a dominant force for physical music, games and video sales in the U.K. during the 12 weeks leading up to Christmas. The latest data from Kantar Worldpanel finds that the online retailer controlled 25.6 percent of the overall entertainment market, with supermarket chain Tesco trailing with 14.7 percent and HMV with 13.9 percent.
According to Kantar, online retail sales now account for 39 percent of all holiday transactions in the physical entertainment market, up 3 percent from 2013. Overall, consumers’ average online spend increased by 6 percent, said Kantar’s strategic insight director Fiona Keenan, who added brick-and-mortar stores still have the advantage when it comes to one coveted behavior: impulse buys.
“A third of in-store purchases were bought purely on impulse, creating an additional £119 million for the industry, but when shopping online this proportion halved,” she said. “Retailers need to identify ways to encourage impulse purchasing in an online environment, particularly as so much of our spend goes through this channel.”
Kantar both praises and dings HMV for their market share, which actually improved a bit from the previous year — 13.9 percent up from 13.4 percent — despite not having a functioning store on its website. It was a blown opportunity, Kantar said. “People who shopped at HMV went on to spend £220 million at rival retailers’ online stores this year — money it could have been taking directly had a website been operational.”
