It appears that giant retailer Wal-Mart’s aggressive Blu-ray sales over the last quarter has paid off, with the company now about tied with Best Buy for BD market share.
The numbers, via the NPD Group, show that Wal-Mart now commands 30 percent market share of Blu-ray disc sales, about even with Best Buy at 35 percent. In May, Wal-Mart had around 20 percent while Best Buy had an impressive 45 percent.
Despite usually having better prices than BB, Amazon and Target remained in third and fourth place, with about 15 percent and 10 percent respectively.
Overall, consumer spending on BD movies was up 83 percent year-on-year, and retail chains are actively fighting for market share.
“We’re seeing it as more of a horse race with Blu-ray,” adds Russ Crupnick, senior entertainment industry analyst for NPD, via VB. “I think Walmart has made a strong effort over the past year, being aggressive with price. They are very specifically targeting an untapped market. They are saying this isn’t just a high-tech product. It’s something that women and families can enjoy.”
Result for: untapped market
According to a new NPD Group report, 72 percent of all Americans played video games in 2007, up almost 10 percent from 2006. From the group that said they played video games, half of them played games online.
The study, “Online Gaming 2008″ reported that PC was the driving force behind online gaming but that console users were increasing their online playtime.
“Despite the buzz in the industry regarding online gaming, it is still relatively small compared to offline gaming,” said NPD Group analyst Anita Frazier.
“There is still a large, untapped market for gaming in general and online gaming in particular.”
Another interesting note was that children aged 2 to 12 accounted for over 25 percent of online gaming,and that 18 to 24 year-old represented only 10 percent of online gaming.
Not surprisingly, the Xbox 360 was the favored system for consoles and online play and that 360 owners “actually spent more time per week using their console to play games online than PC and PS3 owners.”
The report was based on a survey of 20,240 consumer panel members which was conducted for two weeks earlier this year.
