Solutions Research Group of Toronto says DVDs will be the leading entertainment retail gift this holiday season – and Wal-Mart is the retailer that will get the bulk of the business.
SRG’s latest Fast Forward research indicates unprecedented 20% jump in household penetration of DVD players between 2003 and 2004: 68% of Canadian households now have one as opposed to 48% last year.
In addition:
> Households with at least one person in the 12 to 29 age group, DVD player penetration is 83%, up 21 points from 62% in 2003.
> DVDs account for the largest proportion of all spending among four key entertainment products, which include books, music CDs, video games and DVDs. Among all Canadians (12+), DVD spending accounts for 34% of total; books are at 26%; music CDs come in at 21%; and video games at 19%.
> In the 12 to 29 demographic, top categories are DVDs and video games accounting for 36% and 24% of total spending respectively.
> Nationally, Wal-Mart accounts for 31% share of all DVD purchases, up 5 points from 26% in 2003. Future Shop and Best Buy combined are 13% of the market, followed by HMV, Blockbuster, Zellers and Rogers Video.
According to Fast Forward, while the DVD market is soaring, music and book purchases are on a long-term decline. In 2004, 70% of Canadians bought at least one CD in the previous six months, compared to 79% in 1998. Percentage of Canadians buying books declined from 70% in 1998 to 61% in the same period.
The information for this release comes from Fast Forward, Solutions Research Group’s syndicated consumer trend research series. The database contains over 10,000 in-depth interviews with Canadians conducted since 1996. The most recent interviews were conducted nationally by telephone in May 2004 with 1,605 Canadians (accurate to ±2.4 points, 19 times out of 20). SRG funds its own syndicated research.
