DVD Players UK: the first ten years

GfK Marketing Services: United Kingdom, Consumer Electronics

To date, approximately 35 million DVD Players have been sold in the UK, with a total retail value of £3.7 billion. This latter figure will be acutely disappointing for those who remember the average prices per product in 1998 (£530) and 1999 (£344).

However, during the last five years there has at least been relative consistency, as prices have only declined from £110 in 2003 to £83 in the 52 weeks ending October 2007.

We could have also been forgiven for expecting a slightly better return, given the emergence of DVD Recorders, but sales have not yet reached six million. As around 23 million households own Video Recorders, we should therefore look forward to significant sales in the next few years.

At the other end of the scale, there are now significant sales of low-priced players (sub £20 or even sub £10) – particularly in supermarkets. However there is also scope for sales of Portable DVD players. Despite the rival attractions of Laptops and In Car products, this latter product is selling at an average of just under one million units a year and is an excellent stocking filler at its current average price of £87.