Supermarkets score a hit with CDs

Leading supermarkets have cornered an estimated 15 per cent of the video, compact disc and cassette market, a report claimed yesterday. And it forecast a share of 20 per cent by 2000 - although 25 per cent is not inconceivable.

Sales of videos, CDs and cassettes now exceed pounds 400m in supermarkets, with the products stocked in a total of more than 1,100 stores across the country.

Corporate Intelligence on Retailing, which supplies information and analysis on the retail industry, pointed out that the big supermarkets, led by Tesco and Safeway, were aggressively cutting prices of music products. Retailers likely to be most hurt by the supermarkets are W H Smith and Boots, it added.

CIR believes specialists such as Our Price, which still operates from relatively small stores, could also suffer. But HMV, Virgin and Tower and independent retailers are catering for different customers and will be less affected if they can avoid being drawn into a price war, the report adds.