HMV rises like a phoenix to become biggest British music retailer

Physical sales up 12 %

Unlike in Belgium, where they have decreased dramatically over the last few years, British physical music sales grew 12 % year-on-year over the past quarter, according to market research firm Kantar Worldpanel. Successful artists like Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith contributed to the growth.

HMV (His Master’s Voice) went into administration in January 2013, but successfully relaunched thanks to Hilco and now even manages to overtake online retailer Amazon to become the biggest British music retailer once more. “HMV has been successful in attracting shoppers in store that want to browse its extensive range of products before deciding what to buy, which historically was a real area of strength for the high street specialist”, Kantar Worldpanel’s Fiona Keenan said.

“Spend from consumers browsing for music products in HMV has grown by almost 50 % compared to this time last year, helping to boost the retailer’s share of total browsed spend in the market to 43.4 %, making it the standout player”, she added. She did point out that HMV managed a 50 % market share prior to going into administration, but this “recent resurgence is a positive sign for the retailer’s future as it faces increased competition from the online market.”

Amazon is still the British market leader when the whole of the entertainment industry (music and games) is taken into account: the online department store even saw its market share grow to 23.1 % (coming from 18.8 %). HMV is second with a 16.6 %, while Tesco ranks third with 14.7 %, slightly lower than the 15.1 % it reached last year.