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Woolworths Will Drop HD-DVD
The UK chain is the first retailer to drop the high-def format, increasing its shelf space for Blu-ray.
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According to The Retail Bulletin, “Ratatouille” is expected to be Woolworths’ first big Blu-ray chart topper.
January 29, 2008 | by Rachel Cericola

When I was a kid, the name Woolworths was synonymous with the five-and-dime and a good burger. Now they are blazing the trail for the Blu-ray camp.

The retailer has just announced (via The Retail Bulletin) that it will drop its current selection of HD DVDs and save all of its love and shelf space for Blu-ray titles. They are the first major retailer to do so.

According to staff, Blu-ray outsold HD DVD over the holidays, 10 to 1. Woolworths is the biggest seller of high-def DVDs in the UK.

“Sales figures clearly show that the market is moving towards one format of high definition DVD,” says Woolworths DVD buyer Steven McGunigel. “The main reason is the success of Sony’s PlayStation 3 machine. Because it plays Blu-Ray discs, there are over 3/4 million homes in the UK that can view the new high definition format. There is no where near that number of HD-DVD players around.”

The retailer will continue to sell HD DVDs on its website. The shelf switch will start in March.



Rachel Cericola - Contributing Writer
Over the past 15 years, Rachel Cericola has covered entertainment, web and technology trends. Check her out at www.rachelcericola.com.



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Comments (18) Most recent displayed first.
Posted by Aaron  on  02/05/08  at  03:42 PM

Latest to leave HD-DVD for dead and go with Blu-ray alone:

Imation/TDK
Onkyo
Kaleidescape
Saturn (Largest German electronics retailer)

News stories at: http://wesleytech.com/

Posted by Dimitri  on  02/05/08  at  03:32 PM

Actually ” Woollies” used to be a large retailer but not as large as the attempt to make a big deal out of it’s “decision” to go blu ray.
As for the porn side of things, whether we like it or not, it will affect the take up, such as it is, by the masses - and don’t listen to those who say it’s not how big it is it’s how you use it. The largest share is still HD DVD. And as one big, bad maddam said, you can’t make butter with a toothpick!

Posted by Aaron  on  02/05/08  at  12:58 PM

Doesn’t matter how small the retailer, software manufacturer, studio, etc… when each week there are another two or three that drop HD-DVD entirely for Blu-ray while no-one is doing the reverse.  The latest drops of HD-DVD in favor of Blu-ray are three porn industry studios, National Geographic, and one software manufacturer that was making authoring software for the disks.

Posted by mickey  on  01/31/08  at  02:05 PM

like Woolworth’s matters?

Posted by digriz  on  01/31/08  at  05:09 AM

“According to staff, Blu-ray outsold HD DVD over the holidays, 10 to 1. Woolworths is the biggest seller of high-def DVDs in the UK. “

Woolworths barely have a standard dvd range, my last visit a few weeks ago in the Gillingham store found a poor sale and a 1/3 filled dvd chart. This Statement of their market positionis an outright lie, Woolies may have gotten some great advertising from this but they are not considered a media outlet.

The fact they made the choice to go bluray was a great move for them but as i have worked for a media retail outlet previously, they are not considered competition (and haven’t been for the last 10 or 15 years) I suspect they have a few films placed with the PS3 games and have just placed customer orders for the HD.


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