Xbox tops the Xmas Most Wanted

Xbox

10 December, 2003, Sydney – Christmas shoppers across Australia are choosing the Xbox as their console of choice for home entertainment, as retailers are facing the prospect of running out of the Xbox retail bundle ‘The Beast Entertainment Pack’, three weeks short of the last shopping day.

Not only has ‘The Beast Entertainment Pack’ from Xbox topped the console sales chart,* Xbox has also recorded its highest market share for 2003, reaching an amazing 40% of the next generation console market during the last week of November.**

Xbox’s Christmas bundle, The Beast Entertainment Pack, has already sold in excess of 35,000 units in less than one month on sale.** If the strong sales trends continue retailers are likely to sell out of the bundle before the end of the Christmas buying period.

“Consumers are buying up early this year, and are spending up big with entertainment bundles like The Beast,” says Target senior buyer, Scott White. “It’s been quite phenomenal to have this massive spend so early on, we’re expecting big things for December as a consequence.”

Consumer buying habits during the months of November and December are traditionally used by trend analysts to indicate what is hot for Christmas, and for the last two years the video games industry has experienced an incredible upsurge in sales during this period. Last year the Christmas retail period alone accounted for approximately 36%** of the estimated $816 million spent by Australians in the sector.***

“Sales of the Beast Pack have exceeded expectations and initial indications point towards us surpassing our record breaking sales during the same time last year,” said David McLean, regional manager Xbox. “The Beast with its second controller, two games and DVD remote is the ideal entertainment pack for the whole family to play together and is proving to be one of the home entertainment sector’s hot buys for Christmas.”

The Beast Entertainment Pack is available from leading retail outlets for RRP $369 while stocks last.

*The Xbox Beast Entertainment Pack topped the hardware console charts for the week commencing 24 November 2003. Figures provided by GfK Marketing Services. ** Figures provided by GfK Marketing Services. *** Annual spend estimate based on extrapolation of GfK Marketing Services’ figure.

36% of $816 million = $293.76million, spent on this sector over christmas. I have to say thats a lot of cash spent.