Woolworths helped by DVD sales

The BBC’s Planet Earth series has boosted sales at Woolworths. The high street retailer said 2entertain, the video publisher owned jointly with the BBC, distributed over one million DVDs of the series to the US in just 4 months, making it the fastest selling HD DVD in the world.

This helped Woolworths increase group sales by 16.6% from early February to 27 October. Trevor Bish-Jones, Woolies Chief Executive, said if you have an HD-equipped TV set or DVD player, it is the best product available.

Furthermore, Woolworths sales growth has been driven by its acquisition of book seller Bertrams and a contract to supply supermarket giant Asda. Analysts say the Asda supply contract has made a better start than expected.

The chief executive said big toy sellers will be Barbie, Transformers and anything to do with Shrek. Big DVD sellers will be Harry Potter and Pirates of the Caribbean.

However, Mr Bish-Jones said he is cautious about consumer confidence as they approach the festive period. He added that the business is in as good a shape as possible.

Finally, Woolworths is to employ over 5000 extra staff to help out over the Christmas period.

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