Whilst the news that Woolworths has appointed Deloitte and Touche as administrators this morning probably hasn’t escaped you, what’s less known is that it includes Entertainment UK (EUK), one of the last major DVD suppliers in the UK.
The DVD distribution market has been shrinking and EUK, one of the last, is doubtless a major source of supply for many eBay sellers.
“EUK are likely to have been the last source for many DVD sellers on eBay, listing numbers in the DVD category are likely to go down”.
– Steve, of , one of the largest eBay media sellers with over 100,000 feedback
It’s not just on-eBay supply that will be affected, EUK are also major suppliers to Tesco, WHSmith, Morrisons and of course Woolworths themselves.
In the short term it may be good news for buyers as the administrators try to dispose of stock with cut price deals, both for media items and the other products Woolworths sell. This could potentially lead to lower sales for other high street retailers and online merchants as they struggle to compete.
In the longer term it could lead to a re-balancing of DVD prices, with less supply prices may increase, though no doubt overseas suppliers will be evaluating opportunities in the UK DVD market.
13 Responses
I am sure the gap will be filled.
With a ready market, someone will move into it.
Mark
EUK also supplied Zavvi (ex Virgin stores) too.
Hopefully as the EUK arm was profitable in it’s own right it will be sold off to someone as a going concern. But, it needs to happen sooner rather than later.
Also keep in mind this will affect not only DVDs, but CDs and computer games too.
I’d have thought that only a few people on ebay would be big enough to buy direct from EUK, you’d have to be selling a lot to get an account with them.
Woolworths is likely to be bought by the commercial arm of the BBC
what that holds for the future I have no idea
although less DVDs on ebay doesnt sound like a bad thing to me.
#4 thats a different part of woolworths that the BBC are looking to buy and its not in administration as it makes a profit!
What I am a bit tired of hearing about with this whole thing is it being blamed on the downturn, woolies has been in trouble for years its tried to be something to everyone and in the process not pleasing anyone! It needed a better managment team and a clearer focus on what it stood for, this should be a lesson for everyone in retail!
There are plenty of retailers doing well out there, boots, game, sainsburys, hotel chocolate and even house of fraser but of course this gets buried by the media in favour of the bad news!
Someone will buy woolies and strip out the crap, sell some of its key stores to other retailers and hopefully make something meaningful out of it in the future!
Stu
#5 “its tried to be something to everyone and in the process not pleasing anyone! It needed a better managment team and a clearer focus on what it stood for”
Sounds like another well known company….. 4 letters beginning with E!
Max
I used to sell into EUK, when I was Director of a computer games publisher. They are a good bunch of guys there, its sad to hear about Woolies. I did have to chuckle as one upset listener on Radio One (Scott Mills show) said in a regional accent: “I love Woolies (pronounced WILLIES) – I think it was played 30 or 40 times in the 2 hours I was driving today! JP
Hello,
The Sales Office are a wholesaler of CDs & DVDs and currently supply entire ranges from the likes of 20TH Century Fox, Acorn Media, ILC Media and many more, if you are struggling to find a supplier of product why not give us a try.
Regards.
Richard
thesalesoffice.co.uk
#8, Is there any eBay media seller left who doesn’t already know you exist. 😆
Then again, I know something you don’t. 😉
whats that then?
There are too many Richards in the world??
You could also try our media wholesale web site
http://www.wdl.com
Mat
Zavvi have gone into administration this morning – not a good time for the media market in the UK 🙁