A report issued by research group comScore indicates online purchases of DVDs and Blu-ray movies suffered even more than brick & mortar sales during the first few months of 2009, as there has been a 22 percent overall drop in consumer spending on movies.
Consumers who shop through online sites such as Amazon and Best Buy are more weary about what they spend their dollars on, and a couple hours of video entertainment seems to no longer be an acceptable expense. Hollywood is bracing for a similar trend of less consumer shopping throughout the rest of the year, with little available to help convince them to spend money.
"My conclusion from this is that consumers still remain very, very cautious in this economic environment," comScore Chairman Gian Fulgoni recently said during a presentation. "I think we've bottomed out... The good news, albeit small, is we're looking flat."
Online shopping for music and movies, while rather dismal in general, was 8 percent higher than spending at B&M locations, the report indicated. Furthermore, it seems most consumers will be content to cut back online spending for the next 12 months, as everyone waits to see how the economy rebounds.
Despite struggling music and movie sales, online shoppers purchasing PC and console video games actually increased 12 percent when compared to the same time last year.
Are you still purchasing movies and music online? How about video games? Why or why not?
My shopping, unless it's a major blockbuster or video game, is usually spur of the moment, which means I normally purchase video games, music and movies while in my local store.
