Online retail now accounts for over 40% of UK boxed game sales

Supermarkets continue to falter in the face of online retail in the UK, the latest ERA Yearbook reveals.

Supermarkets, including Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons, saw their share of UK boxed games sales fall to 21.1%, down from 24.3% in 2016

Over-The-Counter retailers, which includes GAME, indies, and Argos, also suffered a drop, with boxed software market share falling to 37.4% - down from 39.8% in 2016. This continues the same trend from the past five years.

Unsurprisingly, the dominant player in the physical market right now is online, which saw its share of the market grow to 41.5%. That's a significant leap over the 2016 market share of 35.9%. Note, that many of the 'Over The Counter' retailers do operate online, too.

Price may have a factor to play in this. Online is the cheapest place to buy games, with the average price of a boxed game coming in at £32.64. Specialist stores are next with the average price of £33.89. Supermarkets are the most expensive retail type at £34.40.

Note: Supermarkets tend to not sell as many catalogue (and therefore cheaper) games, and focuses on newer titles. Which may explain why their prices seem so much higher.

Game prices overall rose 2.5% to an average of £33.47. This was partially driven by the release of Nintendo Switch, which has higher software pricing.

Elsewhere, there was a slight increase in the number of physical stores selling games in 2017, up from 6,892 in 2016 to 6,908 last year - this is primarily due to the rise in supermarket numbers, but also specialist chains.

ERA is quoting GfK figures