Entertainment retailers HMV and MVC have gone head to head with autumn Sales as the battle in the music market intensifies.
Market leader HMV kicked off its biggest ever Sale last week, and on Monday - seven days later - MVC, owned by Woolworths, followed suit.
Both retailers have slashed the prices of CDs, DVDs, games and videos, to clear stock in time for Christmas.
An HMV spokesman said: 'Our October Sale is our bridge between the summer - when there is a lot of interest in music with the festivals - and the run-up to the Christmas period. It has become an important period in our trading year.'
HMV's Sale runs for a month, and the retailer estimates it will stock 2.5 million units, across music, games and DVD, in that period - up from 2.3 million last year.
MVC, which relaunched its loyalty scheme earlier this year and scrapped its dual-pricing strategy, has been marketing its Sale aggressively to customers via e-mail.
In the e-mail, MVC states: 'We've got Coldplay's A Rush of Blood To the Head for just£6.99 - that's£1 cheaper than at HMV.'
HMV refused to comment on MVC's Sale. The spokesman said the retailer prefers to concentrate on what it is doing rather than its competitors.
HMV announced on Monday that total group sales increased by 1.8 per cent in the 21 weeks to September 20. Like-for-like sales increased by 0.3 per cent.
HMV's like-for-like sales grew by 0.6 per cent, while bookseller Waterstone's increased by 5.1 per cent.
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