DVD players top Christmas list

The digital versatile disc player has become the fastest growing entertainment technology ever as millions upgrade from VCR players. The price has halved since last year to an average of £180. This Christmas, sales will hit the three million mark after only three years on the market, according to a survey from Warner Home Video. It took CDs four and a half years and the VHS seven years to reach the same levels.

This year, two million DVD players have been sold. One in 10 households now has a DVD player. Of the DVDs themselves, 26.5m have been bought so far this year, twice as many as the same period last year. With 6,000 titles to chose from, Bridget Jones's Diary is among the best sellers.

This month, there will be 10m discs sold and the estimated revenue from the sale of discs this year is £500m. John Lewis said DVD sales are up 101% on last year. Consumer electronics maker Alba recently reported very strong sales figures for the past three months as retailers stocked up for the pre-Christmas rush.

Alba has sold 60,000 entertainment centres - packages of TV sets, DVD players and VCRs in one cabinet - in the past three months. 'That decimates the figure of a year ago,' said chief executive Daniel Harris, who added that people are shifting spending from foreign holidays to home entertainment.

But it is not just DVDs that are selling well. John Lewis enjoyed record sales in the first week of December, with strong demand for a wide range of goods. The group said sales totalled £72m in the week to 8 December.

What's happening around the world

US: despite pre-Christmas sales that have slashed prices by as much as a third, latest figures show shoppers have spent nearly 5% less in the first two weeks of December than they did last year. Stores are hoping for a last-minute rush this weekend.

France: with the arrival of the euro, the French are using hoarded francs to buy extra-special Christmas gifts. Perfumes, watches, jewellery, lingerie and Harry Potter merchandise are the favourites.

Italy: all the shops are closing late and staying open seven days a week but it is still not enough to make consumers part with their money, with spending said to be down £1bn compared with last year. The faltering world economy is making Italian shoppers insecure but retailers are hoping for a last-minute sales rally.

Spain: Spaniards are on a spending spree, with some analysts predicting record sales this Christmas in a buoyant consumer market that is up by more than 2% over the festive spree last year. Both small and large amounts of illegal pesetas not declared to escape the tax man must be spent before the switch to the euro.

Germany: Christmas is gloomy in recession-poised Germany, with workers being laid off, traditional yuletide bonuses halted and warnings of worse to come. But spending their way out of depression seems to be the order of the day.