Xmas rush continues into 2004.(The Market)

The time when shops would allow impetus built up in December to disperse immediately after Christmas is long gone, and record retailers are no different to any others in this respect. Each year the clearance sales become more heavily promoted and competitively priced, and, although the bottom line suffers accordingly, some spectacular results are being achieved.

Last week, for example, some 3,788,823 albums were sold, according to OCC data. That is up by 5.4% on a year ago, 23% on two years ago and a massive 41.2% on three years ago. Singles, of course, are not involved in the pile 'em high, sell 'em cheap sale season to any great extent, and their sales--452,161 last week--were actually down 6.8% on the start of 2003, up 2.7% on 2002 and down 34.7% on 2001.

There are 52 weeks and a day in a year--and the odd day metals that comparing any week with the same week in a prior year doesn't actually provide an exact match. In the week before Christmas in 2003, for example, December 24 fell on a Wednesday, as opposed to a Tuesday in 2002, with all that implies for sales. But comparing December 1 to December 31 is a more ...