Machines cheaper than discs

West Midlands shoppers were today snapping up DVD players priced at just £9. The machines on sale as Asda are now cheaper than some DVD discs themselves.

Around 80,000 of the Durabrand 1005 machines are available at Asda stores across the country. In Wolverhampton, two pallet loads of the DVD players, which can also be used to play CDs and MP3 devices, were flying out of the store in Waterloo Road today. Shopper Victoria Foster, aged 30, from Fordhouses visited Asda to bag one of the the bargains.

She said: "We need one for our bedroom. My husband phoned me up this morning and told me to get one. It's great value."

Amy Clarke had a similar machine in pink for Christmas but bought the £9 one as a spare.

The 20-year-old from Fordhouses said: "I might just keep this one as a back-up. They are really good value for money.

"My boyfriend texted me and said the one he bought me for Christmas had been reduced to £9."

Asda said they were the cheapest DVD players on sale in the UK and expected them to sell out within two days.

Available

Asda's general merchandise trading director Peter Pritchard said: "This is such a jaw-droppingly low price that customers might struggle to believe it, but we really are selling a DVD player for under a tenner."

The cheapest DVD player available via the price comparison website pricerunn er.co.uk is the £17.79 Alba DVD62 model on sale at Argos and Homebase.

Gary Goodman, marketing director of pricerunner.co.uk, said that supermarkets had helped drive down the price of consumer electronics over the past year.

Mr Goodman said: "I think it is probably more of a marketing exercise to try to get people into their stores.

"They want to get consumers to buy other things in store.

"I would be surprised if they are making a profit on it."

DVD players have tumbled in price since they were launched to replace videos.

Three or four years ago shoppers were paying out up to £100 for the devices but that has reduced sharply.