Interesting Facts

It looks as if black tea is no longer our cup of tea in the UK.  According to consumer analysts Mintel, retail sales of all brands of tea have sunk from 97 million kilos in 2010 to an estimated 76 million this year. (Sales of ordinary tea bags feel 13%, whilst sales of green tea were up 50%. Seemingly people are moving towards healthier alternatives such as fruit and herbal teas.  They estimate that sales will fall to 69 million kilos by 2020. I drink herbal tea, and green tea, but I still need my mug of good old Tetley to kickstart the day.) Source: Mintel

According to preliminary figures released by research firm Gartner, PC maker Lenovo has replaced Hewlett-Packard as the world's top PC maker. (Lenovo shipped 13.8 million units in the third quarter, compared with HP's 13.55 million, and they were the only PC maker, among the world's top five, that increased its shipments to the US during the third quarter. Lenovo are based in Beijing, China, but before you decry the rise of Chinese manufacturing, they make the ThinkPad, which was originally designed, developed and sold by IBM. Maybe we should be asking, "Who decided to sell off the IBM PC business in 2005?")

According to figures from the British Phonographic Industry, digital music sales now exceed sales of CDs and records. (Digital sales have risen to £86.5 million/year, whilst revenue from physical formats, such as CD and vinyl, slumped by 15%, and now represents just £69.3 million. BTW - for the younger generation, CDs are small, round, flat shiny things that play music, and records (aka vinyl) are large, round, flat, black things that play music too.)

Sales of games in the UK beat film and TV for the first time in 2011. (According to the Electronic Retailers Association (ERA) video game sales hit £1.93 billion in 2011, the biggest ever in the industry's history. By comparison DVDs and other video formats created just £1.80 billion in revenues and music just £1.07 billion. I love the way they say "just" - you know just a couple of billion.) Source

According to the record industry, global music sales fell by more than 8% in 2008. (The sale of CDs and vinyl actually fell by 15% globally (31% in the US). Sales of digital music rose by 24%, but didn't take up the shortfall. Maybe we'll see musicians going back to being wandering minstrels.)