HMV has announced like for like sales dropped 15.1% in the 18 weeks to the 3rd September whilst the UK's major retailer, Tesco, announced a 0.5% drop in sales said that music CDs and DVDs had been hard hit. Teco blamed the high cost of fuel and the economic downturn as major factors in the drop in sales. HMV has said it will continue to focus on 'high growth' markets such as the live music side of the business.