UK’s biggest music & home ent warehouse to open
August 8, 2023
Utopia Distribution Services (UDS), and DP World, a provider of global end-to-end supply-chain solutions, will open what they say is the UK’s biggest distribution warehouse for physical video and music at the end of August 2023.
The new 25,000sq metre Bicester, Oxfordshire, site, fitted and operated by DP World, will be a first-of-its-kind centralised home for UK physical distribution. Driven by 80+ state-of-the-art ‘pick robots’, it will have a daily handling capacity of over 100,000 units, increasing to over 250,000 during peak periods.
Shipping over 30m units a year across the UK and export territories, the warehouse will distribute for 35 per cent of the UK’s physical video market and 70 per cent of the UK’s music market – amounting to over 50 per cent of the UK home entertainment and music markets combined.
The new site has been created to meet ongoing demand for physical and video and music. The UK’s home entertainment market, saw its 10th consecutive year of revenue growth in 2022. Physical video retail grew to £209 million (€242m), with sales of Blu-ray and Blu-ray 4k UHD now over 40 per cent of the total market (ERA). Best-selling DVDs included Top Gun: Maverick, which shipped more than 300,000 physical units last year, and Spiderman: No Way Home, which accrued more than 915,000 sales in ownership formats – a combination of DVD, Blu-Ray, as well as Electronic Sell-through.
New year-to-date BPI stats, meanwhile, reveal unit sales for physical albums are up year-on-year, supported by a 14 per cent growth in vinyl album sales. This is borne out of physical’s ongoing role in chart success, with 23 out of 26 UK No. 1 albums released in the year to date topping the Official Albums Chart off the back of a majority of physical sales. The trend appears to be mirrored globally, with Universal Music Group reporting an 18.3 per cent year-on-year increase in physical revenue for the first six months of 2023.
“We’re pleased to be working closely with DP World on a smooth transition to our brand new state-of-the-art facility,” commented Drew Hill, MD Utopia Distribution Services and VP Distribution Services, Utopia Music. “With UDS distributing for over 50 per cent of the UK’s combined music and video market, our investment in this infrastructure marks a bright and exciting future for physical entertainment.”
“DP World brings together an unparalleled combination of assets and expertise to build creative solutions to the hardest problems in logistics, and this is why so many of the world’s largest and most recognisable brands trust us to deliver on their supply chain needs,” added Jonathan Himsworth, Vice President Sales at DP World Logistics. “To this end, we are very excited about working with Utopia to support the renaissance of physical music in the UK.”
“Physical formats are such an important part of Home Entertainment, so it’s fantastic to see this continued investment in an area of the business that has served consumers so well for so long, allowing them to own and keep the shows and films that they love,” declared Liz Bales, CEO, British Association for Screen Entertainment (BASE). “The exceptional value of DVDs, as well as the superior at-home experience of 4K UHD, supports the ongoing appetite for these formats with audiences. We look forward to working together in the future.”
“Demand for albums on vinyl just keeps growing, while there are positive signs the long-term decline in CD purchasing is slowing and starting to bottom out,” noted Sophie Jones, BPI Chief Strategy Officer. “Both formats support a strong and healthy physical sector that plays an important role in the UK’s vibrant music economy led by streaming. This huge new warehouse and the investment it represents makes a welcome commitment to British music’s infrastructure and channels of distribution that will help to sustain the growth in demand for music on physical format for the foreseeable future and beyond.”
“CD, vinyl and DVD are still a vital part of the entertainment market,” stated Kim Bayley, CEO of the Digital Entertainment And Retail Association (ERA). Moving over 50 per cent of the UK’s music and video stock to a new warehouse was never going to be an easy task, but ERA and its members applaud UDS for the tremendous effort which is going into the move. We look forward to a smooth transition and the benefits that this huge investment in the supply chain will bring.”
Utopia Music’s other physical distributor, Proper Music Group, will continue operating from its Dartford, Kent warehouse.