Carrefour Plans Movie Downloads

French Supermarket Giant Carrefour are the latest supermarket to launch a movie download store.

The world’s second largest retail group after Wal-Mart is to offer download-to-own and download-to-rent films and TV shows in France, Spain, Belgium and Italy. President Christophe Geoffroy (via THR): “It’s very important for Carrefour to have more than one point of sale. We have to be in contact with the consumer in their homes as well as in-store. We know full well that the market forecast for VOD is low at the moment, but we are convinced that it will develop over the coming years and we want to provide a legal solution for customers to see the best possible content.”

In the UK, Tesco plans to begin offering movie downloads to complement its music download service in the UK according to an interview with the high street retailer and the BBC.

However, it’s not yet clear whether supermarkets can replicate their impulse in-store DVD purchases in to specific online sales.

Although there are no confirmed plans at the moment, the food retailer Tesco is looking into the possibility once broadband speeds and capacity rise further. Tesco currently holds a small but significant 10% share in the UK music download industry and feels that the movies are the next step.

Tesco isn't the first company to suggest a move to offer downloading films. Both Wippit and Napster announced earlier in the year that they are planning to to offer film downloads. Wippit going as far as suggesting a charge of around 99p per movie.

Wal-Mart canned its download store in December after making what was said to be only “peanuts” in relative terms. Carrefour runs the 5 minutes and 8 a HuiT convenience stores as well as its eponymous hypermarkets.