Alongside lip gloss, cereal bars, bottles of mineral water and hair straighteners, Blu–ray players will now be included in official inflation calculations after the UK government statisticians looked into the contents of people’s homes and handbags to assess how the nation's spending habits have changed.

Each year the Retail Prices Index and the Consumer Prices Index are given a spring-clean, to ensure that they truly represent what the country is buying and consuming.

In all, the UK’s shopping basket of goods and services that make up the indices contain about 650 items, with about 5 per cent of the items changed each year to reflect changing consumer habits. For an item to make it into the basket it has to achieve annual sales of £400 million. For it to drop, out annual sales have to fall below £100 million in most instances.

The Office of National Statistics normally add items to their basket because spending has reached a level that demands inclusion to ensure the basket remains representative of spending. In the case of technology such as Blu-ray players, their addition means they have reached a significant stage in consumer penetration.

Blu-ray players have come down significantly in price and have now reached a price point that is affordable for the majority of consumers, and not just the early adopters. The recent sales figures reflect this and the addition to the basket in turn reflects the growing consumer spending in this area.

Lavinia Carey, Director of the British Video Association commented: “We see this as a milestone moment for Blu-ray that reflects consumers’ growing appreciation of high-definition and what the format has to offer. With over 57% of households now owning an HDTV, sales of Blu-ray players are going to continue to grow throughout 2010, particularly in the run up to the FIFA World Cup as even more people make the move to HD.”

Story filed 18.03.10