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Author Topic: Is Wal*Mart ditching Blu-ray altogether? Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 12-14-2009 01:07 AM                        There is a limit on what you can order? Unless he is a dealer, why would he buy more than one copy of anything?  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 청주시, 경북도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 12-14-2009 10:10 AM                     Did you not notice that he said he runs a (presumably rental) store and that buying through amazon is cheaper than through his regular distributor? So my guess is he buys as many as he can through them and if he needs more copies, he gets them at the higher price.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 12-14-2009 01:06 PM                        Nope, didn't notice that.  |  IP: Logged Mike Frese Master Film Handler Posts: 465 From: Holts Summit, MO Registered: Jun 2007 posted 12-14-2009 05:28 PM                        Yes, I own video stores (buy/sell/trade/rent movies and video games). Amazon limits you to 3 copies when you pre-order. I have been able to order more than that with some time between orders. I sometime need as many as 50 copies of movies.  |  IP: Logged Mike Frese Master Film Handler Posts: 465 From: Holts Summit, MO Registered: Jun 2007 posted 12-19-2009 10:56 PM                        http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6712357.html PHYSICAL: Analyst: Mass merchant's discounting appeals to women, families By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 12/18/2009 DEC. 18 | PHYSICAL: Walmart’s aggressive fourth-quarter Blu-ray Disc merchandising is paying off for the retailer, which is now running neck-and-neck with Best Buy in high-definition software market share, according to analyst NPD Group. For the three months from September through November 2009, Walmart commanded about a 30% market share in Blu-ray Disc sales. That is roughly even with Best Buy. Walmart’s showing marks a big turnaround from its position through much of Blu-ray’s lifespan, when the chain was seen as seriously trailing Best Buy. Back in May, according to analysts, Best Buy claimed 40% to 50% market share in Blu-ray, with Walmart a distant No. 2 with 20% to 30%. Amazon.com and Target are in third and fourth spots for the September-November frame, with 15% and 10% share, respectively, about the same as earlier in the year. Of course, the retailers are competing for share of a growing market. Consumer spending on Blu-ray software purchases was up 83% through the third quarter, according to DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group. NPD credits Walmart’s surge to the chain’s unique ability to target women—an expanded consumer group for Blu-ray technology. Best Buy’s core consumer strength is men and early adopters who initially drove Blu-ray sales. However, Walmart’s renewed push as the nation’s low-price leader, spanning many of its featured products, seems to have especially resonated with females and other new-to-Blu-ray mainstream consumers. Walmart sparked price wars this fourth quarter with other retailers in tagging new release standard DVDs at $10 and Blu-rays below $20. For example, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was advertised for about $16 on Blu-ray. Prices remain cheap following the Black Friday period, with this week’s release The Hangover listed at $15.86 at Walmart. Granted, Best Buy and Amazon.com are often matching Walmart’s pricing. Yet Walmart’s long-established low-price reputation is likely boosting its Blu-ray momentum. Additionally, Walmart made a big statement in the format by offering a $78 Magnavox Blu-ray player on Black Friday, beating other retailers on their advertised pricing for high-definition set-tops. “We’re seeing it as more of a horse race with Blu-ray,” said Russ Crupnick, senior entertainment industry analyst for NPD. “I think Walmart has made a strong effort over the past year, being aggressive with price. They are very specifically targeting an untapped market. They are saying this isn’t just a high-tech product. It’s something that women and families can enjoy.”  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 12-20-2009 12:58 PM                     I was in Wal-Mart a couple days ago. I could have sworn they had The Hangover Blu-ray priced at $24.95. I've never seen Wal-Mart price a new release DVD at or below $10. They have a decent number of older DVD titles on sale below $10, but not new releases. Those DVDs are typically in the $15.95 - $19.95 price range. I can understand why Wal-Mart has 30% of the Blu-ray market share. It's all about location and convenience. I don't think it has anything to do with Wal-Mart marketing to women better than other stores. I've seen the Blu-ray aisles at numerous Wal-Mart locations in Oklahoma. Not many titles at all, much less any sort of title selection that concentrates on women. The variety sucks. There's a few new releases and some catalog titles gathering dust because they're priced too high compared to Amazon. Further, Blu-ray is seeing its highest sales percentages vs. DVD on big action titles. Blu-ray is hitting above 30% market share during opening week. Blu-ray is way down into the low single digit percentages of market share vs. DVD with more female-oriented movies. The only thing that is happening is Wal-Mart is catching Blu-ray impulse buys. People are already in the store getting groceries and other odds and ends. They see a Blu-ray they want and just pick it up there instead of driving to another store even if the other store's price was lower. Maybe women are being more included in this marketing data over social demographics in grocery shopping. More often than not, the mom of the house does that job. I can see a situation where she and her husband talk on the phone about what movies to get. There's a good likelihood the dad back home watching the kids will suggest picking up a Blu-ray disc. I see lots of people talking on the phone in Wal-Mart's electronics dept. At least a few of these people are talking about a product they're looking to buy apart from the usual meaningless cell phone chatter.  |  IP: Logged Mike Frese Master Film Handler Posts: 465 From: Holts Summit, MO Registered: Jun 2007 posted 12-20-2009 03:51 PM                        Bobby, Wal-Mart started in late October online pricing the top 10 dvds for sale at $10.00. Poor reporting by the writer of the article. The WMs in my area have been at the lowest price on BR the past month. Best Buy is usually the same as well with Target higher. There has been at least 1 title each week where WM has been cheaper than BB. Of course all stores can price items differently. as far as breadth of titles goes: the overwhelming majority of people want to buy what just came out. So WM is satsifying probably 75% of demand. The rest just sits and takes up space. But (and the same applies for rental stores too) most markets of at least 50,000 people can support one store with a very large selection of titles. Best Buy satisfies that niche. Those prices are high too on those titles (at least vs. Amazon). Home video is no different than theatrical. The top four movies this weekend accounted for 75% of ticket revenue.  |  IP: Logged Bruce Hansen Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 847 From: Stone Mountain, GA, USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 01-06-2010 04:06 PM                     From TVTechnology Walmart Keeps Up Blu-ray Push in Post-Holiday 01.06.2010 Walmart is continuing to enhance its CE departments in early 2010 in many of its stores within the U.S., with an emphasis on selling more brand-name HD and Blu-ray products from Sony, Samsung and Magnavox, along with more typical big-box stores brands such as the current top American seller of HD panels, Vizio. The world's largest retailer's "Blu-ray Experience Areas" in a growing number of outlets aim to team HD hardware/software units and titles into a central sales area within its larger entertainment departments. For Blu-ray proponents, Walmart's initiatives are significant since the retailer has told various media and manufacturing groups in recent months that it believes its base of cost-conscious family customers are now seriously willing to upgrade from standard DVD (and lingering VHS tape) to Blu-ray. Walmart's pricing strategies are targeted at encouraging further Blu-ray growth, according to published reports, primarily its much-publicized holiday sales promotion of a $78 Magnavox Blu-ray player — a price point which continues in many of its stores in early January (along with higher-priced brand-name players such as a $149 unit from Sony), according to its most recent insert in Sunday newspapers on Jan. 3. According to consultant DisplaySearch Walmart now represents about a 30-percent market share for sales of Blu-ray Disc titles, coming close to tying Best Buy, America's top overall CE retailer which had a more distinct lead in both Blu-ray players and software (titles) until recently.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-06-2010 05:14 PM                        quote: Bruce Hansen its base of cost-conscious family customers are now seriously willing to upgrade from standard DVD (and lingering VHS tape) to Blu-ray And why not? With players less than $100, disks at $10, and BD players able to play their old DVDs, what's stopping them?  |  IP: Logged Claude S. Ayakawa Film God Posts: 2738 From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 01-06-2010 06:34 PM                        I was at the Honolulu Walmart late this morning and have noticed the store has expanded their Blu Rey selection and the discs are now displayed in three sections of the home video software department. The store already had the remake of FAME in Blu Ray on their shelves a week early. -Claude  |  IP: Logged

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