3D Imports Worth Importing

[Impossible]

Originally Posted by Gae

According to Amazon.de, its in German only...

Wickie auf großer Fahrt in 3D

That's a shame because the 3D does look good in this one although I wouldn't personally pay £25 for it.

Incidentally, can anyone answer me why these prices are so ludicrously high? Are ordinary people (on ordinary incomes) really willing to spend a "quarter of a hundred pounds" just to watch one movie in 3D? I love 3D but I'm not that desperate...the bills come first and there are so many other cheaper ways to watch movies (TV, online, by post etc). If they want to make more sales on these movies they need to drop the prices 80-100% otherwise they will go the way of HMV (they never learnt either and their constant unbudging high prices eventually led to administration and closure of stores )

I've said this before....

One item sold at £25= £25

Three items sold at £15 =£45

I really do believe there is more profit to be made in lower prices as more people will buy at cheaper prices...look at Poundland. Apparently its thriving even in these economically difficult times.

Gae

We had the 'price discussion' yesterday so I won't go into that again except to reintegrate that the blame for high costs lays on the shoulders of the money hungry movie/musiccompanies themselves and NOT the retailers who the suppliers seem to have no problem sending broke left right and centre with their repugnant business practices.

People can bang on about prices but the music/movie retail industry makes the lowest profit margins of any other retail business out there. It is between 20 & 35% depending on the product (sale/chart or new releases which is around 75% of their business or full price) as compared to (at least) 100 - 500 % or more on food and clothing. Games is even lower and consoles/hardware are even lower again. THAT is why these companies are going out of business, there is no money in it and they can't afford the astronomical rents because they don't make enough. The only products they make decent profit margins on are clothing and accessories. THAT is why HMV have been selling sweets and drinks for the past few years, to try and heighten their profit margins enough to keep going. Compare that to say a department store where perfume & cosmetics have profit ranges that for the most part go into the 1000's for %'s of profit margin.

You can in fact walk into any big department store and the store is set out in profit margins. The first floor will always be clothing and or cosmetics because that is where the money is and they want you to buy those things first on your way to buy your bluray which they make nothing on. As the floors go up, the profit margins drop sharply the higher you go which is why most top floors will be electrical goods and the home entertainment departments.

As for the Pounland argument. Most of their product is bought in bulk and is deleted lines of products that didn't sell and were discarded by companies or cheap stock obtained from different places in Europe and around the world. They don't operate at all like normal business's who have to deal with mainstream suppliers with set cost pricings. For the most part they sell junk that most companies are happy to get rid of. Their music products are all second hand. They are like modern day thrift shops and are not normal retailers.

I don't drink, I don't go out that often. I don't really spend money on other things. My big thing is movies, music and games, so no I don't have a problem spending a lot of money on them.

I don't know about Europe or the US, but cinema prices are just ridiculous in the UK. I have 2 cinemas within 5 minutes walk from me, but for my partner and I to go see a 3D film at either of the those it is £27/£33 depending on the time of day we went for the both of us JUST for the tickets.

We have a projector and a 100' screen at home and most 3D new releases are around £18 apart from a few companies which are now around £21. It still works out MUCH cheaper for us to buy 3D blurays than it does to go to the cinema and we don't have to put up with morons ruining our viewing experience.

Plus if we hate the movie I can take it down to CEX the next day and sell it on for maybe £2 less (sometimes the same price) than what I paid for it and it has cost us next to nothing to see a film we both hated instead of losing £33 on a pile of dung at the cinema.

The only import I have paid that price for was Sammy 2 which was £25, but I have already watched that 3 or 4 times since I got it so it doesn't worry me.

I usually import the Pixars from the US which are £30, but they are 5 disc sets. I keep the 3D discs and digital copies for myself and print out covers for the 2D blurays and dvds and give them as gifts to people at work with kids or family members.

In fact anything that I buy that has extra discs I will never use, I always give away to people.

[Gae]

Wow Impossible, it seems like you really know about the retail industry.

In my defense I never actually criticized the retailers, just the high prices. I don't really know all the ins and outs of the industry (its too complicated and I don't really want to know if I'm honest) all I know is that, as a consumer, personally speaking, some of these prices are above what I am willing to pay. I'm sure for bigger movie fans, like yourself, it is not.

Now, if the retail industry is collapsing and not working (whatever the complex reasons) then the prophecy that capitalism will eventually implode under its own weight is slowly coming true isn't it? Things need to change drastically I guess. Times might be hard now but don't tell me that people in the the Movie/Music industry haven't been living it up and making profits over the past few decades (and continue to do so no doubt). Isn't it about time they gave something back though? But oh no, that smacks of communism and we can't have that can we?

I was only reading about the music industry the other day. Apparently its one of the most nepotistic, tightly knit, self contained, and elitist of all industries where the richest of the richest musicians keep themselves at the top, milking the industry and expecting to make profits and royalties for the rest of their lives... while simultaneously holding back up and coming acts that aren't in their elitist circle. I believe this happens in the other entertainment businesses too. Anyway, I digress

So for whatever the reasons for the high prices, as a low income consumer, they are quite often, way too high for me.

Gae

[Impossible]

Originally Posted by Gae

Wow Impossible, it seems like you really know about the retail industry.

In my defense I never actually criticized the retailers, just the high prices. I don't really know all the ins and outs of the industry (its too complicated and I don't really want to know if I'm honest) all I know is that, as a consumer, personally speaking, some of these prices are above what I am willing to pay. I'm sure for bigger movie fans, like yourself, it is not.

Now, if the retail industry is collapsing and not working (whatever the complex reasons) then the prophecy that capitalism will eventually implode under its own weight is slowly coming true isn't it? Things need to change drastically I guess. Times might be hard now but don't tell me that people in the the Movie/Music industry haven't been living it up and making profits over the past few decades (and continue to do so no doubt). Isn't it about time they gave something back though? But oh no, that smacks of communism and we can't have that can we?

I was only reading about the music industry the other day. Apparently its one of the most nepotistic, tightly knit, self contained, and elitist of all industries where the richest of the richest musicians keep themselves at the top, milking the industry and expecting to make profits and royalties for the rest of their lives... while simultaneously holding back up and coming acts that aren't in their elitist circle. I believe this happens in the other entertainment businesses too. Anyway, I digress

So for whatever the reasons for the high prices, as a low income consumer, they are quite often, way too high for me.

Gae

LOL sorry I wasn't having a go at you personally so I am sorry if it sounded like that.

I worked in music retail for 20 years before changing careers simply because I more or less had to as the writing had been on the wall for quite a few years and I knew what was coming.

The music industry is a very nasty one, but in retail we more had to deal with the consumer side of things than the industry itself. But people just have no idea how badly the retail arm are treated by the music companies themselves. Their own greed has destroyed them and while they can point the finger at illegal downloading and such as to why the industry is in tatters today, anyone involved with the vultures knows that it is completely incorrect. They single handedly destroyed music retail and the industry themselves and now thankfully after putting hundreds of thousands of people out of work over the last 15 years, they are finally starting to feel the pinch themselves.

I have no sympathy for them whatsoever and what they did to retailers especially independents and it is no different to what we all shout at banks for doing to everyday folk today.

In further defence of retailers I will say this though. Music and dvds etc are FAR cheaper today than they ever were when I worked in the industry by a LOOOOONG margin. New release prices have dropped or stayed the same, but sale prices are MUCH lower than they ever were.

Yes bluray may be expensive, but it is still a relatively new format and that is why you pay more for it. Still apart from 3D releases which are unfortunately still seen as a niche market, prices drop on things very quickly and usually within a few months most titles are available for half price or less.

Some 3D releases drop fairly quickly, but they are mainly the titles where the 2D/3D version are on the same disc.

[Gae]

So we agree!!

We both equally hate greedy and exploitative industries!



Gae

[Impossible]

Originally Posted by Gae

So we agree!!

We both equally hate greedy and exploitative industries!



Gae

Oh yes most certainly, it's just I hate to see the wrong 'enemy' being labelled as the guilty party