Wal*Mart Watch

[Teazle]

Originally Posted by Proteus

There was one remaining HDDVD add-on for Xbox that actually had a _lot_ of dust on it.

That's an evocative bit of imagery. That solitary, forlorn add-on, its passed-over cardboard corrugations grimy with neglect and faded in the unforgiving glare of the flourescent tubes above. (Ok, that's enough.)

If the unit inside ever finds its way out of the box, it will probably continue to serve as a dust collector.

[CptGreedle]

Has Toshiba gone too far?
Wow. Trying to push people around thinking their M$.. and it backfired just like it did with M$.
I am amazed to hear this. I hope it is true cause that will be a devastating blow to Toshiba and HD-DVD!

[Razzy]

Originally Posted by Teazle

That's an evocative bit of imagery. That solitary, forlorn add-on, its passed-over cardboard corrugations grimy with neglect and faded in the unforgiving glare of the flourescent tubes above. (Ok, that's enough.)

If the unit inside ever finds its way out of the box, it will probably continue to serve as a dust collector.

Add-ons.....eeeeewww.

[alpinewiz]

The Almighty dollar rules! These rumors have been swimming all around this site and I am starting to believe this may be true. Companies are in this to make money and if they, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Circuit City etc..., can make more money selling Blu-Ray products that is what they will push until they get the chance to dump the competition, HD DVD, or find something that will make them more money. This Christmas season will define one or the other on sheer profit to the store selling the product and right now my money is on Blu-Ray. They have a higher margin on them to sustain them over a longer period of time.

[phloyd]

We have heard before that Toshiba has forced retailers to carry HD DVD players if they want to have Toshiba products.

I am guessing that Walmart just told them to go to hell.

There may be other things at play, but whatever the reason it will be interesting if Walmart opts to ditch Toshiba cos HD DVD doesn't have any other manufacturer...

[Count Zero]

I actually noticed the same thing earlier this week at my local Walmart. When I had gone in before, there had always been a small selection of Blu and HD DVD. This time, there was NO HD DVD in sight, and they had a nicer selection of Blu. In addition they had revamped the tv section into a nice wall of HD LCDs.

[DAMNSAM77]

Originally Posted by phloyd

We have heard before that Toshiba has forced retailers to carry HD DVD players if they want to have Toshiba products.

I am guessing that Walmart just told them to go to hell.

There may be other things at play, but whatever the reason it will be interesting if Walmart opts to ditch Toshiba cos HD DVD doesn't have any other manufacturer...

I keep hearing more bad rep about Toshiba bullying studios and retailers, could be getting desperate...we can only hope so. One company cannot simply stand on their feet, Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, Mitsubishi, and Pioneer have all been outselling Toshiba indidividally on almost all new High defintion CE electronics including TV's (LCD, Plasma, DLP, Projectors) as well as Upconverting DVD players and A/V devices. Only exception is HDDVD players, Toshiba has sold more on their own than every single bluray CE maker individually, main reason is that they are still the only REAL HDDVD standalone player manufacturer (Venturer/Onkyo HDDVDs are still not on shelves yet), and Toshiba has marketed their cheap non-Full-HD players to the budget-minded consumers.....I dont understand why would someone spend $1500-$3000 on average on a nice HD TV set, and then ruin it with a 1080i $250 HDDVD player or even worse an an xbox-add-on. I dont see a problem with the ones buying the better 1080P $399-$499 players, but not the 1080i models, they have DVD plsyers that can upconvert to 1080P for under $100 nowadays, not to forget both 360 and PS3 will do upconvert to 1080P with HDMI or HD-15 SVGA.

[Proteus]

My logic is simple.

Sooner or later retailers will clue in to the fact that if they don't pick a side _right now_ they could lose the opportunity to make any money off of HDM in the very near future as the consumer will 'give up' and digital downloading will become the norm.

Digital Downloading is a B&M retailers worst nightmare... Especially Walmart (the largest seller of DVDs).

If retailers want to continue making _any_ money off of _any_ packaged media (including DVDs), they need to choose a side now and support it fully and end this format war. It really is that simple.

Blu-ray would be the obvious choice at this time simply based on it's massive sales advantage in discs and it's emerging advantage in standalones (not even counting the PS3). It's a 'no-brainer', sort-of-speak.

[ulidayi]

on walmart's website they offer three hi-def players 2 blu-ray and 1 hd-dvd. Interesting.

[DAMNSAM77]

Originally Posted by ulidayi

on walmart's website they offer three hi-def players 2 blu-ray and 1 hd-dvd. Interesting.

They dont even offer themovie 300 on HDDVD at the store or the website, onlt the DVD and Bluray versions! Now thats a big blow to say the least

[scott1256ca]

I went in to a Walmart yesterday (Edmonton, Alberta), and until now they have had 2 racks with HD media, 1 BD, 1 HD DVD. Now they have moved them all to 1 rack, with HD DVD taking about 1/2 the space of BD. Lady I talked to didn't know anything (not surprised, she didn't look too high tech savvy) when I asked if they were looking to discontinue all HD media.

I hope it is just a restocking issue, and not getting rid of BD (I don't mind if they decide not to carry HD DVD).

It's only one store, but I don't expect this store to buck any trends.

[supersix4]

I thought about maybe trying a wal-mart out, but then I watched the HBO Documentary I think it was called Wal-Mart: High Cost of a Low Price.... anyway now I will never go there.

[Luis_A51]

Toshiba and the HDDVD group probably tried to give Walmart a payoff (preferential treatment, or maybe even exclusivity) Walmart decided against it, at which point toshiba gave them an ultimatum.

Considering they're always the ones that give out the ultimatum, not receive it, Walmart was furious with Toshiba so they decided to discontinue selling toshiba products.

It also helps that im sure Bluray has better margins, and its also possible that Walmart could have given toshiba an ultimatum to increase Walmarts margin, and when they refused walmart cut them off.

EIther way it would be huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge news if Walmart wasnt selling toshiba stuff anymore, that would definitely counter the paramount/venturer news (even though the fox/sharp/funai/hitatchi/mitsubishi etc news has done so already)

[actionhank]

Originally Posted by supersix14

I thought about maybe trying a wal-mart out, but then I watched the HBO Documentary I think it was called Wal-Mart: High Cost of a Low Price.... anyway now I will never go there.

You should do more research before making up your mind with Wal-Mart. There are a lot of cons and there are also a lot of pros The Wall Street Journal did a great piece on their benefits a while back. I am not sure if you'll be able to find it if you don't have a subscription. Basically they said that wal mart is the Fed's best ally in inflation targeting.

But back on topic, this is good news. I went to the closest wal mart here in vegas looking for cheap bd's (perhaps cheaper than target) and found none. The only player they had was the PS3. I didn't even look at the xbox section.

[Jamh]

If Wal-Mart did go Blu, how long do you think it would be before Paramount goes neutral again?

[Teazle]

Originally Posted by Jamh

If Wal-Mart did go Blu, how long do you think it would be before Paramount goes neutral again?

Ten minutes.

[E-Dogg]

The war is getting more and more interesting by the minute. If this ends up being true, that would be hilarious that it ended up blowing up in their face.

[TruBlu2]

My Walmart has 5 columns of BD and 2 of hddud. BD players and no hddud players.

[fridge74]

That is funny Toshiba trying to push WalMart. I work for a large maufacturing company and know for a fact WalMart makes the terms. WalMart designates how much shelving space and signage you will get. If you don't go with the flow WalMart will give the precious shelf space to other competitors.

Looks like Toshiba could have really messed up on this if true.

[jw]

Thats one thing about Wal-Mart having dealt with them from a vendor standpoint, They are the boss, they tell you what they want to sell and at what price.
I dealt with the beer aspect which was governed by state ABC laws, so Wal-Mart was pretty lax as far as pricing and their demands, but I know one scenario dealing with lightbulbs and GE.Those .60 lightbulbs at Wal-Mart are GE brand and GE told WalMart that they were losing money on those and was going to raise the price, Wal-Mart told them that either they had the .60 lightbulbs or they would not carry GE bulbs, I am sure they are breaking even as the sell fast(and burn out fast) That is the power of Wal-mart, When you are that big, you are the boss. They dont need Toshiba, Toshiba needs them!!
As we all can tell from shelf space, Sony has been a major business partner with them and I dont think they would blow that, let the sales do the talking.All you have to do is walk around and look at the shelf space alotted to Sony versus other rivals in that particular category. They own the video game with shelf space, There TVs are rival with much cheaper versions, yet they still have a presence in that category.....It goes all the way from computer media, walkmans, mp3 players and so on.
from another topic about wal-mart and their sales numbers, they DO NOT and probably will never give their sales data to Nielson or any other data sharing group. They are very weird like that as far as viewing that as confidential. At a store level the dept manager can tell you sales , and what is the sales leader in that dept(I am thinking along the lines of the beer category, but its the same throughout the store)
If you ever want to check out Wal-Mart and its antics, There is a very enlightning dvd called wal-Mart, The high price of the low cost, It will floor you after seeing that.