Lower prices = Buying frenzy!

[MEB]

Way back on April 26, on another forum I wrote:

DEAR WARNER AND ALL OTHER STUDIOS: If you want Blu-ray to be a smash success, then stop GOUGING for Blu-ray titles! $25 (at discount) on street date when the equivalent standard def DVD is $15 is GOUGING. If you want everyone to dig into their wallets and upgrade ALL of the titles in their standard def collection to Blu-ray, you had BETTER lower the freakin' prices of the Blu-ray titles! $25 is TOO much! High prices are mostly what kept Laserdisc a niche format and it's doing the exact same thing to Blu-ray!

Need proof..... Just look at the Blu-ray Bargain forum and watch the feeding frenzy when there are sales (BOGOs, etc.) that nets Blu-ray titles for $15 each or less.

On May 5, there are no less than seven Blu-ray titles being released that I'd like to buy. I won't buy ANY of them until they are (at a later date) on sale for $15 or less. By the time they get down to $15, I'll probably have forgotten a couple of those seven titles. I'll end up buying maybe 4 or 5 of them. But I'd buy all seven of them if they were at $15 each on release date.

You want Blu-ray to go mainstream? REDUCE THE PRICE OF THE BLU-RAY DISCS!!

Subsequent to that, I have repeatedly said that $19.99 is my max for new releases on Blu, $17.99 is my max for really good catalog titles on Blu, and $14.99 is my max for an average catalog title on Blu.

Yes, I've bent my own rules by a dollar or two here or there but, for the most part, I've stuck with my withhold money until prices are lower philosophy.

Now, as we approach the holidays, whether it be by coupon or by retailers/etailers price matching each other, the average price of a new Blu-ray has fallen dramatically over the last few weeks.

And look at the buying FRENZY! Folks are ordering more Blu-rays than ever!

STUDIOS: We WANT your movies on Blu-ray (well, some of them anyway ). But those Blus have to remain close to DVD pricing! Keep those prices under $20 (under $15 for catalog titles) and your sales will continue to skyrocket!

Mark

[magnox]

wow... smokin deal

[Blu Smurf]

I'm really enjoying the Walmart/Amazon price war going on right now. The latest Harry Potter on BLU is now down to 15.86 with FREE SHIPPING to your home from Walmart.

That's jaw-dropping amazing. While we all know the best blu ray deals are usually online, I'm happy to see new releases going for around 20 bucks at ole Wally World.

I'm just curious as to what the IN STORE prices are gonna be for some of these blu rays.

I remember getting Crank 2 blu online for under 18 dollars, while they wanted 25 in the stores around me. tsk tsk

[jw]

OP you dont follow the news do you? WB had nothing to do with this, Its Wal-Mart that started it with a price war with BB and Amazon is adding to the mix.
Starting Tuesday WM will also have new release DVDs 10.00 each week til Xmas, They are using it as a loss leader to get you in the stores
Warner is just reaping the benefits as they most likely have a cheaper wholesale

[Rob71]

All I know is I've been out of the game for a while and it looks like a good time to jump back in.

[Rob J in WNY]

MEB,

I share your enthusiasm, but it seems to me that the Blu-ray movie market is still trying to land more solidly on its feet. Do you remember when VHS movies were $30 (and more) to buy - 15 to 20 years ago? We were making a LOT less money in those days.

The prices have been coming down nicely. Like you, I prefer to find deals, myself. Few of my BDs were purchased at the $30 price-point, and that was when I was starting out and eager for the newest titles. Now, with a collection that contains a lot of my favorite movies (at least ones currently available on BD), I am patient for a sale or promotion on titles I want, and through this year, especially the latter part of this year, the patience has been worth it.

I'm sure we'll see some more overall price reductions in the coming months. Even though the BD vs. HD DVD format war was decided a year-and-a-half ago, studios are still reluctant to release all their catalog titles on BD - and with good reason. Some copies of movies on the BD shelves at local B&M stores have been sitting there for weeks, and even months.

These are the "good-ol' days." Someday, we'll all be talking about when Blu-ray was just starting out (like we did with DVD, LD, and for some of us, VHS/Beta ), and we'll recall how "cool" it was to get 1080 progressive lines of resolution (over 480) and lossless audio.

[gvortex7]

Actually, many VHS tapes were around $90-100 as recently as 1995-96 because of the rental market. I remember when Mortal Kombat came out around Christmas 1995 (I was working at Blockbuster at that time), I wanted to buy it so badly, but it was only available as a rental. Yet, if you wanted to get it, you would have had to shell out $95 for it. I was like, hell no. I didn't want the movie that badly.
Many Laserdiscs were also priced ridiculously. For example, I almost bought Alien as my first Laserdisc in 1994, but it was $49.99, so that quickly changed my mind about buying into that format.

[MEB]

Originally Posted by jwbbud

OP you dont follow the news do you? WB had nothing to do with this, Its Wal-Mart that started it with a price war with BB and Amazon is adding to the mix.
Starting Tuesday WM will also have new release DVDs 10.00 each week til Xmas, They are using it as a loss leader to get you in the stores
Warner is just reaping the benefits as they most likely have a cheaper wholesale

Trust me, Walmart nor any other retailer wouldn't have started squat if the studios hadn't lowered wholesale prices. Do you honestly believe the wholesale cost to Walmart for a title they retail for $25 is the same as the wholesale cost for a title they retail for $15?

It is the studios that have reduced prices! All of those $9.99 Blus you see at Fry's, Amazon, etc.... those retailers aren't selling them at a loss!

Competition among retailers/etailers surely helps bring down prices, but only to a certain point. It is quite evident that wholesale costs have declined too.

To go mainstream, Blu-ray pricing needs to be at or near DVD pricing. And the sooner Blu-ray goes mainstream, the sooner we'll see Back To The Future, Raiders of the Lost Arc, Star Wars, etc. released on Blu!

Mark

[Blaze98]

Originally Posted by MEB

Trust me, Walmart nor any other retailer wouldn't have started squat if the studios hadn't lowered wholesale prices. Do you honestly believe the wholesale cost to Walmart for a title they retail for $25 is the same as the wholesale cost for a title they retail for $15?

It is the studios that have reduced prices! All of those $9.99 Blus you see at Fry's, Amazon, etc.... those retailers aren't selling them at a loss!

Competition among retailers/etailers surely helps bring down prices, but only to a certain point. It is quite evident that wholesale costs have declined too.

To go mainstream, Blu-ray pricing needs to be at or near DVD pricing. And the sooner Blu-ray goes mainstream, the sooner we'll see Back To The Future, Raiders of the Lost Arc, Star Wars, etc. released on Blu!

Mark

Thst have reduced the price due to the demand of the Stores like Walmart and Target and Best Buy. I wouldn't make it sound like they(the studios) did this because they wanted to. Walmart and Best Buy and the other compants are the ones to thank for this and you would be suprised how much Walmart pay for the cost of the movies, Mainly the Blu Rays. its more thank you think. Thats why they demanded and worked with the other retailers to get them to lower the prices of them.

[Clark Kent]

It is a combination of both reduced wholesale pricing and stores starting to use Blu-rays as loss leaders. Up until this point, Blu-rays were still exclusively the province of high-margin products that were not discounted much.

[magnox]

In the current climate im sure stores are able to dictate what they will pay to wb etc. I also think stores like walmart take a hit to get people in the stores.

OP you post like you saw the future... simple economics of technology getting cheaper, you can end up waiting forever.