Target stores' decision to back Blu-ray

[blackhawktraffic]

I am new to the forums so forgive me if this has been brought up before on here. But As many people have read Target has decided to pretty much back Sony by starting to carry one of their players for the Fall to Christmas season, along with the PS3 already being sold at stores.

Although the model of the player that will be carried is still unknown i do have a few extra details to give out in terms of how Target will handle it ( I work there).

For now the HD DVD player add on for the Xbox 360 will still be carried in stores, for how long is unknown at this point. I do know that starting in October the High Def. movie selection will expand to a total of 8 feet or 4 feet for Blu Ray and 4 feet for HD DVD. If you don't know 4 feet is simply one shelving unit 6 units high and 8 units across. As this happens the of the movies will expand and more older releases will appear there as well as new ones. Because this Christmas season is sort of a test run for Target fulling backing Blu Ray, a final decision to get rid of HD DVD's will be made.

Of Course a lot of stuff is still up in the air and with todays announcement of Paramount/Dreamworks decision to back HD DVD might change things a bit, I see Target slowly getting rid of HD DVD as time goes on. I cant speak for all Target stores but HD DVDs are the store I work at are hardly sold, and rarely do we run out of them. But I have noticed that a few of Blu-Ray movies we carry do run out the first week they come out including: 300, Disturbia, Are we done yet?, and Wild Hogs.

[red_5ive]

Anyone know if Target in-store pricing matches their online pricing? (which is basically Amazon, btw).

[blackhawktraffic]

Originally Posted by red_5ive

Anyone know if Target in-store pricing matches their online pricing? (which is basically Amazon, btw).

No Target does not price match what so ever sadly enough.

[red_5ive]

Originally Posted by blackhawktraffic

No Target does not price match what so ever sadly enough.

Aww, sucks.

Thanks

[Jack Torrance]

Originally Posted by blackhawktraffic

I am new to the forums so forgive me if this has been brought up before on here. But As many people have read Target has decided to pretty much back Sony by starting to carry one of their players for the Fall to Christmas season, along with the PS3 already being sold at stores.

Although the model of the player that will be carried is still unknown i do have a few extra details to give out in terms of how Target will handle it ( I work there).

For now the HD DVD player add on for the Xbox 360 will still be carried in stores, for how long is unknown at this point. I do know that starting in October the High Def. movie selection will expand to a total of 8 feet or 4 feet for Blu Ray and 4 feet for HD DVD. If you don't know 4 feet is simply one shelving unit 6 units high and 8 units across. As this happens the of the movies will expand and more older releases will appear there as well as new ones. Because this Christmas season is sort of a test run for Target fulling backing Blu Ray, a final decision to get rid of HD DVD's will be made.

Of Course a lot of stuff is still up in the air and with todays announcement of Paramount/Dreamworks decision to back HD DVD might change things a bit, I see Target slowly getting rid of HD DVD as time goes on. I cant speak for all Target stores but HD DVDs are the store I work at are hardly sold, and rarely do we run out of them. But I have noticed that a few of Blu-Ray movies we carry do run out the first week they come out including: 300, Disturbia, Are we done yet?, and Wild Hogs.

Thanks for the info BlackHawk. I buy my blu-rays from Target here in So Cal all the time (there's one very close to me... two actually!).

[blackhawktraffic]

Originally Posted by Jack Torrance

Thanks for the info BlackHawk. I buy my blu-rays from Target here in So Cal all the time (there's one very close to me... two actually!).

Yeah no problem. And yeah most of the time and i say MOST, Blu ray movies are cheapest there. I talk to a lot of people who automatically go to Best buy to get theirs but half the time Target has em for 5 bucks less. 300 is still only 24.99 there regular price.

[Lepton]

Target refuses to optimize sell-through rates. They insist on keeping the same 6 copes of Ice Age 2 for months... instead of stocking a day-and-date release like Wild Hogs.

I just don't get it.

[blackhawktraffic]

Originally Posted by Lepton

Target refuses to optimize sell-through rates. They insist on keeping the same 6 copes of Ice Age 2 for months... instead of stocking a day-and-date release like Wild Hogs.

I just don't get it.

Yeah I dont either, I think they are slowly changing things...Who knows.

[jw]

At my local Target in Winchester, its the same, top 2 shelves of new releases are always empty while the bottom shelves with multiple copies of older BR titles(Happy Feet,dejaVu,Messengers). In have to find the newer titles at Wal-Mart or Online, Wal-Mart just now started carrying a limited selection of certain releases,which suits me

[E-Dogg]

Originally Posted by blackhawktraffic

I am new to the forums so forgive me if this has been brought up before on here. But As many people have read Target has decided to pretty much back Sony by starting to carry one of their players for the Fall to Christmas season, along with the PS3 already being sold at stores.

Although the model of the player that will be carried is still unknown i do have a few extra details to give out in terms of how Target will handle it ( I work there).

For now the HD DVD player add on for the Xbox 360 will still be carried in stores, for how long is unknown at this point. I do know that starting in October the High Def. movie selection will expand to a total of 8 feet or 4 feet for Blu Ray and 4 feet for HD DVD. If you don't know 4 feet is simply one shelving unit 6 units high and 8 units across. As this happens the of the movies will expand and more older releases will appear there as well as new ones. Because this Christmas season is sort of a test run for Target fulling backing Blu Ray, a final decision to get rid of HD DVD's will be made.

Of Course a lot of stuff is still up in the air and with todays announcement of Paramount/Dreamworks decision to back HD DVD might change things a bit, I see Target slowly getting rid of HD DVD as time goes on. I cant speak for all Target stores but HD DVDs are the store I work at are hardly sold, and rarely do we run out of them. But I have noticed that a few of Blu-Ray movies we carry do run out the first week they come out including: 300, Disturbia, Are we done yet?, and Wild Hogs.

This is chess not checkers....and Blu is about to take HD-DVD's king.

[skubrick]

My local Target finally changed the BD/HD ratio.

For the last 5 months it was 3 rows BR, 3 rows HD.
Now it's 4 rows BR, 2 rows HD.


Good news!

[sj001]

All the stores in my area seem to be the same, they are skewed slightly in favor of Blu-Ray.

[Klaus]

Still 50/50 in Minnesota.

[blackhawktraffic]

yeah just this tuesday it shifted to four facings of Blu-Ray. In addition to that stores should be receiving more than 3-5 copies of movies, so really if you want them to carry more, ya gotta buy more.

[whippersnapper]

blackhearttraffic, welcome to the forums. It's good to have folks here who have some inside knowledge of the business.

I have a question. On Tuesdays when new releases come out, if my wife wanted a new DVD she would always have me stop by Target to pick it up. For these new releases (and then only for a short time) our Target would have absolutely the best prices on these new releases. I'm sure that they were considered "loss leaders" by Target. They were advertised in the papers ahead of time. We stopped buying DVDs some years ago, so I don't know if they still do that or not. And I don't know whether this was simply a local thing or more widespread. But I'd like to know whether Target is planning to do anything similar with newly released popular Blu-ray discs. Any ideas?

Thanks and again welcome.

[blackhawktraffic]

Originally Posted by whippersnapper

blackhearttraffic, welcome to the forums. It's good to have folks here who have some inside knowledge of the business.

I have a question. On Tuesdays when new releases come out, if my wife wanted a new DVD she would always have me stop by Target to pick it up. For these new releases (and then only for a short time) our Target would have absolutely the best prices on these new releases. I'm sure that they were considered "loss leaders" by Target. They were advertised in the papers ahead of time. We stopped buying DVDs some years ago, so I don't know if they still do that or not. And I don't know whether this was simply a local thing or more widespread. But I'd like to know whether Target is planning to do anything similar with newly released popular Blu-ray discs. Any ideas?

Thanks and again welcome.

WhipperSnapper...where do you live? This could be a reason why that target had such good prices on DVD's. I can only speak for the local store near me ( Riverside, California) but they would mark down movies a few bucks or even 5 sometimes because there is a Wal-Mart next door to it, and thus creating a bit of competition for those people who pinch every penny. Now it could be different where you are since whoever runs the Dept. or the store could decided to mark things down to gain more business.

Usually Target will have some of the best prices on New Releases...but usually nothing lover than 14.99 for the biggest hits ( Pirates of the Caribbean, Da Vinci Code etc.)

As for Blu-Ray movies and having good prices that is just a matter of time before they go on sale more often. Its often a vendor issue and not wanting to spend the $$'s on the promotion of the product. Target has had two movies cheaper than Best Buy and Circuit City lately (300, Wild Hogs) but as for future releases it is hard to say.

[whippersnapper]

Originally Posted by blackhawktraffic

WhipperSnapper...where do you live? This could be a reason why that target had such good prices on DVD's. I can only speak for the local store near me ( Riverside, California) but they would mark down movies a few bucks or even 5 sometimes because there is a Wal-Mart next door to it, and thus creating a bit of competition for those people who pinch every penny. Now it could be different where you are since whoever runs the Dept. or the store could decided to mark things down to gain more business.

Usually Target will have some of the best prices on New Releases...but usually nothing lover than 14.99 for the biggest hits ( Pirates of the Caribbean, Da Vinci Code etc.)

As for Blu-Ray movies and having good prices that is just a matter of time before they go on sale more often. Its often a vendor issue and not wanting to spend the $$'s on the promotion of the product. Target has had two movies cheaper than Best Buy and Circuit City lately (300, Wild Hogs) but as for future releases it is hard to say.

We live in Maryland.

[blackhawktraffic]

Originally Posted by whippersnapper

We live in Maryland.

Hmm might have just had a good person heading the department who marked things down, hard to say...was it always the same store you shopped out?

[Freis968]

More HD movies at my Target, because the Blu Rays keep running out of stock. They are $5.00 higher than Walmart on titles like Apocalypto, Pirates and Casino Royale. I know they should be a tad bit higher than Walmart, but $5.00 higher? I would settle for $1.00 as I prefer shopping at Target and not the third world country supporting Walmart.

[BluDrew]

The BDA now needs to get Wal-mart exclusive also. If they could do this then it would be great.