What Are Retailers Thinking?

[stockstar1138]

The only people who will lose more if this war continues than consumers are the retailers. if there is another pro-red movie studio switch, there is a good chance it will just turn this war into a stalemate. if a stalemate is the case than i fully support MS, Apple, or Sony moving towards a HD download based service as HDM will basically be a niche format that will die a slow, painful death.

if this war fails, downloads will be the future, and if downloads are the future, then the retailers are going to get cut out. can you imagine what it would do to the bottom lines of Best Buy, Circuit City, Target, and Wal-Mart if all of the sudden they didn't carry movies at their stores. These stores have the most to lose out of anybody. Why aren't they ensuring that they will carry movies for at least another generation and simply pick the format that is the most popular (blu-ray) with both consumers, manufacturers and studios. If retailers dropped HD DVD, then Toshiba would have a very hard time penetrating the market. I mean lets face it there is no way retailers are making hardly any cash off hd dvd hardware, so why do they put up with selling something that they cannot make money off of and could cause them to lose a big chunk of their business in the future.

Toshiba would be forced into stop making hd dvd players. Why don't they stop carrying hd dvd software too. Studios don't make cash off selling software to consumers, they make it off selling software to retaliers and if retaliers refused to buy it, they would have no choice but to align themselves with what was selling. We like to sit in here everyday and say, Paramount was retarded, Universal is stupid, why doesn't WB make a choice. However, they are the ones making the big bucks off short term payoffs (not WB, yet) and if HDM fails, they will still make similar profits off a new way of getting movies into consumers hands (note all the suden retaliers don't get mentioned in the money exchanging process), they aren't being stupid, they are making money and thats what businesses do.

Yeah, paramount was short sighted, but whats the worse that happens, they kill off hdm and sell just as many movies via a download service as they would have with blu-ray and hd dvd combined, plus they get a 150 million dollars. thats not stupid, thats good business. who is being stupid right now are the retaliers. they are the ones who could seriously influence studio decisions way more than a check from one of these hd promo groups. they are the ones who have more to lose in this war than anybody else.

So next time somebody accusses the studios of being the ones that are going to run HDM formats into the ground, remember the studios are only going to do what makes them money, and that the retaliers should be held just as responsible if not more than the studios for dragging this war out and possibly destroying HDM as a whole. They are the ones who carry HDMI dvd 1080p players, 1080i HD DVD players, and blu-ray players that only cause mass confusion with consumers, to the point where the consumer says screw it, ill stay with my dvd player and dvds. If there was upconversion and blu-ray there would be no confusion. they are the ones who don't educate their employees enough to the point where everyday we hear a new story of some clown telling consumers something completely wrong information.

Studios aren't causing the confusion, the retailers are. And its absolutely mind boggling that the retailers are the ones doing this considering they have the most to lose in this war by a long shot.

[Go Blu]

FULL HD
FUL HD
FU HD
FU D
FUD (its what you get when you don't get FULL 1080p resolution)



I like that, it makes a nice graphic!

[Esox50]

Try a paragraph break or two there Stockstar...my eyes are watering trying to read that and I couldn't get all the way through it.

WBs comment have alluded to pressure from retailers. It's to be expected, and the retailers are 100% correct. I firmly believe that if the studios don't get behind one format by mid-2008, the retailers will start "making the decision" for them. And given all the industry CE and studio support behind BD, who do you think they're going to drop?

[sj001]

The retailers have been slowly making the decision already with shelf space allocation. Most of them favor Blu-ray, I can only see this trend continuing into 2008, especially if WB goes to the Blu side.

[patrick99]

Originally Posted by Esox50

Try a paragraph break or two there Stockstar...my eyes are watering trying to read that and I couldn't get all the way through it.

+1

[stockstar1138]

Originally Posted by sj001

The retailers have been slowly making the decision already with shelf space allocation. Most of them favor Blu-ray, I can only see this trend continuing into 2008, especially if WB goes to the Blu side.

considering that blu-ray has 2x as much studio support and nearly 2x the releases this should be expected. However, when Best Buy orders 15 copies of the BU on HD DVD, it really doesn't encourage Universal to do much, they are still making decent enough profits off hd dvd + payouts to not go blu-ray. consumers still see; i can go with spiderman, pirates, die hard, ratatouille or i can go with bourne, transformers, and shrek and for some they like the later movies better (plus its cheaper to get into hd dvd), thus choose hd dvd and continue this stupid war. if all the sudden Universal wasn't getting any $ from retailers for there hd dvd releases and when consumer went into a store and their only hd choice was blu-ray, there wouldn't be any confusion, there wouldn't be any hard decisions and blu-ray would take off and all parties would come out ahead. when blu-ray would take off and hd dvd would be this weird niche internet format, the studios would have no choice (as payouts couldn't possible be that big) but to go blu. thus, retailers stay in the movie business for at least 10 more years, studios make just as much money v. downloads and consumers get a better product. giving more shelf space to blu isn't really doing that much.

[JAGUAR1977]

I'll tell you what retailers are thinking, let's screw HD-DVD owners for every penny they have this Christmas and January sales, then phase out HD-DVD.

No matter how shaky the ground is for HD-DVD, you'll not see any hints of dropping the format until the big selling season is over and done with.

[sj001]

Originally Posted by stockstar1138

considering that blu-ray has 2x as much studio support and nearly 2x the releases this should be expected. However, when Best Buy orders 15 copies of the BU on HD DVD, it really doesn't encourage Universal to do much, they are still making decent enough profits off hd dvd + payouts to not go blu-ray. consumers still see; i can go with spiderman, pirates, die hard, ratatouille or i can go with bourne, transformers, and shrek and for some they like the later movies better (plus its cheaper to get into hd dvd), thus choose hd dvd and continue this stupid war. if all the sudden Universal wasn't getting any $ from retailers for there hd dvd releases and when consumer went into a store and their only hd choice was blu-ray, there wouldn't be any confusion, there wouldn't be any hard decisions and blu-ray would take off and all parties would come out ahead. when blu-ray would take off and hd dvd would be this weird niche internet format, the studios would have no choice (as payouts couldn't possible be that big) but to go blu. thus, retailers stay in the movie business for at least 10 more years, studios make just as much money v. downloads and consumers get a better product. giving more shelf space to blu isn't really doing that much.

It certainly would be great if retailers would implement this, it makes you wonder if many of them really see the big picture in the end. Obviously if they cut off Red it would end things much faster, but there are so many of them out there, that it is a case-by-case decision for most of them. You can see it from the anecdotes, some stores cater all Blu, others are lean slightly Red, other have mostly Blu. It would be nice to see some corporate level decisions from some of the big stores.

[moviefan]

[QUOTE=Esox50;433312]Try a paragraph break or two there Stockstar...my eyes are watering trying to read that and I couldn't get all the way through it.


Ditto here! Ouch!

[greekjgg]

Originally Posted by sj001

The retailers have been slowly making the decision already with shelf space allocation. Most of them favor Blu-ray, I can only see this trend continuing into 2008, especially if WB goes to the Blu side.

They are not slowly making the decision, they are "making the conditions favorable" would be the better explanation. If all that was at stake here is retail space, retailers would have made decisions long ago. You have to weigh the politics involved too.

A retailer like best buy denouncing HDDVD is basically slapping M$ in the face which is where a great deal of product/revenue comes from. PC OS's, 360's!!! These high end products get consumers in the doors. So the decision isn't just about shelf space keep in mind!!

[Sonny]

If it comes down to Digi Down loads I'm done no more new films for me at home! Screw M$ & Screw DD! I got a bullet fur dat @$$ ...

[sj001]

Originally Posted by greekjgg

They are not slowly making the decision, they are "making the conditions favorable" would be the better explanation. If all that was at stake here is retail space, retailers would have made decisions long ago. You have to weigh the politics involved too.

A retailer like best buy denouncing HDDVD is basically slapping M$ in the face which is where a great deal of product/revenue comes from. PC OS's, 360's!!! These high end products get consumers in the doors. So the decision isn't just about shelf space keep in mind!!

Understandable, but if enough retailers start to sway this direction, what is Microsoft going to do? Pull their product from all the stores? I don't think that is going to help them out very much. Microsoft doesn't CARE about HD-DVD anymore, they have made that very clear.

...and, if it weren't for politics, we wouldn't be in this mess to begin with, you can thank Mr. Gates for that.

[greekjgg]

Originally Posted by sj001

Understandable, but if enough retailers start to sway this direction, what is Microsoft going to do? Pull their product from all the stores? I don't think that is going to help them out very much. Microsoft doesn't CARE about HD-DVD anymore, they have made that very clear.

...and, if it weren't for politics, we wouldn't be in this mess to begin with, you can thank Mr. Gates for that.

Regarding this situation, I would say there is Best Buy, then every other retailer. Lets say Best Buy folds on HDDUD? M$ could quickly pull the plug and offer incentives to CIrcuit City as being an "exclusive retailer" of say 360's. Yes, Target and other smaller places still carry them, but no near the volume that BBY or Circuit does. M$ will try to make an example out of the first one who tries to make a stance.

[stockstar1138]

Originally Posted by greekjgg

They are not slowly making the decision, they are "making the conditions favorable" would be the better explanation. If all that was at stake here is retail space, retailers would have made decisions long ago. You have to weigh the politics involved too.

A retailer like best buy denouncing HDDVD is basically slapping M$ in the face which is where a great deal of product/revenue comes from. PC OS's, 360's!!! These high end products get consumers in the doors. So the decision isn't just about shelf space keep in mind!!

whats MS going to do, pull the 360 out of the store? they couldn't do crap about it.

[stockstar1138]

Originally Posted by greekjgg

Regarding this situation, I would say there is Best Buy, then every other retailer. Lets say Best Buy folds on HDDUD? M$ could quickly pull the plug and offer incentives to CIrcuit City as being an "exclusive retailer" of say 360's. Yes, Target and other smaller places still carry them, but no near the volume that BBY or Circuit does. M$ will try to make an example out of the first one who tries to make a stance.

why in god's earth would Best Buy pull the plug on 360s in the nation's #1 electronics store? if they did that they can basically kiss themselves into last again in the console wars. if they can't turn a profit on the 360, good chance the xbox series is done over at MS.

[sj001]

Originally Posted by greekjgg

Regarding this situation, I would say there is Best Buy, then every other retailer. Lets say Best Buy folds on HDDUD? M$ could quickly pull the plug and offer incentives to CIrcuit City as being an "exclusive retailer" of say 360's. Yes, Target and other smaller places still carry them, but no near the volume that BBY or Circuit does. M$ will try to make an example out of the first one who tries to make a stance.

I can't see this happening... they aren't going to win by doing this. They would be shooting themselves in the foot.
I think it's time for M$ to be made an example of, instead of the other way around, they have been bullying people around for too long.

[statikcat]

Holy wall of text.

[mystiksuicide]

Dude that was a nightmare to read. Well written but still a nightmare.

[Mericalis]

Originally Posted by Sonny

If it comes down to Digi Down loads I'm done no more new films for me at home!

This is what I have started to type many times over. I will not buy downloads of movies. I want physical media in my hand and that's not going to ever change. If it comes down to downloads as my only choice in the future to get new movies, then I'll just wait for them to come out on regular transmission feeds (whatever is the norm for that day and time).

[krispyjala]

Originally Posted by mystiksuicide

Dude that was a nightmare to read. Well written but still a nightmare.

well-written though