Wal-Mart to expand Blu-ray sections

[Batman1980]

Wal-Mart to Expand Blu-ray Players and Movies
Posted May 18, 2009 05:28 AM by Juan Calonge
According to the Wall Street Journal, Wal-Mart is going to broaden its offer of Blu-ray disc players and movies this week, as part of a general revamping of the electronics departments in its more than 3,500 U.S. stores, within a new strategy which involves selling top brands at lower prices than rivals offer.

The world's largest retailer by revenue is in a fierce battle with Best Buy and Amazon to attract former Circuit City customers, which were expected to gravitate towards Best Buy, but are proving to be evenly split among the three retailers.

As we reported ten days ago, Wal-Mart recently overtook Amazon for second place in the top Blu-ray retailer rankings, with a 20%-30% market share.

Source: Wall Street Journal | Permalink | Relevant for:

https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=2713
I'll believe it when I see it.

[KingBing]

Originally Posted by Wolverine1980

https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=2713
I'll believe it when I see it.

Thats excatly what went through my mind when i read this, I have a friend who is a manager in wal mart and he tells me they have no extra BLU's coming in just the same amount and titles as always and he works at a super store one

[Beast]

They already expanded once before. It's now a whole aisle in most stores.

Just depends how the DVD/BLU section is laid out. If they have the short aisles or long ones.

[jw]

They actually cut 8 foot at one of the Wal-Mart's here to add more room for players I think the WSJ must be getting news from the maintenance crew

[xtop]

Originally Posted by Beast

They already expanded once before. It's now a whole aisle in most stores.

Just depends how the DVD/BLU section is laid out. If they have the short aisles or long ones.

yea its a full aisle in the 3 walmarts around me. only problem is they're all behind glass

[Blu-Benny]

we'll see, i can't wait for the revamp to be done, everytime i go in there th aisles are smaller b/c they are moving stuff around....i do hope they get more titles in though, esp. @ that $14.96 price!!!

[jw]

Originally Posted by xtop

yea its a full aisle in the 3 walmarts around me. only problem is they're all behind glass

ours was 3 8 foot sections, 2 WM's have glass another has those plastic keepers like BB has for games

[nick1091]

The one near me is in process of revamping their whole store and increasing the electronics section, and currently it seems like they actually have even less Blus in stock than before.

[Hale-Bopp]

Two of our Wal-Marts here only have about 15 blu-ray movies on sale at any given time and in a tiny little section not even near any of the DVDs they have. It's pretty sad. They basically have no stock.

[Blu Titan]

The WSJ is a very credible source, much better than anectodal evidence.

[Beast]

Originally Posted by xtop

yea its a full aisle in the 3 walmarts around me. only problem is they're all behind glass

The ones that still use glass have had high theft rates of Blu-Rays.

Some of them have transitioned to those thick plastic keepers to keep them from being stolen.

[neos_peace]

I don't even go to wal-mart anymore to buy my Blu's. I just use them as a refernce point to do a price match to BB. I do all my Blu shopping at BB. That and my local WM has crap of a selection of Blu's. It's almost always the same stuff over and over again. No change. Now my local BB, seems to be geting biger wiht it's selection. SO I couldn't care less aboutt he news. Good for Blu but other then . no thanks.

[xtop]

Originally Posted by Beast

The ones that still use glass have had high theft rates of Blu-Rays.

Some of them have transitioned to those thick plastic keepers to keep them from being stolen.

i find that hard to believe at 2 of them, but i assume thats the reasoning anyways. beyond annoying tho. i can make off with 50 dollar pc games, but 10 dollar blurays need locked up

[VinnAY]

I wont start buying BD's at Wal-Mart until they stop either locking them up or in those alarmed cases. I just don't like that assumption that I'm going to steal from them, perhaps something more passive would be OK with me but I don't like having to go get someone and all that non-sense.

[phlydude]

As long as the stores around me either have a horrible or overpriced selection, I will continue to buy online.

Even the new Walmart SC finished in late 2008 doesn't have anything worth speaking about in terms of selection.

[xtop]

Originally Posted by VinnAY

I wont start buying BD's at Wal-Mart until they stop either locking them up or in those alarmed cases. I just don't like that assumption that I'm going to steal from them, perhaps something more passive would be OK with me but I don't like having to go get someone and all that non-sense.

its the easiest place to steal from, you have to understand why they do it. i don't mind the security cases at all. but everything, including the uber cheap blurays, behind a glass case? screw that

[MAPdead]

Good my store selection is crap.

[VinnAY]

Originally Posted by xtop

its the easiest place to steal from, you have to understand why they do it. i don't mind the security cases at all. but everything, including the uber cheap blurays, behind a glass case? screw that

Of course I understand WHY they do it

[Batman1980]

Well mine has an aisle and a kiosk and sometimes a few in the new release section, didn't see any signs of work being done to expand the section though.

[typ44q]

hopefully this will force amazon to actually put stuff on sale again instead of just price matching other sales.