NEW YORK (AP) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is upping the ante heading into the holiday season, trimming the online preorder prices of some upcoming DVDs following last month's price cut on books.
The move led rivals Amazon.com Inc. and Target Corp. to reduce the prices of some online preorder DVDs, which pushed Wal-Mart to take a few more cents off its offerings.
The world's biggest retailer said late Thursday that it would lower the online prices of new DVDs such as "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" and "Star Trek" to $10.
But when Amazon reduced some of its DVD prices to $9.99, Wal-Mart shot back by lowering its DVDs to $9.98 as of Friday morning.
The retailer, which generated more than $400 billion in sales last year, was embroiled in a book price war with Target and Amazon.com last month that saw the companies lower the online preorder prices on titles such as "Under the Dome" by Stephen King and "Ford County" by John Grisham. Prices dropped as low as $8.98.
As books in the price war have come to market, prices have gone up, though the sellers are still discounting them heavily.
Wal-Mart has been cutting costs and using those savings to lower prices for its shoppers, thereby pumping up its sales. The retailer knows that while the economy has been improving, consumers are still worried about the high unemployment rate heading into the holidays and will likely want to duplicate some of the bargains they experienced last year.
Wal-Mart's DVD price cut follows its announcement late last month that it would reduce prices weekly on top-selling items from bananas to board games and hold those cuts through the holiday season.
Looks like the major retailers have finally taken notice of Amazon's agressive price matching. I wonder what Best Buy will do. Amazon has got to be totally pissing off these retailers who want big sales this holiday.
KillerCannibal
11-06-09, 10:59 AM
Best Buy better d osomething because, quite frankly, they suck with pricing. Aside from the occasional great deals, they rarely have prices in line with Amazon.
Josh-da-man
11-06-09, 11:25 AM
I hope we have an insane Blu-ray price war in the near future.
Hendersonfan
11-06-09, 11:28 AM
Best Buy better d osomething because, quite frankly, they suck with pricing. Aside from the occasional great deals, they rarely have prices in line with Amazon.
I agree. I only shop at Best Buy when they have a sale ($4.99/ movie or the 2 disc SE's buy one get one free). Other than those times, their prices are ridiculously high.
GizmoDVD
11-06-09, 11:39 AM
I hope we have an insane Blu-ray price war in the near future.
Where have you been in the past week? Check out the BD Bargains subforum here. Many new releases are like $16.
Brian T
11-06-09, 11:43 AM
The retailer knows that while the economy has been improving, consumers are still worried about the high unemployment rate
If Amazon becomes the long-term winner of all this, perhaps there will be plenty of employment opportunities with the postal service. ;)
styl3s
11-07-09, 07:11 AM
If Amazon becomes the long-term winner of all this, perhaps there will be plenty of employment opportunities with the postal service. ;)
good luck to people trying to become a regular.. i worked there for 5 years and never got moved up from casual and got layed off do to cuts
becoming a regular at that place is like winning a lottery in this economy, hell before our economy went in the crapper it was hard.
RonG617
11-07-09, 04:31 PM
good luck to people trying to become a regular.. i worked there for 5 years and never got moved up from casual and got layed off do to cuts
becoming a regular at that place is like winning a lottery in this economy, hell before our economy went in the crapper it was hard.
No one is making regular anymore, they keep cutting routes and have a bunch of unassigned regulars floating around. They haven't hired a part time flexible employee in years. All they want is casuals/TE's so they can work them any amount of hours and not pay them insurance, benefits, sick leave, vacation or any perks at all. Then if they have enough staff, they just kick them to the curb which they can't do to the union regulars and PTF's. Post office is horrible to try and work for now, there is no future for new guys coming in.
dvd-4-life
11-07-09, 09:18 PM
Best Buy better d osomething because, quite frankly, they suck with pricing. Aside from the occasional great deals, they rarely have prices in line with Amazon.
Then add sales tax to your Best Buy purchase then its not worth the bother to go there. Haven't been there in almost 2 yrs.
Josh-da-man
11-08-09, 11:16 AM
Where have you been in the past week? Check out the BD Bargains subforum here. Many new releases are like $16.
Most of that is stuff I have zero interest in. I'd much rather see more catalog titles start to dip below the $10 mark so I can start upgrading select DVDs. The only two new releases I'm interested in are Inglorious Basterds and Star Trek.
I'd consider picking up Jennifer's Body if I could get it for $9.99.
Viper187
11-08-09, 03:13 PM
I wish Amazon would catch up with Walmart's current TV on DVD prices: Shield ($20/season), Forever Knight ($15/season), X-Files ($14/season), etc. I saw the tags out Wednesday night, but I went back Saturday and the goddamn shelves still haven't been fully stocked. There were like 2 copies of Shield season 1 and none of the rest.
clckworang
11-09-09, 09:46 AM
Then add sales tax to your Best Buy purchase then its not worth the bother to go there. Haven't been there in almost 2 yrs.
Yeah, the sales tax is usually the killer for me. I can often find something at Best Buy the same price as Amazon, but I get free shipping from Amazon as a Prime member. So, that makes my decision a lot easier.
Most of that is stuff I have zero interest in. I'd much rather see more catalog titles start to dip below the $10 mark so I can start upgrading select DVDs. The only two new releases I'm interested in are Inglorious Basterds and Star Trek.
I'd consider picking up Jennifer's Body if I could get it for $9.99.
There are quite a number of catalog titles on Blu-ray now priced at $9.99 or less.
fujishig
11-09-09, 02:19 PM
Then add sales tax to your Best Buy purchase then its not worth the bother to go there. Haven't been there in almost 2 yrs.
And this is why the government will eventually have to enact some kind of online sales tax (or start enforcing existing laws). It's just not fair to B&Ms at this point (not that I don't enjoy not being charged sales tax from amazon directly).
hindolio
11-10-09, 12:17 AM
^ not eventually, its already started.
NiCK Crush
11-10-09, 01:31 AM
this is great news
odisn
11-10-09, 01:27 PM
^ not eventually, its already started.
Yep. Here in NC, they catch you for it as you file your income taxes (unless you lie) as a percentage of your AGI. It has been on the tax form for a few years now.
Heat
11-12-09, 11:34 AM
I wish Amazon would catch up with Walmart's current TV on DVD prices: Shield ($20/season), Forever Knight ($15/season), X-Files ($14/season), etc. I saw the tags out Wednesday night, but I went back Saturday and the goddamn shelves still haven't been fully stocked. There were like 2 copies of Shield season 1 and none of the rest.
That's getting into the range that I would buy them - in particular I'd like to watch the last two seasons of The Shield. For $20 / season, you can then resell them on ebay for probably $12 or so after expenses.
As for $10 for Star Trek - it's a good price, but still more than the $1 I'll be spending at RedBox. OK, $2 if I want to watch it again in a few months.
Buy: