Article gives hints to some Black Friday Sales
11-09-07 | 08:25 PM
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From: Big Blue Nation!
Article gives hints to some Black Friday Sales
http://www.videobusiness.com/article....html?nid=2705
FYE looks like they are getting in the game this year
Several retailers offer aggressive Black Friday sales
One-day discounts turn into weekend events
By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 11/9/2007
NOV. 9 | Retailers are expanding Black Friday beyond its traditional one-day sale to offer holiday clearance discounts before and after the day after Thanksgiving and including such new product categories as high-definition players and titles.
With an unprecedented number of $300 million-plus-grossing theatrical films heading to DVD this fourth-quarter holiday season, studios and retailers are working to deliver their best bonanza yet of sales bells and whistles to encourage consumers to also spend on catalog titles.
Studios and retailers are contributing to big DVD title markdowns that will be seen across large and small stores, including $3.50 to $3.99 deals at Sears, F.Y.E., Target and K-Mart, according to various advertisements. The deals cover such blue-chip offerings as Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s Spider-Man 2 for $3.99 at K-Mart and Warner Home Video’s Batman Begins for $3.98 at Target.
“Black Friday, not unlike Christmas [decorations], comes a little earlier every year,” said one studio executive. “The challenge is to give the consumer a few items that they have never seen before to stimulate an impulse reaction to buy more than they would have otherwise.”
Day-after-Thanksgiving bargains have primarily been the domain of mass merchants. However, F.Y.E. is staking a strong Black Friday presence with a two-day, Friday and Saturday sale featuring such Blu-ray Disc titles as Lionsgate’s September release House of 100 Corpses for as low as $12.99 and HD DVD titles including Universal Studios Home Entertainment’s Meet the Parents for as low as $16.99. The retailer also is listing more than 200 TV DVD sets as buy one, get one free and has priced more than 100 titles, such as Universal’s King Kong, at $4.99.
“If you compare the last two Black Fridays, you did not see many aggressive promotions around Blu-ray,” said David Bishop, Sony worldwide president. “You will this year. I think [Black Friday] will be as bloody [competitively] as it has been the last couple of years. One difference is that there will generally be more high-def activity.”
Best Buy matched a Nov. 2 pre-Black Friday sale by Wal-Mart with its own hefty markdowns, including selling Toshiba’s stand-alone HD DVD player HD-A2 for $99 and HD-A3 for $199, representing $100 off previous widespread retail tags on each product. Best Buy ran its A3 sale Friday through Sunday, longer than Wal-Mart’s one-day jackpot.
“The A3 was a weekend special, Friday through Sunday, and that was separate from what we did with the A2, which came up because of what Wal-Mart was doing,” Best Buy spokesman Brian Lucas said. “We’ll do weekend specials throughout the year, where it’s not necessarily Black Friday or pre-Black Friday, but it’s continuing efforts to roll out special offers to surprise customers.”
Sears will sell the HD-A3 for $169.99 on Black Friday between 5 a.m. and noon.
On the software side, K-Mart is hosting ‘Black Friday’ on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day. Certain Sears items, including DVDs at $3.99, $5.99 and $7.99, will stay sale-priced Friday and Saturday. Target’s sale similarly spans the two days and includes $14.98 TV DVD sets, representing as much as $30 off original pricing.
Studios also are hoping to entice consumers with bargain-priced DVD boxed sets.
Warner is selling $9.99-tagged Four Film Favorites, such as a set of four Steven Seagal movies on one disc, and a slew of premium-priced TV DVD complete series sets, including the $169.98 Full House: The Complete Series Collection.
“This fourth quarter, Warner has designed a program that will appeal to all tastes with low-end values that are unprecedented, and not [just] as a single movie offer,” said Jeff Baker, Warner senior VP and general manager of theatrical catalog and sales. “We are bullish on catalog consumption, driven by the tremendous traffic and interest in DVD from the theatrical tentpoles coming over the next 60 days.”
One-day discounts turn into weekend events
By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 11/9/2007
NOV. 9 | Retailers are expanding Black Friday beyond its traditional one-day sale to offer holiday clearance discounts before and after the day after Thanksgiving and including such new product categories as high-definition players and titles.
With an unprecedented number of $300 million-plus-grossing theatrical films heading to DVD this fourth-quarter holiday season, studios and retailers are working to deliver their best bonanza yet of sales bells and whistles to encourage consumers to also spend on catalog titles.
Studios and retailers are contributing to big DVD title markdowns that will be seen across large and small stores, including $3.50 to $3.99 deals at Sears, F.Y.E., Target and K-Mart, according to various advertisements. The deals cover such blue-chip offerings as Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s Spider-Man 2 for $3.99 at K-Mart and Warner Home Video’s Batman Begins for $3.98 at Target.
“Black Friday, not unlike Christmas [decorations], comes a little earlier every year,” said one studio executive. “The challenge is to give the consumer a few items that they have never seen before to stimulate an impulse reaction to buy more than they would have otherwise.”
Day-after-Thanksgiving bargains have primarily been the domain of mass merchants. However, F.Y.E. is staking a strong Black Friday presence with a two-day, Friday and Saturday sale featuring such Blu-ray Disc titles as Lionsgate’s September release House of 100 Corpses for as low as $12.99 and HD DVD titles including Universal Studios Home Entertainment’s Meet the Parents for as low as $16.99. The retailer also is listing more than 200 TV DVD sets as buy one, get one free and has priced more than 100 titles, such as Universal’s King Kong, at $4.99.
“If you compare the last two Black Fridays, you did not see many aggressive promotions around Blu-ray,” said David Bishop, Sony worldwide president. “You will this year. I think [Black Friday] will be as bloody [competitively] as it has been the last couple of years. One difference is that there will generally be more high-def activity.”
Best Buy matched a Nov. 2 pre-Black Friday sale by Wal-Mart with its own hefty markdowns, including selling Toshiba’s stand-alone HD DVD player HD-A2 for $99 and HD-A3 for $199, representing $100 off previous widespread retail tags on each product. Best Buy ran its A3 sale Friday through Sunday, longer than Wal-Mart’s one-day jackpot.
“The A3 was a weekend special, Friday through Sunday, and that was separate from what we did with the A2, which came up because of what Wal-Mart was doing,” Best Buy spokesman Brian Lucas said. “We’ll do weekend specials throughout the year, where it’s not necessarily Black Friday or pre-Black Friday, but it’s continuing efforts to roll out special offers to surprise customers.”
Sears will sell the HD-A3 for $169.99 on Black Friday between 5 a.m. and noon.
On the software side, K-Mart is hosting ‘Black Friday’ on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day. Certain Sears items, including DVDs at $3.99, $5.99 and $7.99, will stay sale-priced Friday and Saturday. Target’s sale similarly spans the two days and includes $14.98 TV DVD sets, representing as much as $30 off original pricing.
Studios also are hoping to entice consumers with bargain-priced DVD boxed sets.
Warner is selling $9.99-tagged Four Film Favorites, such as a set of four Steven Seagal movies on one disc, and a slew of premium-priced TV DVD complete series sets, including the $169.98 Full House: The Complete Series Collection.
“This fourth quarter, Warner has designed a program that will appeal to all tastes with low-end values that are unprecedented, and not [just] as a single movie offer,” said Jeff Baker, Warner senior VP and general manager of theatrical catalog and sales. “We are bullish on catalog consumption, driven by the tremendous traffic and interest in DVD from the theatrical tentpoles coming over the next 60 days.”
11-09-07 | 10:10 PM
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From: Big Blue Nation!
Thanks Pilot, the only reason I posted was that the information was in a published article. I would think that makes it public knowlege. There is no intent on my part to violate forum rules or land dvdtalk in any hot water.
11-09-07 | 10:44 PM
#4
DVD Talk Legend
I won't post any details here, but bfads has scans of all of the store ads. If you want to pursue it, just google to find that site.
I wonder if Video Business has permission to post the prices they are posting. Hopefully no lawyers will pursue them like Speedy...
I wonder if Video Business has permission to post the prices they are posting. Hopefully no lawyers will pursue them like Speedy...
11-09-07 | 11:13 PM
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And the answer is: "A good start."
11-10-07 | 03:06 AM
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From: Maryland, USA
Are fye's in-store prices generally cheaper than their online prices? Because looking at their online prices for simpsons and futurama, it'd be just as cheap, on average, to just buy them from deepdiscount during the 20% off sale right now.
11-10-07 | 07:48 AM
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From: J-Ville
Originally Posted by PopcornTreeCt
There won't be a lot, if any, HD-DVD or Blu-ray sales.
11-10-07 | 09:36 AM
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I think Black Friday is starting to look like it could be an exciting day for high-def bargain hunters. I don't know how many people will be rushing out to buy a $12.99 Blu-ray of "House of a 1,000 Corpses" for the holidays but if there are other titles at this price point, that would be a great deal! I have an HD DVD player so it would be nice if there were plenty of $16.99 titles to be had that day too. $3.99 for Spidey and Batman on DVD is also killer.
11-10-07 | 09:56 AM
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From: Big Blue Nation!
Are fye's in-store prices generally cheaper than their online prices?
They also have rebates on many of their items that make them fairly cheap if you dont mind waiting for your money back. This is their big gimmic because they know a lot of people wont send them in.
Like any other retailer, the way to get the best price is cherry picking. Be loyal to no one.
11-10-07 | 11:37 AM
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From: Maryland, USA
Thanks for the info BKenn01. I'll probably just stop by a little later in the day and keep my expectations low. And I dont mind waiting for my money back so I can probably find at least something good.
11-10-07 | 02:44 PM
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From: Franklinville, NJ
Originally Posted by pilot
I'll keep this open pending the discussion stays to the items specified in this article only, otherwise it's going bye bye.
11-10-07 | 03:12 PM
#14
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Originally Posted by Pizza
I think Black Friday is starting to look like it could be an exciting day for high-def bargain hunters. I don't know how many people will be rushing out to buy a $12.99 Blu-ray of "House of a 1,000 Corpses" for the holidays but if there are other titles at this price point, that would be a great deal! I have an HD DVD player so it would be nice if there were plenty of $16.99 titles to be had that day too. $3.99 for Spidey and Batman on DVD is also killer.
11-10-07 | 03:50 PM
#15
DVD Talk Legend
Originally Posted by choipnugget
Are fye's in-store prices generally cheaper than their online prices? Because looking at their online prices for simpsons and futurama, it'd be just as cheap, on average, to just buy them from deepdiscount during the 20% off sale right now.
11-10-07 | 04:59 PM
#16
DVD Talk Hero
Originally Posted by videoguy
Why not just kill off individual posts in violation rather than the whole thing?
Anywho, last year I didn't do Black Friday... but some of these deals might get me to crawl out of bed at some ungodly hour. It can actually be fun if you (and those in line) have a good attitude about the whole thing.
11-10-07 | 06:19 PM
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From: Boston, MA
Originally Posted by TomOpus
but some of these deals might get me to crawl out of bed at some ungodly hour. It can actually be fun if you (and those in line) have a good attitude about the whole thing.
11-10-07 | 06:38 PM
#18
DVD Talk Hero
The ads have all been leaked on other sites already and this article might lead some to disappointment when they see the actual ads. The deals are okay but pretty much in line with previous years.
11-10-07 | 06:39 PM
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Originally Posted by BKenn01
Thanks Pilot, the only reason I posted was that the information was in a published article. I would think that makes it public knowlege. There is no intent on my part to violate forum rules or land dvdtalk in any hot water.
My post has now become a published article too.
11-10-07 | 11:49 PM
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Originally Posted by bmello
Yup, so far it looks real disappointing. I was hoping for a group of $9.99 HD titles.
11-11-07 | 12:24 AM
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From: Modesto, CA
Originally Posted by PhantomStranger
The ads have all been leaked on other sites already and this article might lead some to disappointment when they see the actual ads. The deals are okay but pretty much in line with previous years.
11-11-07 | 07:32 AM
#23
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Originally Posted by djskyler
I saw the ads and agree, it's the same ol' same ol'. After a year of continuous $3.98 studio sales at Wal-Mart, great titles showing up for $2-$3 at Big Lots and now double, triple and even quadruple feature boxes that bring the per-feature price down to $2.50 each, the stores would need to offer some great titles at $1.99 or some $9.99 TV seasons to get me to beat down the doors on Black Friday morning. I think these bait hooks have been overused and they can't fool the fish anymore.
Anything over $10 for a TV season and $5 for a movie is not a bargain.
Between what you posted above and CH, those are my pricepoints.
11-11-07 | 10:21 AM
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From: Kingston, TN
There are little to no deals on HD media for Black Friday. I have looked at almost all the sales and the FYE sale is about the best. It really doesn't cover much more than older titles. The one mentioned in this article is about the best deal. You can get it for that price at JR.com right now so there is nothing super compelling. There are no HD media deals to speak of at the places most of us expected some good deals to be available. If you need a player, Black Friday is a little more compelling. I tried not to mention stores or prices, but if this analysis is too close to rules for comfort a mod can go ahead and delete the post.