Weekly RoundUp 12-8-2009 (1 Viewer)

[TravisR]

Originally Posted by Sam Posten

Thanks as always guys. Glad to see the regular new release prices now trending under $20 and the pre-orders going even cheaper. It's been a long wait but the light is there at the end of the tunnel.

Do you really think that prices won't go back up by the end of the month? It'd be great if these prices are the new norm but I think it's only because of the holidays.

 

[Mike Frezon]

FWIW, I stopped by my local Wal-Mart last night and picked up my HP & the Half-Blood Price on BD for $15.

Weirdly, none of the copies in the store had shelf tags recognizing the flyer price of $15. Instead, they all said $19.96 and I had to go and find a working scanner to make sure it was going to ring-up correctly. Probably just some weirdness at my local store.

 

[Sam Posten]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TravisR

Do you really think that prices won't go back up by the end of the month? It'd be great if these prices are the new norm but I think it's only because of the holidays.

I do indeed think it's the new normal. You can't trick people by having Christmas month specials then going back to the old prices.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Originally Posted by Sam Posten /forum/thread/295580/weekly-roundup-12-8-2009/30#post_3636364

 

[Alfonso_M]

Has anyone been able to verify the Target price for "Public enemies"?

web site lists it at 22.99, I was hoping to use the 5.00 coupon on a 19.99 'new release" price..

 

[David Norman]

Target in store price is 22.99. Best Buy has it at 19.99, so I Price matched with the BB flyer and then applied the coupon -- 14.99 +tax.

Target and Walmart are pretty bad about having different internet and instore prices and neither store will generally match their own websites -- only physical ads from local stores.

 

[Alfonso_M]

Thanks, David, I'm going right now to try that, wish me luck! LOL

Edit: Success! I was able to price match BB and used the $5.00 coupon for a total cost of 14.99 plus local taxes...not bad. Thanks for the tips.. and the weekly roundups!

 

[David_Jr]

Originally Posted by Mike Frezon

FWIW, I stopped by my local Wal-Mart last night and picked up my HP & the Half-Blood Price on BD for $15.

Weirdly, none of the copies in the store had shelf tags recognizing the flyer price of $15. Instead, they all said $19.96 and I had to go and find a working scanner to make sure it was going to ring-up correctly. Probably just some weirdness at my local store.

Mike I have noticed this trend at the Pittsfield WalMart. On many of the new releases they post the regular price. I have had to use the price scanners on several over the last couple months. Each time the title rang up for the sale price on the scanner which was an average of $5 lower than posted. Don't know what their strategy is. Thought sale prices were meant to get people to buy the titles.

 

[Nick T Robot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike Frezon

I hope so as well. I just began my BD adventure (finally purchased an HDTV last month, already had a PS3 but didn't buy any BDs until we knew we were going HD)

But I will prepare myself for January sicker shock.

 

[TravisR]

Originally Posted by Nick T Robot

But I will prepare myself for January sicker shock.

I'm hoping that Sam is correct but, in my experience, the higher prices have made me more selective in what I buy and actually saves me money in the long run.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Originally Posted by TravisR

I'm hoping that Sam is correct but, in my experience, the higher prices have made me more selective in what I buy and actually saves me money in the long run.

I have found that to be completely true myself. My purchases have been way down ever since I went Bu and software prices immediately jumped for me. It has turned out to be a very good thing. A nudge towards self-restraint...as it were.

 

[Sam Posten]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TravisR

I'm hoping that Sam is correct but, in my experience, the higher prices have made me more selective in what I buy and actually saves me money in the long run.

Welcome to my world. If it ain't an amazing bargain I don't get it. Period. And I'm not collecting "just to collect" and I'm not replacing stuff I have on DVD already unless there is a SERIOUS amount of additional stuff for crazy cheap. Amazon keeps tempting me tho, bought more stuff in December than I have the past 6 months combined. And the stuff that has been out for months sitting on shelves at $30 is finally "right priced" at $8-$10 which is cheap enough to convince even me.

I am certain this is the new normal. It has to be if they want to keep the momentum up.

People have noticed how cheap the streams are and have begun to question the need for super high quality on snack sized content and just how important it is for them to fill their homes with little plastic disks. For Blu to compete with that reasonable prices have to be a part of the plan.

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

Manufacturer's coupons ... good on Amazon? Does anyone know?

I'm specifically thinking of the $3 off Fox coupons available from SmartSource.com or your local newspaper. Is there a number from the bar code or pin you can put in the coupon box on Amazon that makes it work? These coupons have individual numbers, and I tried a number that didn't work, but I was curious if there is a procedure or method to use them on Amazon.

 

[Peter Neski]

Seinfeld complete dvd set,for 84.00 at amazon ,what a deal!!!

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Originally Posted by Hollywoodaholic

Manufacturer's coupons ... good on Amazon? Does anyone know?

I'm specifically thinking of the $3 off Fox coupons available from SmartSource.com or your local newspaper. Is there a number from the bar code or pin you can put in the coupon box on Amazon that makes it work? These coupons have individual numbers, and I tried a number that didn't work, but I was curious if there is a procedure or method to use them on Amazon.

They are no good on Amazon (or most any other online shops) near as I can tell. Only manufacturer's coupons that are good on Amazon are the ones specific to Amazon, which show up maybe once every blue moon or so.

That's partly why Walmart and Target (and even BB) have gotten more popular lately, especially Target.

_Man_

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

Thanks for the info. Yeah, I've used that Target coupon about 4 times already.

Originally Posted by Man-Fai Wong



They are no good on Amazon (or most any other online shops) near as I can tell. Only manufacturer's coupons that are good on Amazon are the ones specific to Amazon, which show up maybe once every blue moon or so.

That's partly why Walmart and Target (and even BB) have gotten more popular lately, especially Target.

_Man_

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

RE: the pricing trend thing, I suspect the truth will be somewhere in between. I'm guessing we'll still see relatively high typical prices for most recently released, day-and-date titles of new movies w/ some exceptions for release week itself. Seems to me most of the serious discounts/sales are going to the catalog releases, not so much the completely new day-and-date titles, although most of the newer titles may stay closer to the $20 price point, give or take a little depending on the exact studio, while newer titles from certain studios (like Fox) may still stay closer to the $25 price point. I'm guessing it probably also depends on how a studio feels about the market for certain specific titles (like Julie & Julia for Sony).

But yeah, I also don't see the big sale prices at

 

[Sam Posten]

We'll see. People said the same thing about DVD but then Walmart had the $38 player bonanza and prices stabilized below $20 for mass market releases (with mass mass market sales going under the $15 mark) and we never looked back. I'm betting we have hit another such tipping point and it's all coasting from here. Either way, I don't see a market for very many movies above $20 per title any more. Even the niche stuff is going to hit that.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Just to clarify a bit more. I'm thinking BD pricing will settle into a more cyclical trend (a bit more like other markets). So while I think Jan-thru-mid-Spring will have a lull in pricing, sales and such will kick in some more in other parts of the year -- and the bounce-back from deep discounts on various titles will probably settle somewhere between the before-high-price and the deep discounts in most cases while being replaced by new releases at the higher price points.

Sure, we may see fewer and fewer titles in the $25-street-price ballpark (outside of Criterion perhaps), but a more stabilized trend for the circa-$20 point (give or take a bit) for new/recent, day-and-date releases seems probable enough when we're not in the midst of a holiday shopping season (or whatever other seasonal sales period). Afterall, although we like to think MSRP is meaningless, I haven't seen the studios slash those for new day-and-date releases so far -- and plenty of catalog releases are still getting MSRP of ~$30 or so as well. Until I see the MSRPs get slashed, I don't think we've settled into any serious drops in stabilized pricing from before the holiday shopping season.

_Man_

 

[David Norman]

Originally Posted by David_Jr




Mike I have noticed this trend at the Pittsfield WalMart. On many of the new releases they post the regular price. I have had to use the price scanners on several over the last couple months. Each time the title rang up for the sale price on the scanner which was an average of $5 lower than posted. Don't know what their strategy is. Thought sale prices were meant to get people to buy the titles.

Very hit or miss in my area -- some stores had the $15 prominently labeled, a couple of others had it 19.96. One store actually had one area of each label just to confuse things more.