Best Buy To Alter DVD Layout To Emphasize TV on DVD (1 Viewer)

[Greg O' Connel]

Hi all, Best Buy Drone #1450694 here. It seems there's going to be some fairly significant changes to Best Buy's DVD floorplan, in order to give more space and attention to high-margin TV on DVD sets. I haven't seen the actual floorplans yet, just an overview of the changes that are going to take place over the month of April:

- $5.99 Value DVD section is gone. $5.99 titles will either be remerchandised according to their genre, or not carried any longer, depending on their popularity.

- Next to the New Release section, there will be three new sections for Fox, HBO, and Comedy Central TV on DVD.

- There will no longer be any TV Comedy, TV Action/Drama, or TV Sci-Fi sections. All TV shows not by Fox, HBO, or Comedy Central will be in a generic "Television" category.

- There will be a "Musicals" category again.

That's the major stuff. Not all Best Buys have the same exact floorplan, so your mileage may vary. Look forward to being confused and/or angry with the new layout, 'cause those are the two emotions Best Buy prefers their customers to be in!

 

[Jeff Willis]

Interesting news....as probably with most of us, there's a Best Buy close to home. I've been getting TV/DVD's almost exclusively online during the past 8-9 months so I'll have to give BB a try although it's hard to beat online pricing.

 

[Malcolm R]

Considering some of my experiences at Best Buy, I can think of several areas of their business that need much more attention than the DVD layout.

And they seem to do this every couple years. Can't they get it right?

 

[CaptDS9E]

I think they got the floorplan at the BB i shop at right this time. At ours there is no way they can put a Fox, HBO and COmedy central sections next to New Releases . Theres no space left unless they move into a major Isle

capt

 

[Chris Brunner]

Now, if they would just put the "category" shelf markers in a place where I can actually SEE them.... At the two BBs I frequent, the aisles are too close together for me to be able to see the Action/Comedy/Western... category markers at the very top of the shelves.

C

 

[Jason_V]

Well, it would be REALLY helpful if things like, oh, SCI-FI movies weren't thrown in the SCI-FI TV section (not just one or two, but prolly 10 or 15 First Contact SCE's were sitting next to season sets).

It would also be helpful if there's weren't...

Disney
Family
Children's

Sections, along with Flintstones, Scooby Doo, Wacky Races and other decidedly "Family/Children" selections in the TV Comedy area.

Joe Six Pack isn't going to know what company produces what TV shows. So Fox, HBO and Comedy Central, IMHO, are insanely stupid ideas from a company full of them.

 

[Doug^Ch]

Because of an indignity that I suffered at the hands of BB, which I will not detail here, it is the last place on earth that I would ever purchase DVDs or anything else for that matter.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

Were you arrested for trying to pay with $2 bills?

 

[nolesrule]

I had the same problem. The Best Buy price labels mistakenly listed the DVD as SCI-FI TV and not just SCI-FI, so that's where the drones put it.

 

[GarySchrock]

Yeah, I think they need to worry less about creating new categories in their dvd section, and more about actually figuring out what category the product belongs in. It can be a real guessing game to figure out where to look for the movie.

 

[MattHR]

This studio "branding" of the displays is probably at the request of the studios mentioned. The studios more than likely have offered Best Buy an incentive (i.e. product discount, co-op advertising $, etc.) to differentiate their product from the continuing onslaught of releases. It's the same type of "product placement" you see at grocery stores. The vendors actually pay for prime retail displays for maximum sales impact.

For years, Disney was the only studio that had actual brand recognition in retail. The other studios are just asking for the same. Other than Disney, it's true that most consumers don't associate studio brand with most releases.

 

[Eric Paddon]

I don't know about you, but this reads like an esoteric April Fools thread if you ask me.

 

[Greg O' Connel]

That would make sense, wouldn't it? But no, it's all real.

 

[Tony J Case]

Oh, I dont know - how about in alphabetical order? Or is that too logical?

I went looking for the Greatest American Hero on release day, and didnt find it ANYWHERE. TV Action? Nope. TV Comedy? Nope. TV Science Fiction? Nope.

Where was it? F'ing childrens section.

And of course the drone was of no help. He didnt even have a clue about the show. Never heard of it.

 

[Will_B]

In my area, the $5.99 "section" is a wheeled shelf which tends to hover around the checkout section. I've bought a disc or two from there, and would be sorry to see it roll away completely.

 

[Jeff Willis]

Hey, gang,

I'm curious about something that indirectly relates to the BB thing:

Where do most of you buy your DVD's these days? Online or at a local store? I used to get all of my DVD's locally, and a lot of those from BB. I've since been getting all DVD's from online stores with happy results. I've checked pricing at local stores, BB in particular, and in nearly all cases, they can't match the online store pricing. I don't know about my local Wal-mart. Maybe their pricing might match some of the online prices. I know that the one convenient advantage of buying locally is the return policy, but I've been lucky in that regard, I guess. I've only had to return one set to an online store for exchange (the usual reason; the disks came loose during shipping and were scratched up enough to cause some video skipping/freezing.)

 

[Jon_Gu]

I generally check my local Wal-Mart stores first, I also check the Sunday paper sale ads for BB and CC's prices on new releases. I'm the one that picks up 5 or 6 of the boxed sets and looks at the corners, etc to find the one with the least damage. I do the same thing with paperback books. I can't do that when I order online.

I've mail ordered from A&E when they were running the 1/2 price sale on Profiler S1 and S2, along with the TVSoD discount they gave brought the sets down to a reasonable price. ($99+ for a season is just way too far out of line to me.) I also ordered 24 S1, KotH S1, and something else when Amazon had a sale going for $14.99 per set.

I was forced to order the 4th boxed set of Wiseguy online, from CC I think, since it couldn't be found on a shelf anywhere in town when it was released, I still don't think I've ever seen it sitting on a shelf to this day.

 

[Eve Brown]

I buy most of my tv dvds online since the price is usually the best. Sometimes Target will have a good deal but not nessacry the release week. For example they have had Arrested Development for $22.99 a couple times. To bad when they had that price for Wonderfalls I had already recieved mine. Also when I went to CC a couple times for a tv set on release week ie Wonderfalls and Pretender they were out of stock. Wonderfalls I was there tuesday afternon and Pretender thursday night. For regular dvds I'll pick up movies in the $10 or less sales. CC usually has pretty good sales.

 

[Jason_V]

Exclusively at local stores. I'm like Jon: I check the corners of TV box sets; I check to see if the security sticker is overlapping on the cover art; I check to see if my old New Line snap case movies have been re-released as keep cases. All these things I can't check when I shop online. Plus, I like opening the movie when I get home and not waiting for a couple days.

 

[SteveBro]

This is correct. Most of Best Buy's movie inventory is vendor-managed these days, so the studios are exerting greater influence over the merchandising and movie selection now than they did in the past.