Suncoast new release prices too high? (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Larkin]

In all the years I've shopped at Best Buy, I don't recall EVER interacting with a sales person in the DVD aisle. Just the way it should be.

Honestly, for niche and hard to find titles, isn't it easier and more cost effective to order it online?

 

[Brian Thibodeau]

I've been placing a lot more orders online over the last year or so because the prices, especially on many pre-orders, are tough to beat when I'm trying to complete a collection before I turn gray. I live on the US border, so I simply got a US mailbox and when I cross the bridge to pick up my parcels, I stop into BB and Suncoast and Walmart to look for any bargains they, too, might have. I'm really just killing an afternoon by browsing. And as long as our dollar holds up more favourably against the US greenback than it has in the past, I think I'll keep doing things this way.

As far as anime goes, the local Best Buy in these parts has at least as many anime titles, if not perhaps the same titles, as the local Suncoast. In fact, the anime section at this particular Best Buy now takes up a full three-quarters of one side of an aisle. I'm not a big collector of anime, so I don't compare the finer points, but it seems to me that Suncoast, at least here, isn't necessarily the best place to go. If you're looking for ancilliary junk like toys and manga and assorted kitsch and ephemera, Suncoast is kinda cool, and since they almost never sell much of that stuff at full price, it always gets marked down very quickly. If I was younger, I'd probably grab some of that stuff when they're trying to unload it.

 

[DaveGTP]

You had a point until recently. Like I mentioned earlier, Best Buy started marking a lot of their anime up in the past 6 months. Despite the giant row of it, their selection is still not as good as Suncoast, they just have more quantity on the shelves. And they don't ever put it on sale.



I have some boldface here because people seem to miss the pricing comments. Don't take it as anger, please, just emphasis.

Suncoast/Media Play anime is always $25 on release week, and some studios' stuff are $23.

On the other hand, like I said previously, Best Buy now sells most of their anime at FULL MSRP. Seriously, they went through and re-priced all the older stuff. Bandai are priced 2 measly dollars off MSRP ($27.99) or full MSRP. Pioneer is priced at, I repeat, FULL MSRP at Best Buy.

JUST LIKE WHAT THE ANTI-SUNCOAST folks in the thread are complaining about goes on at Suncoast. I see that everyone chooses to hear MarkHasting's replies about convenience and keep bashing on the prices. Maybe the blockbuster stuff can be found cheaper, easier, but some stuff is ACTUALLY CHEAPER (especially with a replay card and a little care). I repeat, CHEAPER. Hell, if it's a title I don't have Share the Love on, it's often cheaper than Amazon that way too.

The fiancee was doing some last-minute christmas shopping and needed to pick it up (her mom screwed up and bought Fullscreen, she's a little slow). Indiana Jones is still priced $50 at Media Play/Suncoast. Best Buy is back up to $55. Ditto with Target when we looked. With $50 in Replay points, that's $47.50 or so compared to $55.

Babylon 5 seasons are much cheaper on the triple points deal than Best Buy too - the pricing at Suncoast is exactly the same on release week, but the points result in $10-$12 coming back to me in Gift Certificates.

So, it's not so clear cut - oftentimes they CAN be cheaper. And the selection is better. And the service is better. MarkHastings goes because of the service and selection. I go for the BETTER prices. Plus, I can burn the gift certs on a book at Media Play if I don't have any DVDs I want.

Trust me, I care about prices - my bank balance is -$30. And I brought my change jar to work to shake some change out of it for the pop machine. I's poor.

Seriously, I generally go with the rock bottom prices. And Suncoast often provides that, for the stuff I buy. And if nothing else, I have a Suncoast within 10 minutes of me at the mall. The nearest Best Buy is a 25-minute, 20 mile Freeway drive away, and the prices are worse.

 

[Brian Thibodeau]

I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, since I don't buy anime in the US and was only going by what I saw.

Anime prices in both the US and Canada have always been tricky for me. It seems like retailers large and small have so little control over what they can charge for these discs, and yet volume buying allows big box stores like Best Buy to offer somewhat lower prices on literally hundreds titles or MGM catalogue titles for as much as $5 off MSRP on a regular basis. I am aware they’ve been slowly jacking up prices, but I’ve really only seen that on titles that have been available for some time. I really don’t see what makes anime so much more precious than any other form of filmed entertainment that the wholesale and minimum retail prices need to be practically one and the same.

Incidentally, I was a replay club member for about 4 years, and I’ll tell you how I made it work for me. I couldn’t always make it across the border for the triple points weekends. Nonetheless, I redeemed about $500 worth of coupons over those years. That’s small potatoes to some folks here, but it’s still represents a not-insubstantial amount of money being spent, often at single point value, to get those coupons. When I did buy anime in the states, I was ONLY with these coupons, as 29.99 +tax for a 4-episode disc was, and still is, too high in my opinion.

Now, I gotta confess, before Best Buy had the selection they do now, I spent a lot of money at my local Suncoast at their regular prices, but EVERY TIME I knew the same title was $5 cheaper at BB, which was often, I asked if they’d match the price, which they would grudgingly since they didn’t want to lose my business (for this only, I’ll give Suncoast some kudos, although they made sure I felt like I was troubling them). If the title wasn’t at Best Buy, I’d pay Suncoast’s price.
Over the years, I’d have to say that I saved almost as much (if not AS much) money by forcing them to price-match than I actually got back in coupons. I guess I played their game and they played mine, which was fine until I was asking them to price match on so many titles (since the stuff I was buying consistently happend to be cheaper at Best Buy), that they became increasingly prickly about doing it since they were NEVER really obligated to in the first place. The more they complained, the less I bought. Eventually the card died, I didn’t renew, and now they pull the hard sell on me (since they remember me) whenever I deign to pick something up in their store, purchases which has been exclusively from the under $10 rack at the rate of about one a month, which doesn’t justify reactivating the membership.

My days of mass DVD buying are winding down, so these days I’m just looking to finish off my collection at the lowest possible price, which more often than not comes from on-line dealers (pre-orders and coupons) shipped to my US postbox than it does from the stores. Most of the time, anyways.

Sadly, I'll always think anime companies way overprice their product for what you get.

 

[Kevin Fox]

I think I can bring a perspective to this thread that I haven't seen yet, but first a few caveats, so that you can all read between the lines.

1) I managed a mom & pop, full-line video retailer/general bookstore for 13 years, from 1987-2000. During that time we sold and rented laserdiscs from about 1991-1997, and in '97 we were the first store in our area to carry DVDs at all, since we were outside the original 5 test markets.

2) I was assistant manager at my local Suncoast for about a year, from 2001-2002, and I've actually been doing a little part-time work there again since mid-November this year.

3) Eric Brunton (original author of this thread) and I are friends, though we met through mutual acquaintances, not in the retail environment. Interestingly enough, however, I don't recall him ever broaching this topic with me.

And now, on with the show...

First, though it's come up in a couple of threads, I don't believe the point was stressed enough: on titles that aren't discounted, Suncoast doesn't charge any higher than MSRP. Manufacturers set that price; Suncoast has no control over it. I can assure you, based on my experience, that the anime manufacturers are the ones setting the MSRP and the discounts to retailers and distributors. My guess is that these cost so much because of license fees and the need to do dub and subtitle tracks, and because none of them have the resources of a major studio who can do it all in-house.

After 14+ years in this business, I've seen wholesale prices on video products go from a ridiculously low 20-25% off MSRP to a still ridiculously low 30-35% off. Video has one of the lowest margins of any product outside of consumer electronics.

Scott Ware was right on the money about places other than Suncoast using DVDs as loss leaders. Suncoast can no way afford to do that. DVDs are their primary business (a perspective that may have been lost during their short time under the aegis of Best Buy, but is now coming back), and it shows by their stores having the best title selection outside of internet retailers. And remember, internet retailers don't have to pay mall rents. I could get into the economics of overhead and owning your own building, but I won't.

Sure, if you want only the latest and biggest titles, you could go to Costco, or Wal-Mart, or Target, or even Best Buy (whose DVD selection still pales in comparison to Suncoast) and usually get a better price.

But I can tell you right now, the difference between the amount of titles on sale at Suncoast during the Best Buy era as opposed to now is staggering. When I started working for them again last month, I was quite surprised by how many more things are on sale now.

Of course, with the huge selection they have, most things are still priced at MSRP, but those of you who are or were Replay members know that when you are buying lots of DVDs, Replay definitely took the sting out of some of your purchases.

Now, I'm sure some of you are thinking I'm some kind of shill for Suncoast, but that's fine. I'm not, but you can certainly think what you like. I was a Replay member while I wasn't working there, and I will be again in a couple of weeks when I'm laid off again.

As it stands, I buy my big, new releases at Costco, and sometimes the internet (though prices there aren't what they used to be, especially with sales tax and shipping), but I always check Suncoast first when a catalog title comes out that I need. They usually, though not always, have it, even if it is MSRP.

If you want it now, you'll have to (occasionally) pay more for the convenience. If you have the time, use the internet: it's your dollar. But I don't think telling people who shop at Suncoast that they aren't purchasing wisely is a bunch o' hooey. You have your priorities and I have mine. Don't presume to know all the reasons I shop the way I do.

 

[MarkHastings]

Kevin, I don't think you're a shill, I think you're just 'reasonable' and 'objectionable'.

 

[Brian Thibodeau]

You may be right about the selection being better at Suncoast and maybe even I have to admit that. But it still doesn't rule out the number of times I asked the local outlet to match the price at Best Buy, which was at least $5 cheaper virtually, no, every time I popped in there.

Of course, this could be the result of two factors. 1) BOTH stores have always had the titles I tend to like and 2) Best Buy had lower prices on the titles I tend to like because they are a big box store and can therefore afford to have DVDs be a loss leader.

This, of course, proves its different for everybody. For my tastes, budget and increasingly decreasing number of off-the-shelf store-bought purchases, and exclusive of the discount cards, Best Buy tends to be the best deal between the two, and the $5 cheaper factor applies far too often, though probably only in my case, for me to make too many purchases at Suncoast.

So you're absolutely right, it's tough to judge someone else's shopping habits. My habits just happen to work out for me.

It's really a shame more big studios don't try to take a bite into the anime market, or at least acquire some of the anime providers. Might drive down the price. but then, that's a whole other can of worms, I suppose.

 

[DaveGTP]

Well, Dreamworks grabbed Millenium Actress, and Disney (blech!) grabbed Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli stuff (although I admit their dubs/subs are pretty decent).

Like I said, my stuff is cheaper at Suncoast/Media play. Period. At least on sale week. Best Buy's jerked up their anime pricing way too much. And if pricing is roughly the same, I'll support my Suncoast/Media Play over the evil Walmart Empire, or Best Buy and their sucky prices, any day, because I appreciate the customer service and selection.

 

[Joseph Bolus]

As a REPLAY member for three years, I can certainly vouch for this statement.

I have also noticed that their prices are now usually within one or two dollars of Best Buy's on release day; (I think the big Looney Tunes box was actually cheaper than Best Buy's price for the people that pre-ordered that title); and they usually provide Bonus Replay Points on the big titles of the day.

As I stated in my earlier post in this thread, as long as you "play their game" you're doing OK on the prices; plus you have access to their undeniably nice "on the floor" selection. (Just remember that you should purchase those titles only on Triple Points Weekend!)

I have to say that I for one enjoy shopping there.

 

[Kevin Fox]

DaveGTP,

The only problem with Disney controlling Ghibli is they charge $30 for everything anyway, so there's no drop in price in their case...

Disney has always been the most egregious offender on price. They gouge you (replace "gouge" with a different word, if you like :wink: ), and then expect you to smile and thank them afterwards.

And then there is their bloody history of cutting a swath through any Asian products—you Hong Kong film fans know of what I speak. I'm not even going to get started with that...

Of course, most customers (and I'm not talking about people on this forum) who balk at the price of Disney titles at Suncoast appear blissfully unaware that MSRP prices are set by the studio, not by the store, so, naturally, Suncoast is blamed. That's one of the reasons I posted to this thread. I just get tired of it sometimes. *sigh*