Discounted catalog sells on Black Friday

Prices as low as $4 for high-profile titles

By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 11/30/2007

NOV. 30 | Recent bargain-priced catalog titles proved more of a must-have than some of the brand new blockbusters on shelves at key retailers over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Widespread studio financial incentives helped retailers slash pricing on such hit titles as 300, Knocked Up, The Departed, The Pursuit of Happyness and Night at the Museum, which were selling for $8.99 at Borders, about half of what they would normally go for at the retailer. Combined with $19.99 TV DVD set deals, spanning Curb Your Enthusiasm, Family Guy and House, Borders was able to offer customers some of the chain’s best DVD choices yet, spokeswoman Ann Binkley said.

“We’ve done sales like this in the past, but this selection was the deepest that we’ve done for Black Friday,” said Binkley. “The merchandising team worked with the vendors to be able to offer this deeper selection.”

Older but still high-profile titles such as Spider-Man 2 and Batman Begins were sold for less than $4 at retailers including Sears, F.Y.E., Target and Kmart.

Newbury Comics offered 300 for $9.99 over the Friday-Sunday period. The chain sold more than 100 units of the title, which in the preceding weeks had been averaging four to five copies a week. The Departed was knocked down to $9.99 from earlier $11.99 pricing, which similarly helped it sell more than 100 units from its previous handful-a-week rate.

“We created a lot of deep discount opportunities with the help of the studios through rebates and other programs, and we were definitely very aggressive with the sales,” said Ian Leshin, Newbury buyer.

He added that, “it did seem more catalog-driven this year than new release.”

Total unit volume was slightly down for Newbury compared to the 2006 Black Friday period, but the chain achieved better margins, making for an overall successful Black Friday 2007 for DVD.

As new release franchises age, their DVD sales momentum seems to be dropping. At Newbury, Shrek the Third and Spider-Man 3 have each done about half the amount of sales as the films’ second installments, comparing the time period between their street dates and now. The third installments were box-office blockbusters, each generating more than $300 million.

Retailers say they want to wait until the end of the shopping season before they make complete assessments about 2007’s big fourth-quarter titles, however.

Virgin Megastores reported rolling out its most eye-popping deals on Black Friday, and the retailer plans to further extend its promotions.

“The titles and discounts were more aggressive this year than ever, and the sales showed it,” Virgin senior catalog manager Chris Anstey said. “The Black Friday concept has become so popular that we’re featuring similar five-day sale events throughout the year.”

Virgin also pumped its HD DVD sales, with a New York-only promotion during which it gave away free HD DVD players to a select group of purchasers of the Star Trek HD DVD set.