So many decisions to make this time of year. 
Mashed potatoes or sweet?
Cranberry relish or jellied, the jiggly kind that holds the shape of the can? 
Whether to give gifts at all, given the way our long-term savings are going up in smoke?

Assuming that last decision is in the positive, there’s the age-old what to shop for and now, for
home entertainment consumers, when.

Is it time to jump in and buy a Blu-ray player? You can get one for less than $200 all over the place. Will it go down further before Christmas?

Meanwhile, those ads for Toshiba’s XDE player that promise to enhance all your current DVDs for just $99.99 make it s...Read More

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...if not other retailers.

Amid worldwide economic turmoil, Wal-Mart Stores last week said its third quarter sales (for the period ended Oct. 31) were up 7.5% over the same period a year earlier, while comp-store sales also bested 2007, rising 2.7% at Walmarts and 4.5% at Sam's Club. 

By contrast, Target's comp-store sales fell 3.3% in the quarter, compared to a gain of 3.7% in the same period in 2007. Best Buy's  comps fell 2% in September and 7.8% in October, and the leading C.E. chain has said it expect to see comp sales declines of 5% to 15% for the balance of its fiscal year (through February).

For the fourth quarter, Wal-Mart expects U.S. comps to rise 1% to 3%--no huge gain, but a heck of a lot better than ...Read More

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Kudos to DEG and its studio supporters for pulling together to fund a $25 million ad effort for Blu-ray at exactly the right moment.

The holidays are upon us, player prices are falling and the most compelling titles in the format’s short history -- Iron Man, The Dark Knight, WALL-E, Kung Fu Panda, Hellboy II, among others--are on store shelves or headed there straight away.

The “Tru Blu” campaign as it’s called, combined with title-specific ads tagging Blu-ray Disc, hardware marketing and retailer promotions ought to create quite a mass of consumer impressions for Blu-ray during the holiday shopping season.

Since I started my career at Advertising Age and spent almost a decade there before joining VB, however, I can&r;...Read More

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I breathed a huge sigh of relief last week when our biggest ever Women Elite section shipped to the printer after weeks of work.

This was a tough one, not because it was hard to find women to include, but because there are so many worthy executives across the major studios, independent suppliers and retail.

There was much discussion, prior to our decision to go ahead with the Women Elite for the third year and as we contacted executives to let them know they’d be included, about whether there is any longer a need to recognize women in the home entertainment industry separate from their male counterparts.

But I’m glad we did it. The fact that our number of honorees grew by 50% shows that women are still claiming senior jobs in...Read More

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It’s anybody’s guess what kind of a holiday season retail is going to have this year. According to the Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers, consumer confidence in October suffered its steeped monthly drop since the confidence index began in 1952.

Studios believe home entertainment will fare well during these lean economic times because of its relatively low price and high perceived value by consumers (see story, page 1). This was backed up by an NPD Group’s holiday survey that found that sales of DVDs and videogames are less likely to crop because of consumer cutbacks than are higher-priced items. Movies trailed only apparel and toys as the most likely item Americans will purchase as gifts, while videogames are the sixth most likely item, NPD said.

...Read More

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The meltdown in worldwide financial markets over the past several weeks is making it harder than ever to predict fourth quarter home entertainment sales, including how quickly consumers will adopt the Blu-ray format.

On one hand, statistical indicators are mostly bleak.

* U.S. chain stores posted a weak 1% increase in same-store sales during September, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers, making it the softest month since 2001, when the 9/11 terrorist attacks paralyzed consumer spending. ICSC expects October sales to grow 1.5% to 2.5%.

* TNS Retail Forward last month forecast (before the current financial crisis) that fourth quarter retail sales will remain roughly on that slow pac...Read More

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Who says guys are the primary market for Blu-ray discs?
Warner's Sex and the City: The Movie topped the Top Blu-ray Sellers chart in its first week of release, in addition to being the Top DVD Seller.
Do you think it was guys who want to see those wedding costumes pop in high-def?

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And they’re off! That whoosh you’re hearing is the sound of Paramount Home Entertainment’s Iron Man DVD and Blu-ray Disc flying out of stores in the one-day, early but still official start to the fourth-quarter selling season.

• I suspect the $300 million-plus grosser will also help pull some numbers of Warner Home Video’s simmering Sex and the City: The Movie out the door, for while gal pals got together for the trek to theaters, there might not be as much excitement for an extra trip to Target. If you’re Mom picking up Iron Man for hubby and the kids, though, who can resist a little something for herself? Look for good sales of Sex in week two.

It’s pretty clear that Paramount has a lock on the ...Read More

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The Motion Picture Assn. of America movie ratings system turns 40 on Nov. 1, and the anniversary presents a great opportunity for retailers to refresh their appreciation—and that of their employees and customers—of this valuable tool for parents.

It was 1968 when Jack Valenti, then still relatively new to the MPAA, devised the voluntary ratings system as a challenge to the onerous Hays Code. Valenti’s ratings system is still in place, with some changes, (the PG-13 rating was added in the ’80s, for instance) and has spawned similar classifications for TV programming and videogames.

Together these ratings systems are highly effective—and under­used—tools for retailers. They can help you merchandi...Read More

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No matter what your political persuasion, there's no denying that the 2008 presidential election has revitalized the national discussion about feminism, sexism and women in power positions.

In Hollywood, female executives often say that gender is no longer an issue in business. When we published our last Women Elite issue in March, 2007, some of the things the women who were recognized said about gender were that "in our industry, it’s probably less relevant than in other industries” and “ I never thought that gender would limit my possibilities." Some said there was no longer a need for an issue singling out women for their accomplishments. Some said "What about the guys?"

Maybe that's more than politically correct, maybe it's just p...Read More

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Amid post-Labor Day reports about the summer box-office’s sunny performance, The New York Times last week ran a story about a glut of films hitting Hollywood and making it difficult for even star vehicles to secure adequate theatrical distribution.

The two stories are separate, but taken together, illustrate the complexity of the movie business and, consequently, home entertainment retailing.

Theaters tallied $4.12 billion in summer movie ticket sales, according to VB sister publicationVariety, due largely to the $500 million-plus performance of Warner Bros.’ The Dark Knight. While grosses were more or less on pace with 2007—off just 1% or so—that’s a function of hig...Read More

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Labor Day. The kids go back to school and, any minute, the Halloween costumes will replace the backpacks and lunch boxes in Target—if they haven’t already. September is really just a transition month between summer and the fall holidays, or, as the time period is less poetically known in business, “the fourth quarter.”

Everyone recognizes the signs of the season. For consumers, it may be apparent in the seasonal displays at retail. For retailers, it’s the nailing down of DVD release dates for summer blockbusters.

The past week has brought
confirmation on two of the six $200 million-plus titles due in the quarter, Disney’s WALL-E and Sony’s Hancock.

The ...Read More

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