Circuit City, Meijer slash Blu-ray, DVD prices for Black Friday
By Susanne Ault -- Video Business,11/19/2008
NOV. 19 | Circuit City and Meijer are hitting new lows on Blu-ray Disc and standard-definition DVD software for the Black Friday weekend.
Meijer also will roll out a $149.99 Sylvania Blu-ray player, marking $100 off its current pricing. The Funai-built Sylvania player is considered similar to Funai picture-in-picture models at Best Buy and Wal-Mart that are under the Insignia and Magnavox labels, respectively.
Wal-Mart is likely to undercut Meijer’s deal by selling its Magnavox model for $128, according to manufacturer sources.
At Circuit City, shoppers will be greeted with bargain-priced $8.99 Blu-ray titles, spanning Trading Places, The Untouchables and Flags of Our Fathers, according to leaked Web circulars. At this pricing, the Blu-ray movies are about in line with the average retail costs of their standard-def counterparts, according to such outlets as Amazon.com.
Although troubled by a bankruptcy filing, Circuit City seems to be staying aggressive in its home entertainment merchandising through the month. The retailer has built a reputation for using standard-def DVDs as a loss leader to attract additional product sales.
These $8.99 deals, valid for Friday, Nov. 28, and Saturday, Nov. 29, represent 60% off the titles’ original pricing.
In a nearly as impressive offering, regional mass merchant Meijer will roll out on Thanksgiving Day a wide range of $9.99 Blu-ray titles, representing releases from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, MGM Home Entertainment, among other studios. Discs featured in an ad circulating the Web include From Hell, Transporter 2, 28 Days Later, Behind Enemy Lines, Reign on Me, Click, Edward Scissorhands, The Devil Wears Prada, Speed and The Fantastic Four.
For Black Friday, Meijer also is deeply slashing a large selection of standard DVDs to $1.99, matching Wal-Mart’s expected Black Friday pricing offer. Among Meijer $1.99 DVDs are Bugsy, Flipper, The Net, Enough, Cocoon and Flatliners.
Circuit City also is expected to ax pricing on standard DVD over the holiday weekend, including a $9.99 offer for recent movies, such as fourth-quarter releases You Don’t Mess With the Zohan, The Incredible Hulk and The Happening. A $2.99 deal will span 60 DVD titles, including Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, Road to Perdition and Catch Me if You Can.
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| Submitted by: | Paul Suarez (paulsuarez@aol.com) 11/22/2008 1:38:08 PM PT |
| Location: | Los Angeles, CA |
| Occupation: | Actor |
Joe: In your experience, is there any relationship between studio rebates on standard definition DVD titles and imminent Blu-ray release of those titles? For instance, might DreamWorks/Paramount be getting ready to announce ROAD TO PERDITION or (doubtfully since it's Spielberg) CATCH ME IF YOU CAN for Blu-ray and they're therefore clearing stock of the DVDs with rebate-driven sales?
| Submitted by: | joe 11/20/2008 11:54:44 AM PT |
| Location: | Atlanta |
| Occupation: | field management blockbuster inc |
Some of the pricing has to do with studio rebates. Blockbuster is also having black friday deep discounts.
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