I buy a lot of DVD’s so I’ve learned the pattern of new releases. They come out on Tuesdays and many stores discount new releases for the first week’s sales. I make a circuit of Best Buy, Target, and WalMart to see what the new releases are and pick them up at whichever store has the best discounted price.
But in the last few weeks I’ve been noticing that WalMart hasn’t been discounting their new releases. Their first week price is the same as whatever their regular price. Best Buy and Target are still discounting so this apparently is just a WalMart thing.
Is this just an unusual coincidence in the last month or a new ongoing policy? Was there any official announcement of this? Have other outlets like Best Buy and Target promoted the fact that they are now offering discounts WalMart isn’t?
I buy new DVDs at WalMart as well. However, the pattern was/is here was they offered the same discount everyone offered, but it lowered around the weekend. S19.99 for everyone, then WalMart would go to $14-15.95 on Friday.
My local Wal-Mart stopped discounting on most new-release DVDs (except for major releases like Disney/Pixar canon films or promotional tie-ins that require chain-wide participation) a couple of years ago when a new district/regional manager came in. As far as I know, most across-the-board discounts are still at the discretion of lower management instead of corporate policy , but the decline in sale of DVDs (and the fact that they’re less of a draw for store traffic than they were 5 years ago) makes it less important to be seen as the price leader in the category. Sounds like someone in your area finally crunched some numbers and figured that the loss on new releases wasn’t worthwhile.
My local Target ad Best Buy also stopped discounting new releases a while back, too; the big discounting action for the last few years has been in catalog titles, and on not-quite-new recent releases when studios drop money on the chains to clear the channels of overstock leftover from the initial release.
The Walmarts here in Austin, TX, discount the major movies when they’re released on Tuesday until the following Sunday, then they go to regular price.
Was there a particular movie you’re referring to?