Is the end of physical media upon us?

[phillihp23]

Best Buy to End DVD, Blu-ray Disc Sales

Best Buy plans to phase out sales of DVDs and Blu-ray discs both in-store and online by early 2024, the company said.

variety.com

 

[JStewart]

Please… Some company has got to fill the void of better streaming at less than Kaleidescape prices. What’s the point of all the large 4K screens if there’s nothing but lossy media to watch on them?

 

[tripplej]

that is sad to hear..

 

[Asere]

It's sad. Store's have like a handful.

 

[MusicManLen]

As a steelbook 4K Blu-ray collector this is not making me feel like a valued customer. Streaming audio and video do not perform with the quality of 4K Blu-ray. Hopefully BestBuy will rethink this awful decision and it will not spread to other vendors.

 

[tripplej]

One can still purchase via Amazon.. Maybe Best Buy is not going forward but online retailers still have at the moment! Maybe Walmart and Target will continue as well in store..

 

[JStewart]

One can still purchase via Amazon.. Maybe Best Buy is not going forward but online retailers still have at the moment! Maybe Walmart and Target will continue as well in store..

I think it’s just a matter of when here… Sales are declining, Netflix stopped rentals, in this recent AVNirvana article we are told Disney will no longer be shipping discs to Australia.

And I don’t know about others, but my local giant Walmart has had nothing more than new releases and a miserable smattering of discs beyond that for years.

 

[tripplej]

I guess then the end times are approaching! Get what you can when you can!

 

[JStewart]

If the end times were to include disc quality streaming then most of us could survive the maelstrom.

 

[Johnnie]

 

[ddude003]

Amazon Prime has streaming rent or buy in 4k HDR UHD format for newer releases...

Content is king and vast networks of distribution are the power behind the throne...

 

[Todd Anderson]

As a steelbook 4K Blu-ray collector this is not making me feel like a valued customer. Streaming audio and video do not perform with the quality of 4K Blu-ray. Hopefully BestBuy will rethink this awful decision and it will not spread to other vendors.

I think you’ll see those steelbooks continue to migrate to Amazon.

I’m curious to know what kind of sales (profit margin off production numbers) BB was making off those releases. This move, along with the cancellation of online disc sales, would indicate that they weren’t making money.

 

[Todd Anderson]

I think it’s just a matter of when here… Sales are declining, Netflix stopped rentals, in this recent AVNirvana article we are told Disney will no longer be shipping discs to Australia.

And I don’t know about others, but my local giant Walmart has had nothing more than new releases and a miserable smattering of discs beyond that for years.

We’re in the same boat here in the DC area. Best Buy began cutting back on floor stock, as did Target… but one of the saddest scenes is our local Barnes & Nobel. It still has a large, dedicated disc section. But it’s full of DVDs and a few Blu-rays. 4K isn’t available there.

It’s like a wasteland of DVDs… nothing modern about it… and everything is overpriced.

Perhaps lagging sales caused retailers to stop innovating and up keeping their disc retail spaces… but the stores in our area let their disc sections fall apart - poor organization and zero marketing to promote *why* customers should want to buy discs.

 

[MusicManLen]

I think you’ll see those steelbooks continue to migrate to Amazon.

I’m curious to know what kind of sales (profit margin off production numbers) BB was making off those releases. This move, along with the cancellation of online disc sales, would indicate that they weren’t making money.

BestBuy sells their steelbook 4K Blu-rays for about the same price as Amazon so they are not giving them away at a loss. Both BestBuy and Amazon have select items on sale. I think BestBuy management wants to use their floor space for something different as a move to increase margins and perhaps gain foot traffic in stores. They could do all that and still offer collectible Blu-rays online only which is what Amazon does.

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray, etc were ALWAYS a loss leader for Best Buy. Those were the things to put in the Sunday ad to drive people to the store and hopefully convince them to upgrade something else. Wouldn't that new UHD look great on this new OLED? Wouldn't that new CD sound great with new speakers?

Box stores like this track revenue per square foot, and if the square footage dedicated to physical media were no longer driving enough foot traffic to the other square feet, they're not going to offer them anymore, and they CERTAINLY don't want to have to price match Amazon on something that's already not a meaningful source of revenue.

Not only do they not generate meaningful revenue, they're one of the easiest things in the store to steal.

This sucks for people who want to go into a store and buy it, but I wouldn't read any further into this move.

 

[austinblackboxspace]

CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray, etc were ALWAYS a loss leader for Best Buy. Those were the things to put in the Sunday ad to drive people to the store and hopefully convince them to upgrade something else. Wouldn't that new UHD look great on this new OLED? Wouldn't that new CD sound great with new speakers?

Box stores like this track revenue per square foot, and if the square footage dedicated to physical media were no longer driving enough foot traffic to the other square feet, they're not going to offer them anymore, and they CERTAINLY don't want to have to price match Amazon on something that's already not a meaningful source of revenue.

Not only do they not generate meaningful revenue, they're one of the easiest things in the store to steal.

This sucks for people who want to go into a store and buy it, but I wouldn't read any further into this move.

All the record stores in Austin have pretty large video selections and sales. We never walked into a cold and boring corporate chain store like Best Buy for them..
Hopefully more will now shop locally-owned for their 4K disc fix as well.
A new video rental store opened up in Austin this year with a massive selection.
If I was a betting man, I would not be betting against physical media films at least while we Gen Xers are still kickin'...

Never forget our history... Now even CDs are huge again!
The CD finds new life among Gen Z collectors
LP and Cassette sales are still going up.
Band 8 track tapes are for sale at just about every weekly live gig we attend.
I'm still waiting for my dad's RCA Selectavision disc format to return!

 

[phillihp23]

I have noticed lately that my local Walmart has started to stock very few 4k Blu-ray. In fact typically only a few at first disc release.

Ironically, my local Redbox kiosks have recently stopped stocking 4k Blu-ray’s also.

 

[phillihp23]

BestBuy sells their steelbook 4K Blu-rays for about the same price as Amazon so they are not giving them away at a loss. Both BestBuy and Amazon have select items on sale. I think BestBuy management wants to use their floor space for something different as a move to increase margins and perhaps gain foot traffic in stores. They could do all that and still offer collectible Blu-rays online only which is what Amazon does.

Ya, I don’t see why a retailer can’t just have a central warehouse with Blu-ray’s and sell online. I mean most brick and mortar company’s have been slowly moving to warehouse model. Even back in the early 2000’s when I worked retail Walmart was moving that way. Wanted to minimize on hand stock…and have just in time..inventory.

 

[Harrycr]

Over here rental discs are hard to find. Disney I believe have added New Zealand to the list.
Maybe other companies could pick it up and use it almost like a lost leader to get physical dics.
I wonder what will happen to SACD & DVD A.
I am on the hunt for a SACD - DVD-A player purely for music, 2 channel & multichannel including 7 channel outputs. Have been looking at Reavon & Magnetar.

 

[serko70]

As a steelbook 4K Blu-ray collector this is not making me feel like a valued customer. Streaming audio and video do not perform with the quality of 4K Blu-ray. Hopefully BestBuy will rethink this awful decision and it will not spread to other vendors.

The drop in quality of Dolby Atmos between a lossless TrueHD bluray and streamed DD+ EAC is even bigger than the difference between picture qualities.

 

[Todd Anderson]

The drop in quality of Dolby Atmos between a lossless TrueHD bluray and streamed DD+ EAC is even bigger than the difference between picture qualities.

100% true. Picture difference is a 2:1… audio is more like 5:1, if not more.

The reason is that most consumers don’t have audio systems to reveal the difference, but they do have displays that can show a difference. So, cuts are made to the audio to help squeeze everything through the pipe into your home.

 

[Todd Anderson]

CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray, etc were ALWAYS a loss leader for Best Buy. Those were the things to put in the Sunday ad to drive people to the store and hopefully convince them to upgrade something else. Wouldn't that new UHD look great on this new OLED? Wouldn't that new CD sound great with new speakers?

Box stores like this track revenue per square foot, and if the square footage dedicated to physical media were no longer driving enough foot traffic to the other square feet, they're not going to offer them anymore, and they CERTAINLY don't want to have to price match Amazon on something that's already not a meaningful source of revenue.

Not only do they not generate meaningful revenue, they're one of the easiest things in the store to steal.

This sucks for people who want to go into a store and buy it, but I wouldn't read any further into this move.

I’m not so sure they always were a loss leader. There’s a reason why they devoted so much floor space and end cap space to movies and music.

I think BB shutting down in-store and e-store sales is a good barometer of sales. If people were buying, they’d continue to sell.

I don’t think physical movie media is going to go *poof* and disappear in the next bit of time. But it is on the verge of irrelevancy. I have no idea what that means for the long haul, but it appears that physical media is going to a super specialized item as we move toward the next decade.

I

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

I’m not so sure they always were a loss leader. There’s a reason why they devoted so much floor space and end cap space to movies and music.

I think BB shutting down in-store and e-store sales is a good barometer of sales. If people were buying, they’d continue to sell.

I don’t think physical movie media is going to go *poof* and disappear in the next bit of time. But it is on the verge of irrelevancy. I have no idea what that means for the long haul, but it appears that physical media is going to a super specialized item as we move toward the next decade.

I

Gonna disagree. If you go back ten years and replace the Best Buy DVD section with any other item in the store, the profit per square foot would go up exponentially. TVs. DVD players. Refrigerators. Computers. AV Receivers. They all have a MUCH higher profit margin, but most people don't just pop into a store to check out the latest appliances, or even TVs. You have to be in the market for one of those. So how do you lure someone into the market for a new appliance?

DVDs. CDs.

Sell something that will bring them through the doors when they DON'T need a new dishwasher and blow their minds with bright shiny new electronics.

The square footage dedicated to physical media wasn't bringing people through the door anymore, so it wasn't worth sacrificing the real estate.

 

[Harrycr]

One stop shops/businesses are a very convenient business model for consumers. Better relationships for all.

 

[tripplej]

something interesting... Streaming definately taking over, the main reason for disc slump.