Best Buy Offers Blu-ray Movies at DVD Prices

Best Buy Offers Blu-ray Movies at DVD Prices

23 Apr, 2012
By: Erik Gruenwedel

Best Buy Co. has begun selling select new release and catalog Blu-ray Disc movies (without UltraViolet) for the same price as the DVD with a disc trade-in.

Consumers who bring in an approved used DVD movie (up to five discs per visit) receive a $5 coupon per disc toward the purchase of a Blu-ray title. Used discs do not include burned copies or manufactured on demand titles.

Specifically, the Minneapolis, Minn.-based consumer electronics chain is offering Universal Studios Home Entertainment’s Contraband Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy for $14.99 and a $5 coupon received after trading in a separate used DVD. The title is $19.99 without the coupon. Best Buy is selling the Contraband DVD for $15.99.

Best Buy’s $14.99 Blu-ray “Upgrade & Save” campaign (www.bestbuy.com/upradeandsave) – outlined in the retailer’s weekly circular – also includes new releases Cinema Verite ($14.99 DVD), Dark Tide ($16.99 DVD) and The Wicker Tree ($13.99 DVD).

Recent releases also available for $14.99 plus coupon include Tower Heist combo pack (no UltraViolet), Young Adult, Footloose combo pack (no UltraViolet), Marilyn (Blu-ray/DVD) and “Justified Season Two.”

Best Buy, which is struggling to adapt to a home entertainment market fixated on low margin rental, is also selling catalog BD titles Pulp Fiction, The Blind Side, Crazy Stupid Love, Batman Begins and AVP: Alien vs. Predator for $4.99 each plus coupon ($9.99 each without coupon). Recent releases available for $12.99 plus coupon ($17.99 without) include Super 8, Hugo, Warrior, Scarface and Some Girls.

Other BD titles for $9.99 with coupon ($14.99 without) include BD/DVD combo releases of Gladiator, The Dark Knight, Social Network, Gran Torino, and Saving Private Ryan.

Meanwhile, Amazon is selling Contraband combo disc with UltraViolet for $19.99 and free shipping.

http://www.homemediamagazine.com/best-buy/best-buy-offers-blu-ray-movies-dvd-prices-27048

I guess all of us that sold our DVDs to put the money towards the superior BD versions are SOL. This is definitely good for newcomers to the format though.

Yeah, I like the Upgrade & Save program. I still have 70 DVD's I need to upgrade/sell/replace. I upgraded 2 DVD's to BluRay and replaced 3 DVD's with 3 different Bluray movies yesterday. Will do more before it ends. This program seems to come around every few months at Best Buy. Sometimes it's not well advertised.

I guess all of us that sold our DVDs to put the money towards the superior BD versions are SOL. This is definitely good for newcomers to the format though.

I'm not sure to if this weeks program only applies to those select items in the flyer. Last year when they did it the credits for returned DVDs could only be used for a limited number of titles in their upgrade and save program.

There also is a limit of 5 DVDs per store trip and you have to buy items while you are there at the one time and if you don't you forfeit the store credit if you don't see anything you want.

I wonder how many people will double dip and do the Walmart Vudu upgrade for $2 and then trade the DVDs into Best Buy for $5 credit off of a new Blu-ray title.:hithere:

I'm not sure to if this weeks program only applies to those select items in the flyer. Last year when they did it the credits for returned DVDs could only be used for a limited number of titles in their upgrade and save program.

This time time around (and maybe last time was same too), the rules are different. There used to be a pre-approved BR list but now it can be used with any BR $9.99 and up.

This is certainly the way to help sagging Blu-ray sales.

This is certainly the way to help sagging Blu-ray sales.

I'm sure Best Buy does not care that much how the format does as a whole in weekly sales.

What they do care about is making money in the near and long term and driving traffic into their stores selling a popular product at prices that not only attract customers but generate the most revenue for them.

Varying the mix of products at various price points and sales and promotional strategies is what retailers do all the time.

If this promotional event sells some units and generates more income in the short term its also helps in the long term by encouraging more Blu-ray buying over time and encouraging more consumers to collect more titles on Blu-ray in the long run.

Boosting Blu-ray weekly sales revenues for the industry as a whole was probably near the last thing on the mind of the people at Best Buy who created this sale and promotional event.

I'm sure Best Buy does not care that much how the format does as a whole in weekly sales.

What they do care about is making money in the near and long term and driving traffic into their stores selling a popular product at prices that not only attract customers but generate the most revenue for them.

Varying the mix of products at various price points and sales and promotional strategies is what retailers do all the time.

If this promotional event sells some units and generates more income in the short term its also helps in the long term by encouraging more Blu-ray buying over time and encouraging more consumers to collect more titles on Blu-ray in the long run.

Boosting Blu-ray weekly sales revenues for the industry as a whole was probably near the last thing on the mind of the people at Best Buy who created this sale and promotional event.

When did Best Buy give me $5 off a DVD for every VHS I traded in? Oh yeah...they didnt.

When did Best Buy give me $5 off a DVD for every VHS I traded in? Oh yeah...they didnt.


No but they had a similar sale in a slow seasonal period last year.

Blu-ray is competing in a different environment than DVD had to contend with and appropriate sales marketing and promotional strategies for Blu-ray in the second decade of the 21st century is different than what DVD had to contend with.

When did Walmart allow me to get a DVD copy for $2 for every VHS tape I brought into the store and let me keep the VHS tape as well? Or convert the VHS tape to a SuperBit DVD version for $5 more? Oh yeah...they didn't either.

Different times that both Blu-ray and digital have to work with in the wake of DVDs success.

Walmart is doing the exact same thing to encourage UltraViolet usage and its digital Vudu service. There were not any options to convert VHS tapes to DVD for $2 either back in the day. That's an even better deal there.

The Blu-ray Discs sold at Best Buy even after the DVD credit (limit 5 per event) are still sold for more than that.

Different era and different strategies need to be used.

Sounds like a good way to get rid of DVDs you'd otherwise never be able to sell for $5 a piece.