Black Friday weekend personal retail observations and anecdotal sales reports

[HD Goofnut]

Went to both my closest Walmarts last night at around midnight, grabbed a bunch of the $5 Blu-ray movies I had rented but did not own. Say the promo packs of DVD and Blu-ray titles unleased to the masses. One store had them near the cash registers and moved aside the produce (not a lot of people buying lettuce at midnight on Black Friday morning). Both locations had 16 half pallets cardboard displays of DVD and Blu-ray. I counted at least 120 different Blu-ray titles available and from looking at the shipping labels between 168-210 Blu-ray units on 4 full half pallets and mixed in a couple other displays.

When I left at 1:30 AM the second location, both the Walmart SuperCenter and the smaller, but newer Walmart had sold about halfway through the $5 and $10 Blu-ray Discs in the promo packs.

When I checked back around noon today they had completely sold through (about 800-1000 discs per location) and I was told that happened during the second customer surge that happened at 5:00 AM. By 8:00 at both locations the promo DVD and Blu-ray Discs had all sold out. There had been a plan in place to displace the promo displays back to the electronics area before 8:00 AM, but that was not necessary as they sold to exhaustion at both locations. The setup at the Supercenter was kinda wild, all the DVD and Blu-ray display units were lined up side by side along the meat isle down the length of the store.

For Blu-ray player units, the Walmart Supercenter sold already over 300 Blu-ray players by noon mostly the Magnavox wifi player. I was told by the manager who saw me that they already had sold by noon , twice what they had sold on last year Black Friday and that they had been shipped over four times as many units of that sku than they had last year for Black Friday week.

I saw two different locations with pallets, one near the check out and the other by electronics and the stacks had about 150-200 remaining in each and they looked at a glance to be 40-50% depleted by around noon.

The non promotional Blu-ray inventory and DVD inventory also looked picked through, but I did not see a lot of the facing units fully depleted. Did not look there at my local Walmarts to have a real surge yet at the non promotional software units, but the on the isle Blu-ray player stock looked to be hit quite a bit, especially the Samsung units for some reason. Thats a brand match to the prominent HDTV sales, so it may be that a few picked picked up a Samsung Blu-ray player with their new Samsung HDTV.

Sounds good Kosty. Taffy will be in some time today or tomorrow to tell you that none of the BD players at his Wal-Mart were sold, which we all know is complete eyewash.

[vinnie97]

$197 for a 32" LG LCD @ Fry's? Sounds like a bargain to me (as a gift) and I froze at Fry's for 12 hours to ensure I got one (debatable as to if it was worth it)...nabbed a BD530 for $57 as well and a few other things.

Said Blu-ray player was selling considerably well.

[Kosty]

Sounds good Kosty. Taffy will be in some time today or tomorrow to tell you that none of the BD players at his Wal-Mart were sold, which we all know is complete eyewash.

Went back around 5:00 pm to the Walmart Supercenter. The pile of $69 Magnavox wi-fi BD-Live players near the electronics section was fairly well depleted and only 64 units were left now all on the shelf, the pile near the front of the story was only down 20 units. All the Samsung and Panasonic branded players were gone off the Blu-ray player isle but plenty of the Vizeo and other brands were still there. Obviously its the biggest sales date that Blu-ray players have ever had, if my local stores are anywhere near representative, which they normally are.

[luclin999]

I just left the local Wal*Mart and there wasn't a single Magnavox BD player to be found. Pretty much all of the BD players were gone except for one Sony and a few LG BD550s.

They did have a huge endcap with $29 DVD players that looked to be untouched.

[Kosty]

I just left the local Wal*Mart and there wasn't a single Magnavox BD player to be found. Pretty much all of the BD players were gone except for one Sony and a few LG BD550s.

They did have a huge endcap with $29 DVD players that looked to be untouched.

I noticed that as well. Plus on the DVD Blu-ray player isle, all the DVD players were fully stocked and the Blu-ray players, even the more expensive ones were depleted as well. Not a lot of urgency in buying a DVD player today it seems when you could get a Blu-ray player (that also plays DVDs) for just a little more.

[chipvideo]

$197 for a 32" LG LCD @ Fry's? Sounds like a bargain to me (as a gift) and I froze at Fry's for 12 hours to ensure I got one (debatable as to if it was worth it)...nabbed a BD530 for $57 as well and a few other things.

Said Blu-ray player was selling considerably well.

Well deserved man well deserved. Anyone who is willing to sit out in the cold for that my hats off to you.

[towergrove]

Went to both my closest Walmarts last night at around midnight, grabbed a bunch of the $5 Blu-ray movies I had rented but did not own. Say the promo packs of DVD and Blu-ray titles unleased to the masses. One store had them near the cash registers and moved aside the produce (not a lot of people buying lettuce at midnight on Black Friday morning). Both locations had 16 half pallets cardboard displays of DVD and Blu-ray. I counted at least 120 different Blu-ray titles available and from looking at the shipping labels between 168-210 Blu-ray units on 4 full half pallets and mixed in a couple other displays.

When I left at 1:30 AM the second location, both the Walmart SuperCenter and the smaller, but newer Walmart had sold about halfway through the $5 and $10 Blu-ray Discs in the promo packs.

When I checked back around noon today they had completely sold through (about 800-1000 discs per location) and I was told that happened during the second customer surge that happened at 5:00 AM. By 8:00 at both locations the promo DVD and Blu-ray Discs had all sold out. There had been a plan in place to displace the promo displays back to the electronics area before 8:00 AM, but that was not necessary as they sold to exhaustion at both locations. The setup at the Supercenter was kinda wild, all the DVD and Blu-ray display units were lined up side by side along the meat isle down the length of the store.

For Blu-ray player units, the Walmart Supercenter sold already over 300 Blu-ray players by noon mostly the Magnavox wifi player. I was told by the manager who saw me that they already had sold by noon , twice what they had sold on last year Black Friday and that they had been shipped over four times as many units of that sku than they had last year for Black Friday week.

I saw two different locations with pallets, one near the check out and the other by electronics and the stacks had about 150-200 remaining in each and they looked at a glance to be 40-50% depleted by around noon.

The non promotional Blu-ray inventory and DVD inventory also looked picked through, but I did not see a lot of the facing units fully depleted. Did not look there at my local Walmarts to have a real surge yet at the non promotional software units, but the on the isle Blu-ray player stock looked to be hit quite a bit, especially the Samsung units for some reason. Thats a brand match to the prominent HDTV sales, so it may be that a few picked picked up a Samsung Blu-ray player with their new Samsung HDTV.

I went to several stores this morning including 2 Walmarts around the 4am time period (I will not be doing that next year, way too many people). I noticed that the cheap DVD player and Blu Ray players were equally being sold. Seemed that many who purchased the Emerson TVs were also going home with the Magnavox BD player or DVD. From my observation, I was very surprised that the ipads were not selling as well as I thought they would. Many stacks of ipads were seen at both Walmart and Target with no one around browsing. (BTW... the ipad is my favorite electronic device ever! I agree with Oprah on that! I highly recommend ). I believe Apple lowered the pricing on the ipads today (saw on CNN).

For me I purchased some discs off Amazon, bought some items at Victoria Secret and landed some new shoes and a pair of boots at Macys. Overall a good day for me.

I hope everyone had a safe and productive Black Friday!

[GizmoDVD]

I noticed that as well. Plus on the DVD Blu-ray player isle, all the DVD players were fully stocked and the Blu-ray players, even the more expensive ones were depleted as well. Not a lot of urgency in buying a DVD player today it seems when you could get a Blu-ray player (that also plays DVDs) for just a little more.

Went to BB to kill some time, and the BDs on sale were picked over. Passed on a few titles as Amazon had them cheaper and I just wasn't felling it. Didn't see a Single Toshiba $69 player in stock, but they had tons of the Insignia's (like, hundreds). Felt like a flea market. They put so much inventory on the floor you couldn't even walk. They even taped off areas. The one movie I wanted, I couldn't even find. Sigh.

[chipvideo]

I brought my daughter to a birthday party today. I got to see her punch another girl in the face at one of those pump it up places. LOL.

[GizmoDVD]

I brought my daughter to a birthday party today. I got to see her punch another girl in the face at one of those pump it up places. LOL.

"Pump it Up"? What in the world is that?

I went ring shopping today...oh boy. That was a fun 15 stores to find all of nothing. Off soon to watch Videdrome

[Lee Stewart]

"Pump it Up"? What in the world is that?

I went ring shopping today...oh boy. That was a fun 15 stores to find all of nothing. Off soon to watch Videdrome

http://www.pumpitupparty.com/

[chipvideo]

"Pump it Up"? What in the world is that?

I went ring shopping today...oh boy. That was a fun 15 stores to find all of nothing. Off soon to watch Videdrome

Its one of those places that have blow up castles and slides and crap like that. They put on those facemasks and those oversized gloves.

Ring shopping? Getting engaged?

[towergrove]

"Pump it Up"? What in the world is that?

I went ring shopping today...oh boy. That was a fun 15 stores to find all of nothing. Off soon to watch Videdrome

I'm sure that will make that someone special very happy.

[Lee Stewart]

I like others here do not go shopping on BF. But - again, on my way to drop Alex off to work (10AM), Target's parking lot was full (it's a small store) as was the mall (it's a big mall).

One of Alex's friends lives right across the street from WalMart. He said at Midnight, the entire parking lot was full. The parking lot accomodates a WalMart and a Home Depot so you can get an idea how big it is.

[GizmoDVD]

Its one of those places that have blow up castles and slides and crap like that. They put on those facemasks and those oversized gloves.

Ring shopping? Getting engaged?

Never heard of those places before.

I'm sure that will make that someone special very happy.

And yes...that type of ring. Shes picking it out, not me. I'm just the wallet. And she wants one from the 1910...so it's been a hassle.