Wal-Mart endeavors to lure customers to Blu-ray
While Wal-Mart seemed to be firmly in the HD DVD camp early in the format war, it's now gearing up for a nationwide promotion to drum up interest in the format war's survivor.
With HD DVD out of the way, the world's largest retailer is now turning to Blu-ray and marketing it aggressively, even though the price of its players may be out of reach for a significant portion of its budget-conscious consumers.
Starting next Monday and running through Saturday, consumers who purchase a Blu-ray player from Wal-Mart will also be eligible to receive a $100 gift card valid for future purchases.
To supplement the promotion, the company is also increasing the number of Blu-ray players it carries. Currently it offers only two players: one from Sony (the BDP-S300) and one from Magnavox (the NB500MG9). Beginning next week, Samsung and Panasonic players will also be added to the mix.
Supporting the promotion will be sales on several Blu-ray titles, priced at $15. These include 3:10 to Yuma, 300, and The Fifth Element.
Early on, Wal-Mart had been working towards bringing low-cost HD DVD players to its stores, and was one of the leading companies behind a $99 player promotion during last year's holiday season. However, with Toshiba having given up on HD DVD -- and with the rest of the world happily following Toshiba's lead for once -- Wal-Mart decided in February that it would stop stocking both players and movies this month.
It's likely that this announcement alone may have hastened the format's death, considering the strong hold the Arkansas company has not only on retail sales, but on all print and multimedia publishers' production plans.
This week's announcement coincides with another from the retailer that indicates it has completed the redesign of its electronics department across the entire chain. In many of its stores, the new departments allow for more hands-on use of various products, including video games, computers, and GPS devices.
"We are excited to be a destination for families looking to create a high quality, affordable home entertainment experience with our new, wider selection of hi-def TVs, Blu-ray players and movies," home entertainment chief Gary Severson said in a statement.