Permanent sections and racks for sell-through videos are gaining favor with supermarket chains. The programs are usually offered within secured live inventory departments, although many retailers put racks in the main part of the store. Offering ongoing programs of titles other than the big event titles adds to the retailers' sell-through margins and also helps establish the stores as video destinations in the minds of consumers, said retailers contacted by SN. The Copps Corp., Stevens Point, Wis., for example, has permanent sections in some stores, but video specialist Jeff Olson would like to put more of them in. "Once you do that, more customers who want to purchase a sell-through tape will consider us as a destination store, rather than a secondary stop where they might buy it if they see it," he said. "[Supermarkets] are starting to experiment with 4-foot racks or gondola types of displays, going deeper into catalog, where there are higher margins," said Bill Bryant, assistant vice president of major accounts and special markets at Ingram Entertainment, La Vergne, Tenn. "Titles with suggested retail prices of less than $10 are also of great interest to supermarkets." Success with a regular program of sell-through shippers is leading the Nash Finch Co., Minneapolis, to consider adding permanent sections, said Clifford Feiock, video coordinator. Video Mart, which racks the video departments in 17 Bel Air supermarkets in the Sacramento, Calif., area, is in discussions with suppliers for computerized planogramming services, said Rick Ang, buyer. "We've been getting some feedback from a studio that wants to get involved in planogramming," he said. Ang declined to name the studio.
