Anticipation for a national rollout of digital videodisc hardware and software is building, if the reaction of participants in SN's video roundtable is an indication. The retailers at the event were looking forward to the opportunity to rent and sell DVD products.
"This is a chance for the whole video industry to make a lot of money all over again with catalog products," said Matthew Feinstein, vice president of Marbles Entertainment, Los Angeles.
"We've been looking hard into it since the announcement that it was finally going to hit this year," said Bob Gettner, video buyer and coordinator at B&R Stores, Lincoln, Neb. "We probably will put DVD in this year."
Here is what the retailers on the roundtable said about DVD:
SN: On the subject of DVD, what is its potential and will you move into it this year?
FEINSTEIN: I'm very excited about DVD's potential. For example, we have a lot of stores where we have Spanish products. We will now be able to buy a movie such as "Twister" and have the Spanish version on the same piece of software. I think that the studios are going to make sure that it works. They are going to put a lot of money into advertising it, and they have already started. They are going to make sure it is the new format.
Just like with compact discs, consumers purchased their whole music library all over again. They bought all their Beatles albums all over again, all their Rolling Stones albums. This is a chance for the whole video industry to make a lot of money all over again with catalog products. Imagine everybody buying the Disney titles all over again on DVD. It can be a big revenue source and therefore I think it is going to be very big and something that we should definitely look into and look forward to.
As far as moving into it this year, that will depend on studio backing. I know Warner is waiting to see what they are going to do now with the release of more titles. They are waiting to see what the other studios are doing, because they don't want to be one of the only studios to be releasing products. If the studio involvement is there with the advertising and if they make the push, then yes, we will make the push too.
DARNELL: I agree with Matthew. But in our market, it usually takes a while for the technology to trickle down to the South, so many of our customers will probably not even have the hardware to use the DVD for quite some time. While we are excited about it, it is not something that we plan to do in the near future.
DILLON: One of the keys is the price of hardware. Everybody has one, two or three VCRs. Replacing hardware is going to be the start. We will do it. In fact, I've got a player in my office right now. There's an avenue out there, but first they have to get the players out there at a purchasable price.
CARTON: We are cautiously optimistic about DVD's impact. The players are the key, no question about that. How sell-through and rental products interrelate will be very interesting. For example, as soon as you put music on it, it is not a rentable product. That's an issue. For this year, I think it is foreseeable that we put it in.
GETTNER: We've been looking hard into it since the announcement that it was finally going to hit this year. We probably will put DVD in this year. Some things we've encountered and are trying to work out are how it is going to be merchandised, how it is going to be displayed, whether or not it is going to be next to our regular VHS products, whether we are going to be a separate category for it. Those are questions yet to be answered.
MOLITOR: I also am excited about it, but I am a little reluctant to jump in with both feet until I know that the studios are going to support it. I'm not sure that the average customer even knows what DVD stands for yet or what it is. So there is going to have to be a lot of education and I'm not the one to do it. It is going to have to be done by the suppliers. Once that is communicated and people start to come in asking for it, then I will bring it in. I do know that one of my competitors in St. Louis is testing it, renting the players and the disks.
FEINSTEIN: What a great rental item the hardware would be right now.
MOLITOR: It really is. I know that as a consumer, I would rent it, and I would look at it and try to understand it before I would purchase it. There isn't a lot of awareness out there.
DESORDI: We will do it when the time is right. But I think it is a great opportunity and it's interesting how patterns repeat themselves. When we got into the rental business, we rented portable video players. We will probably want to go the same way with DVD.
MAXWELL: Denise and I may both be in areas that are a little bit behind the times. Personally, I am excited about it and, especially in my more affluent areas, we won't let the competition beat us. We will carry it when they do and maybe before. But I've got a lot of areas and a lot of customers that will go into DVD kicking and screaming. I've got people who still rent VHS players every weekend.
