SURVEY REVEALS BUYING HABITS FOR VIDEO, DVD

ENCINO, Calif. -- Video retailers are spending about 20% of their purchasing dollars on DVD movies, according to a survey released last week by the Video Software Dealers Association here.

two pricing structures that allow retailers to obtain lower pricing on movies. Retailers who do not participate in these programs pay about 10% more per title, according to the VSDA.

The "Common Practice Report" is part of a monthly series of online surveys conducted by the association. Future topics will include collecting late fees, rental rates, and terms and advertising.

Other highlights from the most recent survey:

86% of retailers budget their monthly VHS purchases, and most use a fixed-dollar budget rather than a percentage of revenues.

The average retailer spends 37.4% of VHS rental revenues on VHS purchases for rental.

39% of retailers participate in revenue-sharing, and 84% participate in copy-depth-type programs.

The average retailer pays a blended cost of $45.38 for VHS titles.

The average retailer spends 34.9% of total DVD rental revenue on new DVD purchases annually.

The average retailer spends 28.7% of total video-game rental revenue on new video-game purchases annually.

The average retailer buys 10 video games per month at an average price of $44.35, with Playstation 2 and Nintendo 64 accounting for about 89% of the game formats.