Wal-Mart will start scaling down DVD displays

Thanks to sales of DVD discs and other forms of physical media taking a serious plunge, Wal-Mart is announcing that it will be scaling down the DVD section of stores; in some cases it will be eliminating DVD displays.

Wal-Mart says that the change is to appeal to the higher-end shoppers that it is trying so hard to get.

The store will continue to have new DVD releases and won’t be getting rid of the RedBox kiosks that have been showing up in all the stores recently.

Currently, Wal-Mart accounts for almost a third of DVD sales in the United States, so the movie studios are obviously pretty upset about Wal-Mart’s decision not to have huge sections of DVDs anymore. However, it is difficult to keep up with rental services like NetFlix, Redbox, and places to download movies like iTunes and even on demand services like Comcast and other cable providers. With how inexpensive it is to rent a DVD, most people don’t want to buy the discs anymore.

The Digital Entertainment Group says that sales of DVDs have risen by 8.3% while retail sales in the United States fell by 13.5%. At the same time, digital sales (from places such as iTunes and Amazon) of DVD movies have increased 21%.
I have to agree with Wal-Mart’s decision to remove some of the DVD displays from the stores. I have often thought that the store could benefit by adding more electronics to the area than just using all the space for DVDs and CDs. I actually don’t know anyone who buys CDs anymore. When people stop buying physical media, then it really gets difficult for a store to decide to keep the shelf space reserved for poor selling items. Wal-Mart’s shelf space is very valuable and the store can use that space for something a bit more valuable.

Do any of you still buy DVDs or CDs? Do you agree with Wal-Mart’s decision to use the shelf space for something other than DVDs? Leave a comment and let us know what you think!

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