Pricing Rant

[NWRushing]

So I love Vudu and Ultraviolet and all of that.
I even loved it a little bit more today when I saw that Kill Bill 1 and 2 are now both UV.
Then I realized that that I had just seen them at Wal-Mart for 7.50 each on Blu ray. Compare that to here at 13.99 each?.its nearly double...

It doesn't really make sense? no physical media means reduced cost... no brick and mortar store means reduced overhead... How is it that Vudu Can't price match Wal-Mart what with being part of or owned by Wal-Mart and all?

We all saw how great CN's sales were but Vudu's sales don't even get them down to Wal-Mart?s pricing Bad Santa... 9.99 on sale here 7.50 BR at Wal-Mart... I would really like to get to the point where I no longer have to by physical media. But for some counter intuitive reason that I don?t know or understand physical media is still cheaper..

[jeffpn]

Re: Pricing Rant

Vudu is in business to make money. They are not charging prices that people won't pay. Any company is going to charge the highest price people are willing to pay. Of course, customers seek to pay the least amount of money possible. Obviously, people are paying the prices that Vudu is charging. If they weren't, Vudu wouldn't be making any money, and eventually they'd go out of business. There is no reason for Vudu to charge $13.99 (or whatever they charge for other movies) if people aren't buying at that price. It's not Vudu's fault that prices are set where they are. It's the fault of your fellow customers who allow Vudu to charge those prices by paying them. Vudu is not going to lower their prices as long as people are paying them. No company would. You also have no idea what it costs Vudu to license a movie so they can sell it. That's part of the price, too. There's more to "brick and mortar" and "physical media" that goes into setting a price.

[MaxH]

Re: Pricing Rant

Vudu is in business to make money. They are not charging prices that people won't pay. Any company is going to charge the highest price people are willing to pay. Of course, customers seek to pay the least amount of money possible. Obviously, people are paying the prices that Vudu is charging. If they weren't, Vudu wouldn't be making any money, and eventually they'd go out of business. There is no reason for Vudu to charge $13.99 (or whatever they charge for other movies) if people aren't buying at that price. It's not Vudu's fault that prices are set where they are. It's the fault of your fellow customers who allow Vudu to charge those prices by paying them. Vudu is not going to lower their prices as long as people are paying them. No company would. You also have no idea what it costs Vudu to license a movie so they can sell it. That's part of the price, too. There's more to "brick and mortar" and "physical media" that goes into setting a price.

Actually, from what I've heard Vudu doesn't get to set the price, the content "owners" include the price to charge the consumer in their contracts with all VOD providers.

[jeffpn]

Re: Pricing Rant

Heh. That's irrelevant, as well. Either way, the customer can't directly set the price, as the OP is trying to do. I'm sure Vudu has some flexibility, but they can't charge less than they pay for it.

[ydkjman]

Re: Pricing Rant

To not feel cheated all the way, I've thought about this at times. Instead of paying full price from Vudu and when its available for d2d might as well buy the Blu-ray and take it in to Walmart for $2 and now you have the physical disc and a digital copy for the same price or even cheaper?

[Speedaddict81]

Re: Pricing Rant

To not feel cheated all the way, I've thought about this at times. Instead of paying full price from Vudu and when its available for d2d might as well buy the Blu-ray and take it in to Walmart for $2 and now you have the physical disc and a digital copy for the same price or even cheaper?

Exactly what I do...get a movie for $.01 plus $2.98 shipping off Amazon, then get D2D High Def for $5...usually cheaper than the Vudu price.

[jeffpn]

Re: Pricing Rant

And if enough people do that, Vudu will lower their prices!

[ydkjman]

Re: Pricing Rant

And if enough people do that, Vudu will lower their prices!

Wouldn't that be nice

[NWRushing]

Re: Pricing Rant

Heh. That's irrelevant, as well. Either way, the customer can't directly set the price, as the OP is trying to do. I'm sure Vudu has some flexibility, but they can't charge less than they pay for it.

As always Jeff thank you for your insightful assumptions as to my intentions... by posting a rant it was obviosly my goal to set my own prices and of course tell Vudu how to run their bussiness... I was not in anyway just expressing my feelings on the topic...

And thank you for explaining to me how licenseing for digital media works... well minus the part about actually explaining it. You have truely have a talent for telling me things I already know in a fasion that implies that no one but you can see the obvious.

You also have no idea what it costs Vudu to license a movie so they can sell it. That's part of the price, too. There's more to "brick and mortar" and "physical media" that goes into setting a price.

What I DO know it that for physical media Licensing/legal/copyrighting varies wildly anywhere from 10-35% of the final price. And I have heard (though I have seen no numbers to substantiate it) that it may be as much as 50% of the cost of Digital media.

Where "brick and mortar" and "physical media" play a part in the cost of overhead.... Walmarts price mark up are 25-40% and that covers there profits and overhead. Minus Logistics... Walmart factors logistics into the per unit cost at a rate of 8-10% and it is applied before mark up... though it does likely have some bearing on where the retail mark up falls in that 25-40% range.

Of course Vudu has its own overhead and its own form of Logistics

It would be interesting to see the cost breakdown of a video purchased on Vudu...

But again... the purpose of my original post was just to express discontent... I was not attempting to get into a cost/profit debate about pricing.

[jeffpn]

Re: Pricing Rant

As many numbers and percentages that you threw out, you must know the facts. I was unaware that Walmart shared that information with you. Can you show me sources for all of the percentages you quoted? Or did you just pull them out of midair? It's all a moot point, anyway. Regardless of what you think is a fair price, it's the company with the goods to sell that will set the price.

If you ran a business, your goal would be to be as profitable as possible. That's the goal of every business. No company wants to leave money on the table. If Vudu has set their prices higher than customers are willing to pay, they'll have to bring them down in order to make any sales. If the prices stay what you consider to be high, it's because enough other customers are paying those prices. Maybe you'd be better off trying to get customers not to pay those prices.

But again... the purpose of my original post was just to express discontent... I was not attempting to get into a cost/profit debate about pricing.

This forum is a two way street. Just as it's here for you to voice your opinions on topics relating to Vudu, it is there for me to do the same.

[NWRushing]

Re: Pricing Rant

*sigh*

[jeffpn]

Re: Pricing Rant

*exactly*

[nycomet]

Re: Pricing Rant

I love this thread! Great info as always.

[jeffpn]

Re: Pricing Rant

Info? There's no info here. Only an admitted rant and a guy with common sense.

[mike568]

Re: Pricing Rant

It is dumb that I can buy I a used blu-ray and do disc to digital cheaper than buying the movie directly on Vudu.