Dealers See Large Gains In Fourth Quarter And 2000 DVD Player Sales
Plead For Year-Round Promotional Activity By Player And Disc Suppliers Consumer electronics retailers representing seven retail channels are banking on DVD to lead all digital TV into the new millennium and feel that most player suppliers are missing the boat by not giving their full attention to year-round advertising and more meaningful in-store promotional planning. The fact that an overwhelming 80 percent of their customers are extremely or very interested in DVD is evident in retailer projections of sales of 722,500 regular DVDs in the fourth quarter of this year and sales of 3,235,000 players in the year 2000. The same dealers projected modest sales of 21,700 portable DVDs in the fourth quarter and 122,300 next year. These sales represent sell-through to consumers not shipments to dealers. These findings were included in a newly completed 70-page Neretin Associates research study involving168 key consumer electronics retailers who control 20,434 store fronts. At the average of $326 per regular DVD sale, the fourth quarter would translate into sales of $235,535,000 and, even adopting the $326 figure for 2000 (that average should rise as higher-priced, audio-oriented brands come into stronger play) sales should reach well beyond $1 billion next year. Portable DVD, at an average of $856 per sale, will come in at $18,575,000 in the fourth quarter and reach $104,688,000 in 2000 applying the same sale average. These stats do not take into account add-on audio/video sales made in conjunction with a DVD player purchase. More than 34 percent of the retailers interviewed indicated that DVD add-on sales were of some level of importance to their business. The 72 retailers who sell DVD discs projected sales of 22,070,000 in the fourth quarter at an average sale price of $20.28 and 82,500,000 sales in the year 2000. The fourth quarter projection translates into $447,579,000 (almost twice the projection for DVD players) and, at the same $20.28 average (which is expected to go down next year as more discs become classic rather than new releases) the year 2000 will bring well over $1.6 billion in disc revenues. Neretin Associates, a marketing strategies research firm heaquartered in Maplewood-South Orange, NJ, can be reached at973 763 1894 for additional details.