Wal-Mart Gets Rid Of Most of Their CD Section

[StarSprinkles]

I had been noticing this trend for the past couple of years. Every so often, Wal-Mart takes away just a bit of the CD section and replaces it with DVD's. A couple of months ago, they did away with all of their endcaps that face the main aisles. Anyways, I just went in there today and was completely shocked to see that sometime within the last week, Wal-Mart completely removed an entire section of their CD's and replaced them with cheap $7.50 DVD's. The section where they are now used to hold the Pop/Rock section. Tons of CD's were obviously shipped back to the record companies, and the Pop/Rock section was condensed from two huge sections, into one super cramped section.

It was just shocking to see such a drastic reduction in their CD inventory so quickly.

FWIW, I noticed this same thing happen to Barnes & Noble over Christmas. I used to get alot of my CD's there, and then when I went to go look for Christmas gifts last year, they had taken out every single CD that was against the wall, and replaced the space with DVD's.

I know I shouldn't be surprised, but I'm still sad about it. :(

[dbt88]

There's nothing to be shocked about when we all know physical sales have dwindled over the past few years so it's no shock at all. Even the CD aisles at Best Buy are pretty much deserted

[PDC1987]

May 18, 2010 22:48:57 GMT -5 StarSprinkles said:

Tons of CD's were obviously shipped back to the record companies,

Actually I think they were merely put on clearance and sold down.

I was recently in our local Wal-Mart and they had several 4 foot isle sections in a row of CDs marked down to $5, albums of all types and genres.

[slicknickshady]

K-Mart has been out of the cd selling for a while. Have not been to wal-mart in a long time so this wouldnt shock me.

[StarSprinkles]

I was recently in our local Wal-Mart and they had several 4 foot isle sections in a row of CDs marked down to $5, albums of all types and genres.

Oh wow! I hadn't seen that at mine, but I think that's a function of where I live. I live in Texas, so we have a whole section (that was totally undisturbed and unmoved) of Latino music. That's probably where your $5 CD's where. I'm jealous!

[kissin'u]

This happened to me too!

I went in to get Miranda Cosgrove's CD because Target didn't have the Deluxe edition, and they remodeled their entertainment section DRASTICALLY.

Wal-mart seems to be shoving Blu-Ray's down our throats now.

And the CD's are almost non-existent :( I had to walk around 5 times to find the new releases lmfao.

If the old CD's have marked down, wish I could be there to buy every single album I like that I don't have.

[HolidayGuy]

I thought by the title, that there was going to be an article about this in this post. :)

iTunes passed Wal-Mart as the top retailer last year, didn't it? Wal-Mart's problem was that, collectively, it sold the most music, because there are so many stores, but selection at individual stores was/is not the greatest.

[Deleted]

Yeah, not a news item but anyway....


well chronicled duringh the last year or so that Walmart was reducing their CD line

[kissin'u]

cd's forever!!!!!!!!

[Love Plastic Love]

I don't even think our Walmart has a cd section anymore. It looks like it has a "stand' where some new cds are released. I am guessing that is how most stores will do it if they aren't already-maybe some features and exclusives and huge new releases on stands near the checkouts, but not really a physical cd section.

[🅳🅸🆂🅲🅾]

The last few times I have gone to Walmart, there was a smaller amount of CDs. It's the same situation at the two Target stores I go to. At one location it's about 3 to 4 sections about 8 feet long. At another it's just 1 section about 4 feet long. I think by next year, those sections will shrink even more,

[discoloser]

I think most of these department stores start to fail after awhile. Sears...K-Mart...now Walmart. I liked Walmart more then Target but now Target is supplying my needs (music and non) much better.

[topinizer]

walmart is NEVER gonna fail.. its too powerful.. has more money than most countries.. anyway i'm TEAM TARGET

[🅳🅸🆂🅲🅾]

May 19, 2010 16:06:17 GMT -5 topinizer said:

walmart is NEVER gonna fail.. its too powerful.. has more money than most countries.. anyway i'm TEAM TARGET

Exactly. Walmart and Target are both doing pretty good even now. It would take something really major for that sort of scenario to occur.

I prefer Target as well.

[The Party Captain]

It's weird because our WalMart is cutting down its CD collection, but upping its concert DVD section.

[texasdevil]

May 19, 2010 18:55:42 GMT -5 The Party Captain said:

It's weird because our WalMart is cutting down its CD collection, but upping its concert DVD section.

Same here.

[PDC1987]

May 19, 2010 14:42:18 GMT -5 discoloser said:

I think most of these department stores start to fail after awhile. Sears...K-Mart...now Walmart. I liked Walmart more then Target but now Target is supplying my needs (music and non) much better.

But Sears and K-Mart were killed by Wal-Mart.

[$uperb@tDuDe]

Same is happening at Target, physical units are a dying breed. It's so sad, but times are ever changing.

[Devil Marlena Nylund]

:(

Are they trying to force me to do digital?! I'm still not mentally ready for it!!!!

[Francesa On The FAN]

May 20, 2010 3:33:03 GMT -5 Devil Marlena Nylund said:

:(

Are they trying to force me to do digital?! I'm still not mentally ready for it!!!!

I don't wanna go digital unless I can buy .wav or aiff files.

[$uperb@tDuDe]

May 20, 2010 3:33:03 GMT -5 Devil Marlena Nylund said:

:(

Are they trying to force me to do digital?! I'm still not mentally ready for it!!!!

I didn't want to convert either but I gave in last year and bought an ipod. I do miss physical cds, but searching for old songs/albums is so much easier.

[slicknickshady]

I love the physical units as well. I always buy the CD's my favorite artists release. It's just when an average artist has a good song i will down load it.

I agree i wish the digitial were .flac or .wav or aiff files but i mean these artists are not like my favorite ever that im downloading so what does it matter.

Yes, I buy my favorite solo artist's downloads on iTunes (Eminem) but i want to support him. I off course buy Eminem's physical units when they are released. My favorite band TOOL does not even do digital.

[$uperb@tDuDe]

Who else misses record stores? Sam Goody, The Wherehouse, Virgin, Tower Records. Suncoast...

[kissin'u]

May 18, 2010 22:48:57 GMT -5 StarSprinkles said:

Anyways, I just went in there today and was completely shocked to see that sometime within the last week, Wal-Mart completely removed an entire section of their CD's and replaced them with cheap $7.50 DVD's.

My first time looking in that $7.50 section yesterday... i found 'According To Greta' there

amazing since Target is selling it for $20

[kissin'u]

May 22, 2010 15:53:34 GMT -5 $uperb@tDuDe said:

Who else misses record stores? Sam Goody, The Wherehouse, Virgin, Tower Records. Suncoast...

Wasn't Suncoast a movie store? ???

[$uperb@tDuDe]

May 22, 2010 16:26:37 GMT -5 kissin'u said:

May 22, 2010 15:53:34 GMT -5 $uperb@tDuDe said:

Who else misses record stores? Sam Goody, The Wherehouse, Virgin, Tower Records. Suncoast...

Wasn't Suncoast a movie store? ???

They sold everything from what I remember.

[slicknickshady]

I love Best Buy. That's where i Buy all my CD's. I have never been a fan of big chain record stores in malls and stuff. $16.00 for a CD? I don't think so. $9.99 first week is when i buy CD's. So it's always been Best Buy and Circuit City (R.I.P) for me.

[areyoureadytojump]

From Billboard.biz:

LET'S GET SMALL
May 29, 2010

Despite Lower CD Pricing, Big Boxes Continue To Pull Back From Music
ED CHRISTMAN

The flurry of recent label initiatives to reduce CD pricing was the talk of this month's National Assn. of Recording Merchandisers annual convention in Chicago. But another round of aggressive moves by big-box merchants to scale back floor space or prime display areas devoted to music suggests that the price cuts may be too late to boost physical music sales.

During the NARM convention May 14-17, music retailers and wholesalers once again beseeched record labels in private meetings for lower prices to stem plunging CD sales and reinvigorate store traffic. Many cited the example of Trans World Entertainment, the parent of FYE, Coconuts and other retail chains, which secured wholesale price cuts from indie distributors and three of the four majors to price all CDs at $9.99 in 119 of its stores.

Partly inspired by the Trans World pricing experiment, Universal Music Group unveiled in March its Velocity pricing test, which reduced wholesale pricing on new releases by star artists to enable retail pricing of $9.99 or less (Billboard, March 27). Releases benefiting from lower Velocity pricing include such titles as Rihanna's "Rated R: Remixed," Godsmack's "The Oracle," Clay Aiken's "Tried and True" and Keane's "Night Train." In addition, all four majors—including Warner Music Group, which isn't participating in the Trans World pricing test—have been steadily reducing wholesale prices on catalog titles in the last year.

But while the labels have demonstrated an increasing willingness to reduce CD prices, such action hasn't done anything to stop leading big-box merchants from scaling back the presence of music in their stores.

Walmart is preparing to reduce the average number of titles it carries in most of its stores by 25%-30% to make more room for DVDs, label and distribution sources say. But because only a small number of titles typically accounts for the majority of sales at large music retailers, Walmart has been insisting to label executives that it expects to maintain 92% of its music sales despite that space reduction.

The chain carries about 3,000 music titles in its smaller stores and as many as 5,000 in its larger locations—SKU tallies that could fall to about 2,600 and 3,000, respectively. The chain is testing five prototypes, or music display formats, and is expected to begin rolling out changes in its music department "any day now" in 300-store phases, sources say.

Walmart doesn't disclose inventory numbers for competitive reasons. "The growing popularity of music digital downloads continues to impact assortment and space of physical CDs for all retailers," a Walmart representative says.

As recently as two years ago, Best Buy stores carried 6,000-20,000 SKUs, with an average of 14,000. That's fallen to a range today of 1,500-10,000 titles, with most stores carrying on average 5,000 titles.

In addition to the music downsizing, label executives say they're more disturbed by the dramatically reduced profile of Best Buy's music offering. CDs are now buried in the back of the stores and music departments have reduced space for coveted "facings" displays where the front cover of a CD is visible.

Best Buy is reducing "Powerwall" facings, which display new and hit titles, by about 50% in underperforming music departments and by about 30% in stronger ones, with music titles being replaced by iTunes and Napster gift cards, label and distribution sources say. That rollout began earlier this month and is expected to be completed by the end of June. The company is also telling label executives that it plans to further overhaul its entertainment section later this year.

In another move, labels say Best Buy is managing its inventory more closely, ordering fewer copies of specific albums—so much so, executives grumble, that many new albums released on a given Tuesday are out of stock by Thursday. While the chain can replenish sold-out titles quickly, the new orders are often too small to last for long. Finally, sources say, Best Buy will no longer carry a new title nationally if it can't sell 500 copies in its first week. Instead, such titles have to be pitched to Best Buy's regional purchasers.

Target no longer highlights specific music titles in its Sunday circulars or in endcaps unless first-week U.S. sales are projected at 15,000 and 10,000, respectively, sources say. Most Target stores carry 750-1,000 titles. While its larger stores carry about 2,000 titles, that total is expected to drop to about 1,200, sources say.

Representatives at Best Buy and Target couldn't be reached for comment.

Some label executives now acknowledge that the majors embraced lower CD pricing too cautiously.

"Had we reacted to retail's request for lower prices three years ago, merchants would still be doing space reductions," a major-label head of sales says. "But we might have been able to keep some of our titles in stores by showing that they sell better at the lower price points.

[kissin'u]

omg cd's :(

wal-mart still sells SOME cd's for $11.88 it's disgusting

[Sir Benji]

this is sad but i'm one of those people who will always purchase physical albums i've bought a couple of digital albums but i prefer to have it physically in my hand, i would never go completely digital and Best Buy needs to revamp their CD isles because they are usually a crowded mess.