Warner system upgrades slows shipments
Retailers upset by loss of potential sales due to late deliveries
By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 10/26/2007
OCT. 26 | Upgrades to Warner Home Video’s automated distribution system have created some delays in title deliveries to retail.
Studio senior VP of strategic promotions and communications Jim Noonan acknowledged there have been hiccups with the revamp that have caused late title shipments, but he declined to discuss the problems in detail. He said the issues are being addressed swiftly.
Retail and distribution sources, however, said some delays might be the result of Warner not initially accounting for certain rental packs in the new system.
National Entertainment Buying Group president Todd Zaganiacz said some of the group’s rental store members have received about two dozen Warner titles on or past street date since late September, the approximate time of the Warner system changes.
Traditionally, titles arrive at retail on the Friday before Tuesday street date to give stores time to process and merchandise the product.
The first season of Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip had not arrived at New England’s Newbury Comics or Video Zone, or Seattle’s Scarecrow Video until a week after the title's Oct. 16 release. The six-film Stanley Kubrick box set also had not made it to Newbury, Scarecrow or Video Zone by the Oct. 23 street. The latest Sopranos and Veronica Mars TV on DVD installments had not arrived by their Oct. 23 street dates at Seattle-area DVD Now! or Newbury.
Issues are impacting indies like Scarecrow, Video Zone and DVD Now!, which receive Warner titles through wholesalers VPD, Baker & Taylor and Ingram, as well as larger accounts such as Newbury, which purchases Warner titles directly from the studio.
“As with any company in the distribution business, there are periodic overhauls in the way we do things to improve the system,” said Noonan. “There are no exceptional problems. But sometimes when you do this, there are going to be a few bumps in the road.”
Retailers, however, feel justified in being upset, explaining they are losing sales to those outlets that are managing to get Warner titles on time. Distribution delays have seemed to vary by title and retailer.
“We are not seeing this problem [at a nearby] Wal-Mart,” said Zaganiacz.
As expected during fourth quarter, many of the Warner titles are highly anticipated, exacerbating the stress over late shipments.
“It’s a big problem when these are releases that the customers are eagerly waiting,” Newbury buyer Ian Leshin said. “Like Veronica Mars and Kubrick—our customers are specifically looking for this product.”
Warner’s Noonan said the studio will resolve problems soon, well before the Dec. 11 disc bow of one of its largest 2007 theatricals, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
“Warner has done a great job in keeping us informed of their progress in getting the system fully up, and we think it will be improved from what it was before,” WaxWorks president of video Kirk Kirkpatrick said, following a conference call with the studio last week.
That can’t come fast enough for Scarecrow buyer Mark Steiner, who was “sweating bullets” over delivery of The Sopranos. Fortunately, the video store was able to score its copies of the DVD by street.
