When Infinity Resources bought the Critics’ Choice Video catalog from magazine publisher Playboy Enterprises in October 2000, more than three-quarters of the title’s customers were over the age of 45. Now Itasca, IL-based Infinity is trying to appeal to a younger audience without alienating its core customers.
DVDs are expected to account for more than 60% of all movie and video sales by the end of the year, says Infinity president/CEO/owner Dennis Abboud. In 2001 they accounted for less than half. “Our goal is to participate in the growth of DVD, but we don’t want to lose our absolute dollar sales in VHS because our primary customers aren’t going to be the first ones on the block to buy DVD players,” Abboud says. In other words, older customers are less likely to be early adapters of DVD technology. But even if DVD sales don’t take off as rapidly as Abboud expects, selling DVDs rather than VHS tapes has an advantage: DVDs weigh less, so they’re cheaper to ship.
Whereas DVDs consisted of just 2.9% of the films offered in the Critics’ Choice “big book” of classic movies in 1999 and 12% in 2000, for the edition that mailed during the fourth quarter of 2001, DVD offerings were increased to 35% of the product line.
And last April, the company spun off a contemporary catalog, called Critics’ Choice Video & DVD, to reach younger viewers with more recent titles, most of which are offered in DVD format as well as VHS. Critics’ Choice is mailing the new book to names rented from tech-oriented catalogs as The Sharper Image, as well as to compiled lists of DVD owners and subscribers to special-interest magazines, such as Home Theatre, that offer a catalog buyer select. In addition, it was mailed to about 10% of the circulation of the classics catalog.
So far, response to the new book has fallen short of the company’s 1.3% goal. “It’s relatively insignificant as a percentage of total sales,” Abboud adds. The company is hoping that several promotions this year with companies such as Hilton Hotels and Boston Market will bring in new customers at lower acquisition costs.