Itasca, IL-based multititle merchant Infinity Resources has acquired The Video Collection from San Diego-based Genius Products. Terms of the deal, which closed on Aug. 1, were not disclosed. Video Collection was a competitor to Infinity’s Critic’s Choice Video catalog and its Websites DeepDiscountDVD.com, DigitalEyes.net, and DVDPlanet. (DVDPlanet has a store as well, in Huntington Beach, CA).
There’s about 50% product overlap between Video Collection and Critic’s Choice Video. But what made Video Collection attractive to Infinity, says Rob Terry, Infinity’s director of merchandising, was that many of the box sets it sold — BBC programming and World War II documentaries — have a $100 price point and attract a more upscale audience. In addition to such fare, Video Collection sells television programming from networks such as A&E and HBO and films in a variety of genres.
The Video Collection has about 300,000 12-month offline and online buyers, but as the catalog has not mailed since September 2004, Infinity plans to perform some reactivation campaigns. The company might try a free shipping or dollar-off offer as well do some prospecting right off the bat “to build the 0-12 month file,” says Jeff Urbaniak, director of circulation. “It’s going to be a little tricky [in part because of the merchandise overlap between the titles], but we just have to be real strategic in the way we go about mailing.”
In addition to its video and DVD properties, Infinity owns music catalogs Collectors’ Choice Music and Heartland Music and online-only music sites Serenade Music and DeepDiscountCD.com.