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Players in the DVD, music and video game industry are looking to RFID to reduce out-of-stocks, improve promotions, and cut theft and counterfeiting.
By Elizabeth Wasserman
June 1, 2008—Timing is everything when it comes to the release of a blockbuster movie to DVD. Nearly 80 percent of all sales occur during the first four weeks of a new release, according to entertainment industry figures. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, for example, sold more than 13 million copies in its first four weeks of release last year. That's why movie studios and retailers with large home entertainment media sections plan the rollout of a new DVD with precision.
Shipments of the DVD need to be delivered on time. Promotional displays, most built out of corrugated cardboard to hold dozens of copies of the DVD, have to be set up in retail stores to coincide with the flurry of advertisements on television and in newspapers and magazines. And those displays need to be continually restocked with the DVD to meet customer demand.
But all too often, a DVD rollout doesn't have a happy ending. "Right now, there is a black hole in the last hundred feet of the supply chain in the entertainment industry," says Devendra Mishra, a professor of logistics science at Pepperdine University and chairman of the annual Entertainment Supply Chain Academy (ESCA) conference. "The product may be in the store but on a different shelf. The product may be in the back room or the distribution center…. As a result, we have a high incidence of out-of-stocks…and certainly some unsatisfied customers."
June 1, 2008—Timing is everything when it comes to the release of a blockbuster movie to DVD. Nearly 80 percent of all sales occur during the first four weeks of a new release, according to entertainment industry figures. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, for example, sold more than 13 million copies in its first four weeks of release last year. That's why movie studios and retailers with large home entertainment media sections plan the rollout of a new DVD with precision.
Shipments of the DVD need to be delivered on time. Promotional displays, most built out of corrugated cardboard to hold dozens of copies of the DVD, have to be set up in retail stores to coincide with the flurry of advertisements on television and in newspapers and magazines. And those displays need to be continually restocked with the DVD to meet customer demand.
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But all too often, a DVD rollout doesn't have a happy ending. "Right now, there is a black hole in the last hundred feet of the supply chain in the entertainment industry," says Devendra Mishra, a professor of logistics science at Pepperdine University and chairman of the annual Entertainment Supply Chain Academy (ESCA) conference. "The product may be in the store but on a different shelf. The product may be in the back room or the distribution center…. As a result, we have a high incidence of out-of-stocks…and certainly some unsatisfied customers."
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