Walmart Bows Expanded Disc-to-Digital Service for UltraViolet

LAS VEGAS -- With Ultra HD the hot TV topic of 2013, “it might be a little bit too early for us,” Kevin O'Connor, general merchandise manager for electronics at Walmart, told Consumer Electronics Daily at CES. But he left open the possibility that the technology could reach virtual shelves at Walmart.com and at Sam’s Club stores this year.

When asked if consumers could buy an Ultra HD TV at Walmart in 2013, O'Connor said the retailer hadn’t finalized all of its TV product plans for the year, but he cited the company’s e-commerce site and Sam’s Club and said, “We have a lot of different divisions that we can test new technologies in first.” For Walmart stores, he said, “it’s nice to see technologies coming the next few years that are going to keep the category exciting."

Walmart upped the TV screen sizes at its stores in April 2012 and stores “right now” carry up to an 80-inch model from Sharp, O'Connor said. Sales have gone “well,” he said, emphasizing that the addition of the 80-inch model has raised visibility of larger screen sizes in general and offers a reference point for comparison to other screen sizes. “Customers can come in and look at a Sharp 80-inch TV and look at the value they can get for 80 inches and then look at a 60-inch or a 55-inch and make the determination of what’s the right value for them,” he said.

At this year’s CES, a focus for Walmart is the connected home with tablets, smartphones, Ultrabooks and convertibles, O'Connor said. Walmart has just started to put together a connected home section in stores centered around a router with other devices such as streaming boxes, Blu-ray players and home automation products as add-ons. In home automation, Walmart has doubled the space devoted to connected home technology by 12-24 feet depending on location, he said. Customer response has been “good,” and Walmart plans to “continue to explore different ways of showing customers how they can connect devices in the home,” he said. On how the chain is demonstrating its connected home products, O'Connor said Walmart is testing a couple of different models. In one group of stores, there’s an on-screen demo, and in another, there’s signage, he said. Both approaches trumpet an online section where consumers can go to learn more “in-depth” information, he said.

Walmart announced at CES it has expanded its disc-to-digital service, enabling UltraViolet users to download disc-to-digital content to Android and iOS devices. Since last summer, when the disc-to-digital service was launched, consumers had to go into stores to have their DVDs and Blu-ray discs converted to cloud-based content at a cost of $2 for SD and $5 for HD content. Now, consumers can download Vudu to Go onto a computer, and the software authorizes that the disc is valid and then enables a digital copy of the movie to be stored in a customer’s UltraViolet account, a spokeswoman said. “It gives you the digital rights and access to that copy,” she said.

The timing of the disc-to-digital from home service comes at a time when many of the latest PCs don’t come standard with DVD or Blu-ray disc drives. O'Connor said Walmart doesn’t see a lot of customers watching movies on PCs. “Where they're accessing the content is cloud-based and cloud-driven,” he said. “We're not seeing the lack of a drive being a barrier to accessing content,” he said, adding, “We're more about giving the customer the convenience to watch it on any device they own and anywhere when they want to watch.” Customers who don’t have a drive on a PC will have to go into Walmart stores to have DVD and Blu-ray discs converted to a digital version for the same $2 or $5 fee, he said.

Walmart was the launch partner for Vizio PCs when the TV maker broadened its offerings early last summer. Consumers “responded well” to Vizio PCs, O'Connor said, saying “Vizio has continued to evaluate the PC business” to determine “how they want to come to market with that product.” Walmart is “following whatever Vizio’s lead is going to be,” he said. Vizio has shown a broader array of PCs and tablets “and we'll continue to work with them and look at the different product assortments they have and choose the ones that are relevant for our customers,” he said. He said Walmart is excited about new PC technologies coming out in general, including Ultrabooks, touch-based products and all-in-ones.

On whether Walmart is planning additional launch partnerships as it did with Vizio, O'Connor said the retailer will continue to evaluate what is best for customers. “I don’t know that we have any major plans for any new launches or announcements.” He said Walmart has seen “great adoption” with large-screen TVs and tablets, including higher-priced tablets. Some of the best-selling iPads at Walmart are the $829 model, he said.

Walmart also announced this week its latest maneuver to lure customers into stores versus online shopping, with its no-contract unlimited voice, data and text deal for the iPhone 4 and 5 smartphones. The offer is currently available in-store only and exclusively for the base models of both phones, but that will expand to higher-storage models in the future, a Walmart spokeswoman said. The offer is good in 2,000 of Walmart’s 3,500-plus stores. Stores were selected based on “consumer need” and where Walmart currently sells Apple products, the spokeswoman said. The deal, offered through the nationwide carrier Straight Talk Wireless, has a monthly fee of $45, and consumers pay a no-interest rate of $25 for the hardware when purchased with a Walmart credit card. Phones will arrive in stores on Friday, Walmart said. Walmart currently sells a range of iPhones, but this is the chain’s first no-contract offer, the spokeswoman said. Phone prices are $649 for the 16 GB iPhone 5 and $449 for the 8 GB iPhone 4. At Apple.com, the 16 GB iPhone 5 sells for $199 with two-year contract and $649 contract-free. The iPhone 4 at Apple.com is free with two-year contract or $450, unlocked and contract-free.