Target Reportedly Will No Longer Sell Physical Media in Stores
By Movieguide® Contributor
The days of buying a physical video game or DVD in stores are coming to an end.
Target is following Best Buy’s example and plans to pull Blu-ray discs and video games from its shelves by 2025.
Per Collider, “This comes from the ‘President of Physical Media’ on X who claimed their ‘Target Sources’ have said that the big chain retailer will not be selling any more physical media within the next year.”
“This needs to be taken with a big grain of salt as we don’t know who these Target sources are at the moment,” Collider added. “We also don’t know what lengths Target will take, if any. If true, like Best Buy, they’ll stop selling physical media in-store and online. However, unlike Best Buy, Target’s physical media supply extends beyond movies and games. Target also sells books and vinyls. Both have taken over the movie section at most stores in recent years.”
However, a Target spokesperson told IGN that the retailer would be “transitioning the limited assortment of DVDs.”
“Based on our guests’ shopping patterns and broader industry trends, we’re transitioning the limited assortment of DVDs we carry in our stores to Target.com, where guests will continue to find thousands of titles,” the spokesperson continued. “Moving forward, we’ll offer select DVDs in stores when they are newly released or during key times throughout the year when they are more popular, like for gift giving during the holidays.”
However, is an all—or almost all—digital market a good idea?
The hunt will be harder for physical media collectors, and “physical media continues to show its importance, particularly as it gives consumers full control over the media they purchase,” IGN reported.
Movieguide® previously reported on the growing interest in physical media:
Vinyl records outsold CDs last year, marking the second time since 1987 that this has happened.
“Revenues from vinyl records grew 10% to $1.4 billion—the seventeenth consecutive year of growth—and accounted for 71% of physical format revenues,” a study from the Recording Industry Association of America found. “For the second time since 1987, vinyl albums outsold CDs in units (43 million vs 37 million), even as revenues from CDs also show growth, up 11% to $537 million in 2023.”
Vinyl isn’t the only old-school audio format making a comeback.
Billboard reported that “cassette album sales jumped 28% in 2022” and “mostly stayed steady in 2023, slipping just 0.75%.”
“In 2023, a total of 436,400 cassette albums were sold — a sliver less than the 439,700 sold in 2022,” Billboard continued.
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