Amazon recently removed the pre-ordering option for several DVD releases of Walt Disney Co. over a pricing dispute. But competitor Wal-Mart wasted no time in promoting pre-orders for the same films shunned by Amazon.
“Muppets Most Wanted” that was released Aug. 12 became available on Walmart.com at a 50% discount on Aug. 15. Pre-orders for new releases of “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”, “Million Dollar Arm” and “Maleficent” are all available at Wal-Mart.
Wal-Mart told Bloomberg its pre-orders are up 90% for “Captainl America” and 40% higher on other titles in recent days.
Consumers shopping Amazon’s site for the pre-orders get the following message: Sign up to be notified when this item becomes available.
This dispute with Disney comes on the heels of Amazon’s distribution disagreement with book publisher Hachette that has been brewing since June. Amazon disallowed pre-orders for Hachette titles trying to get the publisher to accept lower pricing for e-books.