DVD Empire just informed us that the company has launched a major initiative to bring everyday low prices to the online DVD customer. The move flies in the face of recent, quixotic, high profile stunts in which certain DVD retailers have sold individual titles at a steep loss in order to generate publicity.

With “Everyday Low Prices” DVD Empire will offer a discount of 30 percent on titles from almost every major movie studio. That means that a DVD such as “Starship Troopers,” bearing a list price of $29.98, will now be sold for $20.95. The 30% discount will apply to the output of all major studios except Buena Vista, whose titles will be priced at 27% off list.

“The DVD industry have been treating the customer in the way the credit card issuers treat their prospects–with individual titles priced below cost like teaser credit card rates,” Rix said. “Often, the titles sell out in a matter of hours and customers have to wait weeks for their order to be filled. It’s time to show the customer respect. DVD Empire will sell all titles all the time at the lowest price we can while still providing the same service, including overnight delivery of more than 3,200 titles, the industry’s largest inventory, from our own warehouse.”

Indeed, the industry’s growth means that DVD Empire is outgrowing its warehouse and is now seeking to double its floorspace in the suburbs of Pittsburgh. Unlike many competitors, DVD Empire does not use outside fulfillment houses to ship orders, but ships all orders itself. In addition, DVD Empire is unique in offering its customers a DVD buyback program through which people may sell serviceable, used DVDs to DVD Empire for cash. DVD Empire also offers customers the industry’s largest library of professionally written, online reviews of DVD titles. Unique to the market, DVD Empire reviews are offered as a customer service and are not promotional in nature. “If a critic pans a title, the pan goes online with all the other reviews,” said Rix.