Netflix, Inc.: MG 495 Business Policy

Netflix was founded in 1997 with the intent to revolutionize the way in which consumers watch movies and television shows. Their accomplishments both in innovation and in customer base for their service indicate that the firm has been, and continues to be, successful in doing so. Currently, the

Netflix is first provider of delivered DVDs by mail that became common way and convenience for customer. Netflix offers DVDs to customers with quick delivery, which is mostly within one day (Willy Shih, Stephen Kaufman & David Spinola, 2007). In addition, customers utilize good recommendation system provided by Netflix (Scoot Merrill, 2009). Besides, customers are able to be given good customer service support (Katie Hafner, 2009).

Netflix, Inc. is a U.S. based leading company that operates as an online movie rental subscription service provider who went public in 2002. Netflix initially started off as a DVD rental service through mail only, then later initiated streaming around 2007 in the U.S., and internationally around 2010. Netflix subscribers can instantaneously watch a series of movies and a variety of TV shows streamed from their website online to users TVs, and other devices. Netflix operates its business through domestic DVD, domestic streaming, and international streaming. Netflix subscribers typically pay $7.99 once per month for unlimited use of the website features. Netflix obtains their streaming’s from Amazon Web Services and other communication delivery networks for their streamed content and direct purchases from a nationwide network of U.S. shipping centers. Netflix Inc., headquarter is at Los Gatos, California. Two entrepreneurs Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph founded Netflix on August

1. Netflix’s original marketing strategy offered several flat-rate monthly subscription options; in which, members could stream movies and shows via the Internet or have disks sent to their homes in a pre-paid and pre-addressed envelope. Free from the despair of due dates and late fees, members could keep, up to, eight movies at a time. Upon the return of a disk, Netflix would automatically mail out the next movie from the customer’s video queue. Members were able to change and update their queues as frequently as they liked. The sheer innovation of Netflix’s strategy encouraged several competitors to enter the market to compete directly,

The year 2011 was considered the “Lost Year” for Netflix as about 1 million of their subscribers dropped their service. Why did this drastic loss of subscribed customers occur and what wrong move did Netflix make to attract such a decrease in subscribers? According to Thompson (2012, p. 127), in June of 2011 Netflix announced a new price plan that caused a 60 percent raise in the the monthly subscription fee for customers who were paying $9.99 per month for access to an unlimited amount of movies and TV shows streamed over the internet and secondly, receiving a limitless number of DVDs every month (by mail one title at a time). Netflix also tried providing its online streaming process through

By getting the word out through major portals, Yahoo, MSN, and AOL, and through its relationship with BestBuy, consumers were deluged with information about the Netflix service. The company offered free trials addressed the skeptics of a radically new service, and resulted in high conversion rates to continuing customers. The recurring transaction model helped consumers adopt the discipline of selecting films each week but without pressure. Furthermore, this process allowed consumers to order movies through a centralized and regional warehouse mechanism created efficiencies similar to what Amazon developed. Mail order catalog systems would be difficult for movies, but using the Internet let people both order and pay online(Carmia, 2002).

First formed in 1991, Netflix has become today’s predominant video rental service. They offer a hybrid service allowing DVD delivery by mail as well as streaming movies and TV shows via their company website or access on 200 other devices. Their unique business process has netted them over 16 million subscribers and revenue around $500 million annually. The reason for their growing success can be attributed to a good business model and just as important, properly implemented systems. An extremely efficient supply chain management system (SCM) and customer relationship management system (CRM) have helped Netflix become the world’s largest video subscription service.

Instead of various local chain stores, Netflix operated from a single virtual store that offered customers new rental features. The web services platform utilized customization and a user-friendly design to facilitate renting movies. “CineMatch,” a proprietary developed application, tailored the virtual store to each subscriber. This technology produced customized rental suggestions for customers while maximizing potential inventory. “CineMatch” incorporated a subscriber rating system of past rentals to generate more efficient and personalized future recommendations. The web-based services also improved selection through the ability to easily browse Netflix’s large inventory catalog and add selections to a personalized “Queue,” which lists movies customers have scheduled to receive. Instead of being forced to navigate through the traditional genre and alphabetized catalog, Netflix offered an easier movie selection process. Besides the selection efficiencies, members have the ability to share ratings, reviews, and movie selections with each other through the “Community” feature.

The video rental industry began with brick and mortar store that rented VSH tape. Enhanced internet commerce and the advent of the DVD provided a opportunity for a new avenue for securing movie rentals. In 1998 Netflix headquartered in Los Gatos California began operations as a regional online movie rental company. While the firm demonstrated that a market for online rentals existed, it was not financially successfully. Netflix lost over $11 million in 1998 and as a result significantly changed the business model in 2000. The new strategy included focusing on becoming a nationally based subscription model and focusing on enhancing the subscribers experience on their website. The change in

Netflix, the online subscription-based DVD rental service aimed to better satisfy customer in a way competitors didn’t, customized and personalized service with unlimited monthly rentals from a great variety of film offerings. Now they want to leverage their strengths to enter into the Video on Demand market

Netflix, Inc. is the world’s largest subscription service company that caters to more than 53 million subscribers in more than 40 countries including North and South America, United Kingdom, many locations in Europe and the Caribbean. The company was established in 1997 by Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings, the Netflix subscription service commenced in 1999 and by 2009 was offering a collection of 100,000 titles on DVD to over 10 million subscribers. It offers an online flat rate, DVD and Blu-ray disk rental-by-mail, and video streaming. Netflix is unique because they do not charge late fees or have due dates for their products. Also, Netflix based on your media selections predicts preferences and recommendations for future rentals.

The online movie rental business is changing. As technology changes, DVD’s will not be the medium of choice. The shift will be downloadable movies. Most people enjoy the ability to watch a movie immediately, thus another of Netflix’s

Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings founded Netflix in 1997 in California. It is said that the idea came to Hastings after having to pay $40 in overdue fines for returning Apollo 13 to late. Netflix was originally a website (launched on August 29, 1997) that rented DVDs through rental posting and a traditional pay-per-rental model. In the early 2000, Netflix dropped this model and

Netflix is recovering from one of the worst self-inflicted corporate marketing gaffes in years. After years of offering an excellent value to customers purchasing its unlimited single DVD and streaming services for only $9.99 a month, Netflix unexpectedly announced that it would be completely separating its DVD service from its streaming service, causing a price increasing of 60% to $15.98 for customers who wanted to keep both services. Overnight, Netflix angered many of its very loyal customers and lost over 800,000 of its 24.6 million members due to the debacle [1]. Adding fuel to the fire, Netflix decided to actually create separate brands and separate websites for the two services, keeping the Netflix name for its streaming services

Netflix, an addictive media streaming concept born in August of 1997, has revolutionized the way in which we view films and television series. The appealing and amusing service wholly encompasses a wide range of aspects such as its own plethora of original series, video-on-demand titles, rentable DVDs, and even offers its users the ability to watch and live stream content from anywhere they please. Starting at merely $7.99 a month, the streaming service is affordable, accessible, and an overall satisfactory form of entertainment that has expanded worldwide and is continuing to reach a vast majority, all while impacting society is a multitude of negative and positive ways.