Redbox Vs Netflix

There are basically six technology-driven threats to the traditional rental model: (1) Cable companies offering Video on Demand (VOD), (2) online movie downloads, (3) online movie rentals, (4) disposable DVDs, (5) illegal movie downloads and DVD copying, and (6) Digital (or Personal) video recorders (DVR). (Jackson) One could also consider traditional pay-per-view (PPV) as and additional substitute. Only one of these seven, online movie rentals has proven to be a major competitive substitute for traditional movie rentals. All other areas, except traditional pay-per-view are expanding rapidly, but some face significant challenges.

The movie rental industry is a living industry; there are constant changes with advances in technology, rights management, and the slow, but steady, move away from physical Media. Companies such as Netflix, Hulu, RedBox, and Blockbuster are being forced to look at new business models and try to keep up with these changes.

Blockbuster implemented a new strategy for customers to access their rentals in “five channels of distribution: in-store, by mail, through vending machines and kiosks, online, and at home (direct to the TV)” (DATAMONITOR, 2009). However, this strategy was a reactive approach to the problem produced ten years behind schedule. Wooldridge et al., (2007) stated that Blockbuster should select and adapt their strategy to respond to the fast changing market and maintain a competitive position. This was an obvious failure for Blockbuster. The changes in the market produced a decline in profit at a faster pace than the strategies that Blockbuster implemented to combat these losses.

Redbox also has segmented the market by behavioral Segmentation; it has placed its kiosk at location as they are frequently visited by the common mass. It has not placed its kiosks at museums or exhibition, as not many people go there on a regular basis.

Blockbuster used to have so much power in the movie rental industry until Redbox and Netflix have come to the market. One of Porter’s five forces

Blockbuster Entertainment, Inc. was once a highly successful and profitable brick and mortar home movie and video game rental store. At its peak in 2004, Blockbuster had up to 60,000 employees and more than 9,000 stores. The idea behind Netflix came from an unsatisfied, embarrassed customer of Blockbuster, Mr. Reed Hastings, now CEO of Netflix, paid a $40 late fee because he returned the movie Apollo 13 six weeks later (Zarafshar, 2013). He began to contemplate ingeniously about a notion to change the movie-leasing pattern into a more pioneering industry. In 1997 Netflix was started as a DVD rental-by-mail business without subscriptions. In 1999, taking a stride additional in the direction of evolving the industry, Hastings began the subscription-based business mode based on renting DVDs by mail with plans reliant on the quantity of titles taken at a time. Netflix put forward 120,000 titles for limitless monthly DVD rental with free shipping no late and per title fees. Since that time Netflix has become one of the most popular subscription services in the world, and is now valued at over $28 billion and steadily increasing. What factors contributed to the success and failure of these two companies?

Redbox’s competitive advantage is the fact that they have surpassed companies in revenue as well as in their advantage in number of rental locations for customer availability. Most of all their competitive advantage is the fact that they have an alternative which other movie rentals do not; kiosks are placed in McDonald’s fast foods, grocery stores, and discount stores. Customers can purchase or rent online and pick up at any kiosk. They have a physical presence greater than 17,000 locations through their retail partners. Their locations continue to grow.

Redbox is in the movie rental business via self service kiosks. Redbox is wholly owned subsidiary of Coinstar Inc.

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 most remarkable characteristic of the marketing strategy of REDBOX is how minimal their marketing efforts have been, yet they’ve risen to a leader in the DVD rental industry. “Redbox combines the easy and usability of Netflix with the “watch it tonight” concept of Blockbuster” (Boris, 2010).

Redbox is typically low in overhead due to the use of kiosks to deliver their product to the consumer. The challenge lies in being able to infiltrate a new market such as the digital subscriber world of Netflix and Hulu and being able to market in a way that would appeal to the masses to draw in subscribers. In addition, increasing cost of partnerships with movie studios and the reliance of distribution agreements with distribution companies can have a significant impact on Redbox. Therefore, the unfamiliarity of this market space poses the challenge of not being able to predict future cost. Adding on to some of the turmoil that may arise is the copyright infringement that may occur. Although systems have been

Redbox is a DVD/Blu-Ray rental company which utilizes kiosk machines placed in convenient, high-traffic locations. The first Redbox kiosk was opened by McDonald’s in 2002. Redbox was later purchased by Coinstar, Inc., and over the years, Redbox has rented over one billion movies and has grown to more than 27,000 locations in restaurants, grocery stores, pharmacies and convenience stores nationwide. Redbox proves to be a very unique way to rent DVD’s and by the nature of Redbox’s rental process, most businesses would benefit from the increased traffic generated by having a kiosk machine at their location. This type of relationship proves to be a win-win situation for both Redbox and the businesses which

Redbox is an easy way to rent and watch DVDs, Blu-Ray Discs and Video Games via automated kiosk or electronic device based streaming video. Kiosks are located at select fast food restaurants, grocery stores and convenience stores. Each Redbox kiosk holds approximately 630 DVDs/Blu-ray Discs/Video Games. DVDs rent for $1.20 per day, Blu-ray discs at $1.50 per day

Redbox is a leading provider of movie and game rentals in the Nation. Redbox offers self-service DVD rentals through over 22,400 kiosks throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, and the United Kingdom. (McGraw 20) In 2004 Redbox began spreading automated vending machine kiosks containing by and large new release movie DVD’s in high traffic shopping locations. Its products and operations include Kiosk DVD rental, online disc rental reservation, no late fee, recently released movies, and video game rental. (Hoovers) In February 2009, Coinstar Inc., who is also a leading provider of money transfer services and self-service

The competitive forces in the movie rental industry are quite strong, as I will explain through the five forces model. There are a vast amount of substitutes for watching a movie. You can go to a play, sporting event, concert, out the lake/beach, go for a run, watch regular television, go shopping; I could go on and on. Also, torrenting or pirating movies is growing increasingly popular. Buyers have a strong presence in this industry mainly because they are picky about how much they will pay to rent or stream a movie. With the amount of substitutes and their pickiness, they make this