It’s fairly standard practice today for movies to become available for sale on one day, and only become available for rent after several more weeks have passed. For four or so weeks, the only way fans can see the movie is to buy it. For obvious reasons, this 28-day test in delayed gratification succeeds in its mission, which is to help sell more movies. Not long ago, observers predicted that movie viewers would soon have to wait even longer to rent from Netflix, Redbox, Blockbuster, and other services, and it looks like these predictions are already coming true.
Starting on Monday, October 31, Redbox is raising its DVD rental prices from $1 to $1.20 per day. While a 20% increase is significant, we’re only talking about a price hike of a mere two dimes daily. Still, wouldn’t you rather keep that 20¢?
Increasingly, consumers just aren’t buying movies. Frustrated with the sales slowdown, movie studios are eager to find new ways of getting more money out of consumers.
Blockbuster has closed thousands of stores. It has offered DVDs by mail and free DVDs from new Redbox-style kiosks. Even so, it just can’t seem to cope with rental competitors Netflix and Redbox.
Faced by a challenge from $1 DVD rental kiosk operator Redbox, movie-rental giant Blockbuster has introduced its own line of $1 DVD Blockbuster Express kiosks. Sign up for a Blockbuster Express e-newsletter to receive a free rental.
Besides the diamond industry, who says romance has to cost a bundle? A cheap date can be a great date.
It’s not all gloom and doom. Businesses are struggling, the housing market may have crashed, and jobs may have disappeared en masse, but today’s consumer is in the driver’s seat. And perhaps as in any crisis, people are being reminded about what’s really important in life.
Redbox, the $1 per day DVD rental kiosk business, is a runaway success. It’s perhaps experiencing even more of a recession boom than mail-DVD-rental service Netflix. Redbox kiosks will soon be opened in supermarkets like Albertson’s and Kroger, bringing its total number of vending machines to 22,000 nationwide, up 61 percent from last year. All [...]
Redbox is cheap and fast. Netflix has an enormous selection and great customer service. Blockbuster gives customers the most options. So which is the best value? The answer is: None of the above.
The bartering site Swaptree was conceived on the idea that you shouldn’t have to buy a new bestseller when you have last month’s sitting on your bookshelf.
