Netflix, Redbox, and Video Stores
Comparing Movie Rental Services
Home entertainment has come a long way since the arrival of VHS in the early 80’s. As surround sound and high definition TVs become more accessible, people are staying in for a night at the movies more often that they used to. As the recession forces belt tightening even more so, movie rentals are a hot commodity.
Seeing this, movie rental services are in a heated battle to take as much of the consumer’s money. While video stores, such as Blockbuster, have been the traditional choice for film finding, new services Netflix and Redbox are starting to overtake the market. But which service truly has the better deal? Below is a look at the main types of rental services, and how they rate in price, selection and convenience.
Rental Stores
Stores like Blockbuster and Hollywood Video were once the kings of movie rentals. As newer services have entered the market, they have seen a shrink in customer base, but have not been taken out of the game just yet.
- Price - This is the short fall of rental stores. While locally owned or smaller chain stores sell rentals for as low as $3, most will cost upwards of $6 for a new rental. This is also assuming the movie is brought back on time and no late fees are incurred. Late fee policy varies from store to store, but regardless of the specific policy, the fees will rack up quickly.
- Selection – Again, smaller stores will have a varying degree of what’s available, but the major chains (like Blockbuster) have a pretty standard assortment of titles. They focus on newer titles, but keep pretty good stock of films from the past decade or so, as well as classics and a few obscurities.
- Convenience – The convenience of video stores is two fold. On the one hand, they require customers to travel to the stores themselves. People do not always have time to drive up the local movie store, and bad weather (especially in winter) can serve as an extra deterrent. However, once there consumers can typically rent as many DVDs as they would like (or as many as their wallets will allow). This is particularly helpful for a movie marathon or theme night.
Netflix
When Netflix was introduced in 1997, it revolutionized the rental market. Since then, it has grown into a massive business and achieved it's 10 millionth subscriber earlier this year.
- Price - Netflix operates using a flat fee monthly subscription. Depending on the plan (the cheapest starts at $8.99 a month), subscribers can rent one, two or three titles at a time, and exchange them as often as they like. Since customers can keep a title for as long as they would like, there are no late fees.
- Selection - Netflix has quite an extensive selection of titles to choose from. They carry just about anything that has been released on DVD, including more obscure titles. The site makes it pretty easy to navigate through their titles to find whatever one may be looking for. This is arguably the strongest element of Netflix.
- Convenience - Since Netflix mails the DVDs to the customer's address, their is no need to travel outside the comfort of home, a plus during colder weather. However, it also means that customers have to wait for the movies they want to be delivered, which is most problematic with the $8.99-one-DVD-at-a-time plan. To combat this, however, Netflix has started included streaming movies on-demand online. The selection for these is not as extensive, but it satisfies instant gratification.
Redbox
A subsidiary of Coinstar, Redbox started in 2002 and is now the fifth largest DVD rental company in the US. Redbox uses kiosks located outside of stores and business which are self-serviced.
- Price - Redbox is strongest when it comes pricing. They charge $1 for a one night rental. There are no late fees per say, but it will charge you an extra $1 for each additional day you keep it out. It also bears mentioning that a credit card is required to rent from Redbox.
- Selection - Because only so many DVDs can fit into a kiosk, Redbox's selection is made up mostly of new releases. So if one is looking for older or more obscure titles, they are apt to have a hard time finding them through Redbox. In addition, selection could be hurt even more in the near future, if the studios have their way.
- Convenience - Like the video stores, customers will have to venture outside of the home to use Redbox. However, Redbox does let you reserve movies on their website, so that the trip doesn't end in them not having the movie you wanted. And since Redbox's tend to be located outside restaurants and grocery stores that many people make trips to anyway, it isn't terribly out of the way
The Future Of Movie Rentals
As technologies and markets change, companies are forced to act accordingly. Seeing Netflix's success, Blockbuster has recently started offering similar monthly flat-rate fees, as well on online on-demand streaming. Redbox has capitalized on simplicity. However you look at it, the way people rent movies is changing, and the rental industry is trying hard to keep up.
DVD rentals and rental services
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