video rental and retail

tip: digital product reviews

By now, the death of the traditional video store seems inevitable. But, while many point to online movie downloads or through-the-mail rental services as the clear successor, a new way to rent DVDs - one that mixes the old method with innovative technology - may be giving people another option.

Last month, redbox™ announced the expansion of their DVD-rental vending machines into the majority of Wal-Mart stores. While the devices already sit in nearly 800 Wal-Marts, the new deal will put redbox machines in another 2,700 stores. No doubt, the Wal-Mart agreement comes in response to the rising popularity of the system that offers people a convenient way to rent DVDs for only $1 a night. The addition of machines at the mighty Wal-Mart chain signals redbox's emergence as a major player in the DVD-rental field.

DVDs are sold as bundles containing different titles. Action, comedy, drama, family, horror, kids, martial arts, and western are some of the popular DVD genres. They are sold as pre-boxed bundles or customized according to orders. Often DVDs contain extra content not available to viewers in the movie theatres. These include interviews with the stars, behind the scenes action from the movie sets and scenes which have been deleted from the movie. These extras are an added attraction for DVD consumers.

The major revenue accruing to wholesale DVD distributors is through the sale of video products to retail shops and video rentals. There has been considerable growth in the mail order rental via the Internet in the US. Netflix, which is one of the largest online rental companies, has more than two million customers. The company expects to have about five percent share of the entire US market in 2006. It ships about three million DVDs each week.

DVD retailers enjoy a good margin and an increasing number of people are taking to purchasing DVDs in bulk from a wholesaler and selling them on auction sites such as EBay and online stores. Several DVD distributors offer drop shipping and mail the DVDs directly to the end consumer on the retailer’s behalf.