Redbox CEO talks up DVD rental business, streaming competitors
by Darren Murph 
posted Jan 3rd 2009 at 7:20PM
Redbox -- the outfit that makes its ends by offering consumers $1 DVD / Blu-ray rentals in kiosk stations positioned at grocery stores, Walmarts and other retail outlets -- has let its CEO out of the corner office long enough to speak with VideoBusiness. With B&M rental outlets feeling the pain from by-mail / online alternatives, VB questioned whether Redbox's business model was viable. Gregg Kaplan noted that the model was indeed viable and profitable, harping on the fact that many families are redirecting out-of-home entertainment dollars to at-home entertainment. He's also publicly confident that the business will continue growing "at a brisk pace," and given that its market share currently sits at just 5% to 10%, it definitely has the room to grow. We have to say, Redbox has it pretty good. While many are too lazy to make a trip to the video store, it's actually convenient to grab a flick while you're out grabbing produce; hit the read link for the full interview.
Filed under: Misc, Blu-ray, Other formats
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
ryaninc @ Jan 3rd 2009 7:55PM
Our local Walmart has one of those Redbox machines right inside the door. I don't use it, but every time I go in, somebody is standing at the machine, so they're apparently drawing some customers. :-)
Bozster @ Jan 3rd 2009 9:12PM
The reason is $1 price! .. as long as they offer $1 price and sell at grocery stores they'll have some profit but to say they have a chance to grow beyond that is pretty narrow. But I wish them good luck in any case.
Tony @ Jan 3rd 2009 9:16PM
I wanna see BlockBuster Go out of Business!!
SoCoolCurt (PSN: KillaKornbread - XBL: SoCoolCurt) @ Jan 4th 2009 12:17AM
i love this service. new release movies for a $1. it's great for a college student like myself. when i make that usual trip to Wal-Mart for supplies i can pick up a movie for one measly dollar. and it's not like it's out of the way or anything, i go past the Wal-Mart every day and can afford to take the 20 seconds it takes to return the movie when im done. plus you can even reserve a movie online before you actually go to the store to be absolutely sure it will be there when you go look for it. its always a pretty busy place whenever i go past one (whether i get a movie or not).
i dont know how big the service can get but i hope it sticks around. the only downside i can see to the whole thing is the lack of space for a back catalog. there seems to only be new release movies in there, so what if i want to watch an old movie a friend told me about that i hadn't seen? other than that, the service is absolutely great.
TechoGeek @ Jan 4th 2009 1:03AM
so cheap, thats cool.
similar - Online DVD Rental - Blockbuster Vs Netflix
Bob @ Jan 4th 2009 3:28PM
I agree, Redbox is fantastic.
I like that you can check out your local redbox out online and reserve a DVD before you go to the store. Another nice feature is that they send out free DVD codes on Mondays, so you get a free rental once a week.
I do use Netflix too, but my queue is so large now that I can grab the latest hit on redbox without having to wait for it to work its way through my NetFlix queue.
myscion @ Jan 4th 2009 8:19PM
I have a Netflix 2-at-a-time, with a max of 4 per month. Redbox is an excellent compliment to that plan. If you want something new in a spur of the moment, you can just stop by the grocery store. Always something from netflix in the house, but if you feel like something else, you can get it easy.
Iridium @ Jan 5th 2009 5:51PM
I haven't seen a Redbox with Bluray yet. I keep wanting to try it out but just haven't done so.
If they charge $2 for a Bluray rental I'm there. I can't stnad Blockbuster charging a premium for Bluray.
Jessica @ Feb 26th 2009 1:19PM
Redbox is a great idea in theory...However, there machines have gliches in them and I had an experince where they claimed my return was never received in the box. They charged me over $50 for the two movies and claim that the charges are correct due to them sending out a technician to the machine and not being able to find my returned movies. They are willing to offer me a $10 credit per movie as a courtesy but I am out the rest of my money, I wll never rent from these machines again. I will be telling everyone I know to be weary and they should not rent from them. I have never had a problem beofre this, maybe rented about three times. I hope they can correct their problem or go out of business. They are awful at their customer service, they didn't call be back, I had to call them three times.