1 DAY RENTALS WITH A 7 DAY OPTION

[CHICAGOTOM]

 
Currently we have 1 day rentals and after 6 months they become 7 day rentals...I am considering offering a 7 day option for an $1.00 more than my 1 day rental price...I know some are doing something similar so my questions are:
 
1. Do you offer the 7 day option from day one?
2. How much do you charge those taking the 7 day option?
3. What percentage of your customer take the 7 day option?
 

[turns]

We offer  1 Day New Releases for 3 months, then they become 2 days New Releases for 6 months, then they become 7 day rentals. All are at the same price. With the 2 day and 7 day rentals we offer a Special, anyday rent any 2 and get 1 FREE. After 1 year, the 7 days rentals prices are reduced by $1.25 and we offer a special rent 7 for 7 days for $7.00 +tax.

[CHICAGOTOM]

Thanks Turns...maybe I should have been clearer in what I hope to accomplish...I think I might need to have an attractive 1 day rate to compete with RedBox and also an attractive 7 day rate to compete with Hollywood ...for example 1 day $2.50 or 7 days $3.50

[tiptoen]

I currently do 1 day for 2.50 the first week. After that the customer has the option of 1 day for 2.50 or 3 days for 3.50.

[falsedragon]

I'm doing $3 for 1 day, $3.50 for 2 days.. $5 a week, people can choose any number of days up to 7.  Most people just rent for 1 day but I do get a number of people on Friday who rent for 2 days so they can keep it til Monday (Sunday is considered a 'free' day)

All my prices are tax included, I hate dealing with huge amounts of small change =)

[thevideostrip]

They just installed a Redbox by me. Its at a Dominicks grocery store. $1.49  for the first day. 99cents each additional day. Mondays are 99cent rentals.

I'm not too worried. I've held my ground against Netflix, BBV, Hollywood Video, Movie Gallery and several indies all within a 1 1/2 mile radius. Almost all gone, I'm still standing! I offer tons of different specials.

Go to my website for ideas.  http://www.thevideostrip.com/specials

One way i fight them is showing i have better DVD versions. If there is a deluxe, special 2 disc or whatever they want to call it edition, out then i carry it no matter the extra cost. People come to me knowing they get the BEST! If it costs them a little extra, they are okay with it! AND I REMIND THEM...YOU ONLY GET IT HERE!!! Big Blue don't offer that!

Sure we lose some but we can never win over 100% of the customers. But we do need to stay competitve and offer specials that fit our clientel. My customers love the box sets. My 99 cent kid movies for 7 days. My crazy deals. I have even offered a coupon once for 6 DVD rentals for a penny just to attract attention once. I received MANY new customers with that one. Held onto some, lost others. Videos were returned so it wasn't a loss in the long run.

The biggest way i keep my customers is the box sets. TV shows or others. They like the idea of getting everything in one rental. With the new double or even triple feature box sets they feel they are getting a steal. Look at the Beverly Hills Cop Triple feature coming out this week. It costs us cheaper then a single new release. We can put it on the new release wall and after a few rentals show more money then the 3 dvds seperately that just have collected dust.

Redbox, BBV and Netflix rarely offer the double, triple features. Bring them in and see if they work. They have for me. Not to mention they take up less room.

AND REMIND YOUR CUSTOMERS....You dont get this service elsewhere.

[Thomas]

Thanks Turns...maybe I should have been clearer in what I hope to accomplish...I think I might need to have an attractive 1 day rate to compete with RedBox and also an attractive 7 day rate to compete with Hollywood and BlockBuster...for example 1 day $2.50 or 7 days $3.50

Tom,

Do you think that you'll be able to get the money you need off a title in the first 6 weeks offering a 7 day rental at all?  A RedBox customer who keeps a NR title for a week is paying $7.43.  With movies not exactly having long legs anymore, I'd think that maybe you could institute this on titles in the store 30 days or longer.

[Robot]

Don’t try to be like your competition.  Separate yourself from them with better customer service like movie reserves, (can’t do that with red box) and a friendly atmosphere.  If you’re a buck higher in your prices, big deal.  Most of your customers are going to visit you because of the way you run your store, not because they can save a dollar.   Remember,   people love to “browse”.  Hard to do that on a on a PC or at a machine.

[CHICAGOTOM]

Actually you CAN reserve movies on RedBox...

[turns]

Most of these DVD rental machines will allow you to reserve on-line from your computer. Also, you can view the trailers on-line and on the video box in their "store" location. And from you computer at home you can check to see if all movies are out and when they are due back.They also have staff available to assist you with selection and questions in general, if needed. As I understand it, they can provide as good or better service than most independents with very little space; reducing sq ft requirements from 2500-3000 to apprx 500-700. With the major saving in lease and related cost, fewer employees etc, etc they are able to offer a lower price. In my view,to compete with them you will have to offer the same rental terms, and then you will have to reduce your costs to do so, and then you will become a rental box "store".

[wannabevideostoreowner]

Maybe this isn't true everywhere else, but for me, there has ALWAYS been a place to get $1 rentals.

Certain independant stores have offered that in St. Louis where I'm originally from on certain nights, and Shop N Save grocery stores always offered it as far as I know. But Blockbuster and others always charged much more than $1/per night and people rent there.

So my theory is that it's more about convienence. Do you have the title in stock? Are you easy to get to? Easy to get out of quickly? Are there other reasons to go to you?

If people are going to McD's anyway, or where the rental machine is, they will probably get the DVD there unless it's out. Then they might come to you. If they are in your neighborhood, they will probably get the DVD from you. If they are searching for something in addition to the movie that you only provide (adult rentals, video games, etc), then they will probably come to you.

[wannabevideostoreowner]

As I understand it, they can provide as good or better service than most independents with very little space; reducing sq ft requirements from 2500-3000 to apprx 500-700.

All stores could. A lot of a video store is wasted space. All those shelves with the DVD's spaced out a lot and each and every separate case has to be displayed side by side.

This could all be done away with. The entire "New Release" section could fit in a storage drawer.

Maybe things like Redbox will send the focus back to catalog titles. It doesn't take a lot of money to acquire a back catalog and almost no one is doing it anymore.

I recently tried to find 4 older movies. The first two were for myself, and the second two were for a neighbor. "Seems Like Old Times", "Carrie" (the 70's version), "Set It Off", and "Ode To Billy Jo". I didn't think the video stores would have all 4 of them, but here's my surprise. I called around, and when I checked, it was a month ago, and there were 2 Blockbuster's, 1 Movie Gallery, and 1 mom-and-pop store within 20 miles of me. None of the 4 had ANY of those titles. At least two were pretty big movies at the time of their release. All 4 are "mainstream", non-B-list type titles.

My ONLY choices to get them are Netflix and Blockbuster Online, or buy them, or watch for them to appear someday on cable. I can remember in the 80's when independant video stores thrived, and it seemed to be easier to find a wider variety of things.

When people post statistics here that say new releases are 75% of the business, I almost wonder if catalog would account for more if video stores stocked better, and customers knew they could count on them to get things they wanted to see.

[Robot]

I guess I’m lucky.  We don’t have many of the machines in my area, but there is not much foot traffic.  (Where I think these machines have there niche)

[CHICAGOTOM]

McDonald's plans to eventually have RedBox in every one of their locations

[mcmarc]

McDonald's plans to eventually have RedBox in every one of their locations

I hope they don't stock THE FILMS OF KENNETH ANGER VOL 1 and RE-PENETRATOR!!!   


marc
orbit dvd