People who know me personally or follow me on twitter much would know how much a fan I am of the REDBOX. Although I understand the industry controversy over cheap distribution as much as I did the locked iTunes Store pricing… it is here to stay! Consumers have caught on to it strongly and frankly, they demand it. Any studios unwilling to work with the company are just getting left in the dust, losing money, and fighting against the inevitable. As a consumer, if I don't see your video at the Redbox… I'm not going to rent it anywhere. It's not a matter of hunting it down at a local Hollywood video store and the studio still winning my money and proving any points to RedBox, I just simply won't rent it. It's out of my way and not how I plan on renting. I'll wait until its cheap enough to purchase at the store, download, etc.
A little off topic but I'd also like to add that any independent film makers not rushing to a RedBox distributer to attempt to make some sort of distribution deal is simply not a smart one in my opinion. That is the absolute first step I'd take to get my film seen at a National level.
Back on topic, the ease of use that RedBox has created for consumers is above all the main reason its been so widely adopted. It's not necessarily about the cheap $1 rental but about being so quick, easy, available at grocery stores, no contracts, you name it. There are so many wonderful qualities of the RedBox. Not to mention being able to hunt a film down in advance and see which store that host the RedBox and movie of your choosing. Then being able to reserve that flick online with a couple clicks or on your iPhone app just makes things even easier!
So, we have an amazing product with a GIANT user-base. So much in fact that every-time I go to the grocery store at about 5pm, I have to cross through the congested dvd rental line just to exit the store with my groceries. The RedBox is that busy and they have 2 of them side by side! So, RedBox is great… can't get much better aside from selection. So what's the point of this blog post other then fanboyism over a revamped Coke machine? MARKETING! And not on the RedBox side…
Convenience store marketing 101 would teach you to put your most popular products towards the back of the store or position in such a way that a customer would need to walk past a series of popular impulse buying products. Now, I wouldn't say to put a RedBox machine all the way in the back of your store making it inconvenient for those in a hurry to rent or return a dvd as that could lose your stores battle to other local stores with the easy RedBox rentals. However, the grocery stores are positioning these machines right beside the entry door to the store surrounded by Rug Doctor rentals and change-to-cash machines. How many people are renting a Rug Doctor or doing change-to-cash on IMPULSE??? None! There is no sense in wasting the space surrounding the machine with such products. The RedBox is a destination AND a impulse experience meaning that people are traveling to the store ONLY for that purpose or renting off impulse when they see it. Grocery stores are loosing serious money off of all these people traveling to this destination product. Not only that but they make it a turn-off to impulse buy due to the fact that it's at the front of the store and if your in a hurry returning or renting a dvd then you don't want to grab a candy-bar on your way past because you know that you will have to walk all the way around to the checkout counters just to buy 1 silly candy-bar and thats not worth it. Grocery stores need to re-arrange their layouts to make these distribution boxes within a quick walking distance to the doors… but also ON THE WAY to the checkout counter and having their best impulse products displayed along the way.
As it stands right now, the grocery store loses my money as a consumer daily because they position that machine right beside the door and I run in and out of their in a hurry. Great! I'm happy with that and I'm sure RedBox is thrilled with this as well because it makes their product easier and faster to get too. But why is the grocery store so willing to only make a few cents off each rental when they could convince me to drop a few bucks on the way to that machine? With a dying economy like the one we live in now I'd expect a grocery store that is housing local jobs (and laying off a bunch) to be smarter then this. They have a golden product that is so incredibly versatile that it gives them a huge opportunity to impulse purchases. The increased sales from repositioning a few items could easily help budget in another 1-2 local jobs based off the profits alone! But they don't. Their corporate marketing specialists don't see to have a clue in how to treat their most popular product. What a waste…
Comments always welcomed. As long as they agree with mine : p
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