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Ask Slashdot: How To Make a DVD-Rental Store More Relevant?
smi.james.th writes "Here on Slashdot, the concept that older models of business need to be updated to keep with the times is often mentioned. A friend of mine owns a DVD rental store, and he often listens to potential customers walk out, saying that they'd rather download the movie, and not because his prices are unreasonable. With the local telco on a project to boost internet speeds, my friend feels as though the end is near for his livelihood. So, Slashdotters, I put it to you: What can a DVD store owner do to make his store more relevant? What services would you pay for at a DVD store?"
My friend manufacturers and sells horse whips. With this trend towards horseless carriages he doesn't seem to sell as many as he used to. Does anybody have any ideas on how he can increase his business?
Time to find a new business. He's a buggy whip salesman in the era of automobiles.
Nice, shiny coasters.
Sent from my ENIAC
or sell the shop :)
I don't remember titles that well. One of the things I like about Netflix is to know if I have viewed a title previously and if I liked it. See http://movielens.umn.edu/html/tour/index.html for an idea of what your friend should be doing.
The only possible way to survive is to develop a niche. Streaming services are usually pretty good for recent movies, but a lot of back catalogue stuff is hard to find. Specialize in the stuff that's out of print, rare, etc. But really, I'm hard-pressed to see how that business model would be sustainable as a primary income source in most communities. There simply isn't enough demand for the content, especially given the huge amount of material available through Netflix's mail catalogue.
People often change their minds, and are inspired to see other films when browsing. Having said that, The biggest advantage the online destinations have vs a brick and motar physical store is volume, and you can't compete with that.
The latest movies - sure you can get that. I think the real question for financial success is to offer a "flavor" or style, that isn't generated by an endless catalog, because you just have to get the people who are there, rent what you have, and be happy about it. They have to see what you have, and think "Hey that looks cool/good! I want to watch that." Even if it's an older movie.
I think people who are leaving a store don't know what they want, and can't make up their minds, or aren't inspired by anything they've seen. I think what you're aiming for is a niche destination. It can never compete on a sheer volume of scale with Netflix, or other services, but it will need to offer something that captures, and rewards a certain group of people. Somewhat like Starbucks vs the local coffee shop.
..........FULL STOP.
Offer free DVD re-winding for the returned movies.
Obviously you are totally unaware that there are legal and reliable sites that make movies available online. Let's start with Netflix and Amazon, two services you apparently don't know about.
I want a new quote. One that won't spill. One that don't cost too much. Or come in a pill.
You do realize that legally downloading movies is an option, right? iTunes, Amazon Prime, Netflix...
- W. Blaine Dowler
http://www.bureau42.com
All the video rental shops are closed, taking the video game rentals with them. I miss being able to rent a game instead of outright buying it. May not be a big enough market though.
Buying and reselling used games that don't cost as much as their brand new counterparts is something that people are sorely in need of. Maybe credits for game rentals with a trade-in instead of cash?
Even if you don't charge much less, charging $20-25 for a used game opposed to the $40-50 EB and Gamestop charge might drive some business away from them and towards your friend.
Compute how much these new internet business models actually cost you in the long term. Send them a bill for potential losses.
MPAA and RIAA do it all the time!
If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
There is pretty well nothing you can do save radically change your business model. Get some rooms set up with very nice projectors, seating, sound systems, etc and let people rent them to have a private screening of some movie, for example (remember to have concessions). That, or find some other way to capitalize on your library of DVDs to make money. Make copies of DVDs for people who can show that they owned said DVD, maybe.
Well, people who come to a DVD shop presumably want to rent DVDs...which means that perhaps they're not comfortable with the latest tech, even if - as you quote - many say they would rather download the film. My experience with DVD shops has been that they are pretty miserable places, which make most of their profit from overdue fees.
Make a comfy place with 'cult' DVDs to hire, plus give advice on ways to upgrade your home cinema. Sell overpriced coffee.
Come up with creative-funny gift ideas (Christopher Walkin Box set, Chuck Norris Box set),Sell retro computer games(similar shelving), Lend the book that goes with the movie, gather other good info with the movie, Have amazing memorabilia that will attract people into the store (celebrity death masks aren't always expensive), Like an art space, do other things to attract people there: small indie-video screenings, movie discussions, director talks. Put on a local TV show discussing movies coming out on DVD.
Personally, I find renting a DVD a pain in the ass. If I have a movie in mind that I want to watch, it's not there, or already rented out. Then I have to go search for another movie to watch. When I find a movie to rent, I either watch it right away, or decide to watch it later and "buffer" it on my PC. Now I have to go back to the movie store to return it, another hassle. To be honest, it's so much easier to go watch a movie on iTunes or other online services.
What would be awesome is USB stick rentals. I bring a my own USB stick, and get a copy of the DVD on my USB stick for a rental fee. I wouldn't mind if there was some time limited DRM on it because it would be like a rental. This eliminates the supply problem and the return problem. But this is essentially what a streaming service provides, so it would really only be popular with people with bad Internet connections. Also, I doubt the MPAA would be happy with this.
What is annoying is to rent a turkey movie DVD. So, open imdb.com and get only movies with a rating of 7+.
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
He should expand into seedboxes
...your buddy needs to get out of the buggy whip business. 5 years ago. He might have been able to sell to some sucker named Randy back then.
Music stores, book stores, and movie rental stores: No longer viable businesses.
Anything that can be transmitted electronically has no place in a physical storefront. The sooner your friend accepts reality, the sooner he can transition to services or physical goods.
DVDs' primary advantages are from how obnoxious advertising becomes online for online movies and how content control interferes with maintaining and replaying copies around a house. DVD prices need to be lower to move faster in volume, closer to current rental prices where people buy armloads at a time. Home archives without DVD may become a problem because of "IP" controls.
Plus most countries except the US have legalized downloading media for personal use - they pay extra taxes on certain products to fund the equivalents of the *AA in their countries to offset the economic cost of downloading thus making it legal to copy media for home use.
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A Nightmare on Facetime
Unfortunately, you can't (legally) watch it yet.
Unfortunately, unless he's in a rural area, he's pretty much screwed. He can try to follow the model Family Video uses, since they all seem to be successful around here for some reason, but other than that either get out or get screwed.
In Soviet Russia, Trojan exploits YOU!
I remember trying DVD rentals when these shiny new DVD thingies came out.
Trouble was, 1/3 of the movies I rented were ruined due to the discs being scratched to death.
In my experience VHS tape survives typical renter mistreatment a lot better than optical discs.
Not to mention all the unskippable shit. I presume there are now DVD players that ignore the 'do not skip' flag. Ugh.
DVD rental stores drove me away long ago.
Maybe your friend should try renting movies on VHS, and don't forget betamax!
DVDs are cheap and plentiful, whereas new release movies on betamax are hard to come by.
Supply and demand, you see. Now all you need to do is convince people that watching movies stored on magnetic tape is really the only way to truly enjoy them.
Magnetic tape? What am I thinking!? Your friend should rent out the latest release movies on spools of film.
You also get to rent out the projectors, screens, piano-players, etc, that you need, remembering that all of this is a loss-leader to sell organic popcorn.
Install some booths and buy a hole saw.
Not this again.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
If your friend is running a successful business, then he's got a particularly useful and uncommon skill.
Some 80% of all first businesses fail, but only 20% of second businesses fail. That's because after the first business, you learn from your mistakes. Your friend has the skills and experience needed to start a new business - and that's what he should do.
So, what's trending on the map right now? What brick-and-mortar establishments are on the rise?
How about setting up a hackerspace? These seem to be popping up everywhere, and unlike McDonalds, there's still room for more.
While running the 'space, keep an eye out for things that might be products. With a hackerspace available it's easy to "test the waters" for a new tech product: you have access to people with skills for design, construction, [website] sales, and so on.
What they don't have is someone who can steer the ship, someone who has experience in things like incorporating, taxes, management, planning, accounting, and so on.
Consider starting a hackerspace. I hear that they can be successful and lots of fun.
I actually might be qualified to answer this since my business partner and I are in this very scenario and we have already made adjustments that have had a real positive impact.
My partner's dvd rental store has been in business and at the same location for over 16 years. During that time, Blockbuster gave it a run for TEN years directly across the street, but closed down 2 years ago. He began supplementing the business by becoming a wireless dealer and bill payment station. Here in Houston, multipurpose shops are EVERYWHERE and are VITAL in small, mostly Hispanic communities, so in order to compete, your store must offer all or at least some of the following: Phone service, phone cards (for international calling), bill payment such as local utilities and cable, Western Union, MoneyGram, money orders, copies, fax service, etc...
We recently began offering computer repairs and upgrades in addition to the cell phone repairs and he has quite a bit of retail space dedicated to not only popcorn, candy and soda, but even chips, sweets, fortune cookies, designer fragrances, and tons of accessories.
This may seem crazy to a lot of readers here, and it's certainly a lot to juggle for a store owner, but the truth is, he has been a staple in the community for so long that our customers keep finding reasons to come in. Sure, they still rent dvds, but they really come for the multitude oi other helpful services we offer.
I live in china and here there are about a dozen movie/tv-show libraries online free of charge here, quality is generally good (especially pptv) when streaming dvd quality content. The selection is less so though, while there are new content most is old and obscure (lot's of B-rated movies). For that reason I prefer to visit my local movie-shop, where I'll be presented with a huge library of movies. Most are pirated and price is about 1$ for a copy. For that price, given a choice between clicking on a torrent-link and waiting an unknown amount of time, versus, going to the shop, I always go to the shop. But, if the movie is available through a stream online, I'll pick that since it starts as soon as I click it...
However, the shop still has an upper hand and that's the selection they can keep, since I'm a frequent movie watcher, the shop owner (who also happens to be the general agent for distribution of media in my city) knows me and trusts me enough to view his warehouse where he keeps titles that has not sold well and things that has not even been released yet, I'll usually find movies before they hit the torrents there. Can't beat that. Same goes for normal dvd rentals, if you get to know them well enough, you can usually get to rent before it's officially released for rent.
Streaming services have woefully poor selection. DVD by mail takes 3-5 days to receive the movie you wanted to watch tonight. Perhaps your friend could use delivery drivers to cover that gap for the next few years (decade+ with the way content distributors fight).
High speed popcorn delivery.
I'm a nature photographer.
Bookstores are trying to maintain their relevance by becoming coffeeshops that sell books. The idea is to make the store a destination in its own right, rather than just the means to get a chunk of entertainment. At a bookstore you can sample the offerings before picking one out (not possible with DVD-by-mail, and possible – but not really done well – by streaming services), so maybe set up DVD players with headphones, or (shhhh) rip the DVDs and let the customers preview them on kiosks in the store. Put together displays that draw on the staff's expertise (e.g. favorite dystopic sci-fi films, throw in a free second DVD that makes for a good double feature) rather than homogenized wisdom-of-the-crowd correlations or dubious one-random-idiot's-faves lists that you find on web sites. A DVD rental store can never compete with the stock of the latest blockbusters or the depth of the library that Netflix or Amazon has; don't even make that a goal. To work, you need to focus on the "service" side of the business; every person on the floor needs to be a seasoned cinephile, not short-term minimum-wage high school kids. Set up a mini "home theater" and have regular "movie night" events for small groups of people to watch old films with fellow fans of the films. (This would probably require paying performance-rights fees to the studios.) This is all stop-gap stuff, of course. This store is not going to exist to be passed down to the kids as the family business. But it might keep the doors open and the lights on for a while longer.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
Slashdot isn't the best place to ask because most of us have bought into digital distribution. We are unlikely to be the video store's target audience so we aren't the best people to ask.
Your friend also has some challenges because copyright laws limit his options. A lot of things that could be done would be illegal or require a lot of paperwork because it would be considered a public showing (e.g. previews, a showing room for private events).
Yet they may be able to transition their business if they are into film. This could be tied to tangible products or people oriented. They could try to sell the hardware to show movies, provide a forum to discuss them, or even provide a hub for people who want to produce independent films.
There are a lot of other ways to adapt. The key though is to talk to the people who matter: the customers who would actually use the service.
Take off your MPAA controlled glasses. Nothing in that quote says they are going to necessarily download it illegally. And Amazon does do individual downloads, sometimes for free, and many movies for just a couple dollars.
I want a new quote. One that won't spill. One that don't cost too much. Or come in a pill.
You can do that in a University town where you've got lots and lots of new faces every year. Tucson, Az has several independent video rent places near their U of A.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Maybe he could try his hand at the used video market?
Just as game stores increasingly earn their profits through buybacks and re-sales of used games and console hardware, he could get into the business of purchasing and re-selling used DVD/Blu-ray movies, and maybe used video players as well.
Or burn the place down for the insurance..
- wide selection of movies and TV shows, stuff you won't find elsewhere or downloadable via torrents, like lesser known foreign and independent movies, the place is huge.
- enough copies of popular movies so you can almost always get what you went there for
- blu-ray, DVD, VHS (!), Xbox 360, Wii, etc., whatever you and your family needs, it's there
- two for one days on slower nights of the week and other coupons for the past decade brings plenty of people into the outlet
- extras are sold off at a good price when they're no longer rented
No they haven't. It was legal to download movies and music (software and games usually wasn't), but that changed like 10 years ago in most european countries. They do pay extra cost on certain products but that doesn't mean downloading would be legal now.
There are tons of movies and TV series that just aren't available on Netflix or Amazon for rental.
If you are in a small town, specializing in out of print or hard to find catalogs probably won't be enough to survive... Kinda how record stores are restricted to large metro areas.
But here are some ideas:
Get a post office account and offer pre-paid mail-in returns. It will take some doing to ensure the packaging is light and small enough to keep mailing costs down, but it would make it far more convenient to rent.
Allow reservations online.
Open a small pizza pro or similar franchise in the corner of the store so people can grab dinner and a movie all at once.
Sell esoteric candy and theater popcorn, for the same reason, but at reasonable prices.
Buy and sell used DVDs. Take the movie home and keep it? Just 12.99-19.99 depending on the movie. Bring it back? Then just the rental fee. Look at what Vintage Stock / Movie Trading Company is doing, where the buy-in price is determined by software that looks at the current stock across all stores vs the past few months of sales. More popular movies or really rare ones are worth more, and thus entice people to bring them in.
Buy and sell game systems, used and new.
Offer disc resurfacing services for damaged discs.
If your market supports it, buy and sell Vinyl records, including new releases that come with digital downloads.
Offer home theater consulting services, offer training on what surround sound is or how to build your own HT setup.
Make sure the store is a fun/inviting environment to be in: have couches setup and the latest game systems available to play, have a kiosk with IMDB so people can easily lookup who was in what movie (bonus points if you can hookup Google voice search API to it so its voice controlled). Become an Apple authorized reseller/service center. Sell cables/adapters, the AppleTV, and demo AirPlay to people, etc.
I'm sure you could think of others. If people feel comfortable and want to spend time in your store, they'll be much more likely to purchase something.
These are just a few ideas that spring to mind.
Natural != (nontoxic || beneficial)
When I lived there, many countries (Belgium, Netherlands, Germany?, Spain even Canada) had laws where they paid extra taxes on media to pay specifically into funds for artists (which were managed by their versions of the RIAA/MPAA) in order that they would still get reimbursed for downloaded movies and music.
Ergo I would argue that if you pay a tax to pay the RIAA/MPAA for downloaded movies and music, that doing that act wouldn't be illegal.
You wouldn't pay taxes on your car if it's illegal to drive said car.
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Make the move to an in-store streaming cashless video system - assuming this DVD store is carrying porn.
Works just fine for us over here in SoCal.
Also, if you can find it, videos on flash drives are getting more popular as a selling item.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
Video games and pinball games?
Pinball is picking up right now and it's hard to find good places to play in many areas.
While many people have sick mindsets and are looking towards the future with open arms (and deep pockets it seems. I mean you just bought a $400 iPad and you just dished out another $500 just for an iPad with extra features? Really?), I have a valuable suggestion that I would enjoy: variety.
No, I'm not talking about sci-fi and action, I mean bring in movies from other countries. I know a great many otakus who would be willing to shell out money just to watch Naruto in Japanese or the Nutcracker in original German. I myself am wishing to watch Russian films, after watching Ballad of a Soldier. Relevance can't be simply construed to a time frame or even a style such as Claymation or Live-Action. Imagine your next Valentine's Day with you special someone with a French or Italian film instead of some American romance movie and a bucket of popcorn?
There are tons of movies and TV series that just aren't available on Netflix or Amazon for rental.
Yes - And purchasing these items (licensed for rental) is expensive for a rental shop. Having 'Misfits of Science' available for rental for the one geek per year who might ask for it is not good business.
Something useful rather than "just close":
My problem with DVD rental now is the amount of choice. Back in Chicago there was this AWESOME place called specialty video. Loved it. Problem was, they had so many good and rare movies that I would walk out without renting because I couldn't decide. Hundreds of movies, and what the internet does now is narrow down the frustration of making a choice. It gives us a handful of movie ideas and we can pick one if we want.
Also, there are definitely DVDs that we cannot get online, lots of them. I say market to the cinephiles, the people looking for the rare gems. Get online.
I really think that dvd rental has a place still. I like going someplace like that, but the interface could use some updating IMO
-
Not sure how much floor space your friend has but..
Coffee shop
Sell books, comics/manga, magaines
Study pods/counters
Rent or sell music cds and live concert dvds
Sell not rent
Rent game consoles
have screens showing trailers of new films
Contract with indies to sell theirs
If it is in a major location, special events for example a director gives a talk
Link with film festivals
Allow people to watch any films in the shop, plus some streaming accounts, on large screens in the shop - you can just charge per hour and let people try titles one after another
Look at the kind of films that get shown on MUBI.
Write reviews / recommendations for titles, like in book stores
Sell hardware like ebook readers, cameras, hard disks
Sell fun and funky products
Provide cheap or free coffee or other drinks/eats like in a movie theater
Provide books about cinema to get people interested in huge world of film
Go after foreign film genres, both classic and contemporary. For example Japanese film, Finnish film, Mexican film, French Film.
Put up great movie posters. Not just cheapo sci-fi flix. French posters are often well done.
Sell audio books and classical/jazz too, your audience doesn't have to be just little kids, these are popular among older people for car and for home listening. My parents put audio books in the car and also into an ipod for listening at home for my father.
Could bring in other crowds - older people, people who are into design, art and architecture, people who are into looking for new films instead of watching the same ones over and over
Sell sets of classic movies, like hitchcock or car grant, etc.
Sell sets of movies like 007, etc.
When a new film is out in theaters, sell or rent all the films that director or lead actor/actress has made.
Make a members card that gives you discounts
Tie up with other businesses
Make new "film festivals" or "Now Showing xxxx" events every week or month
(I think this is fair use...) Offer to load ipod with music the person rents, then they don't have to bring the CD back to you..
Rent high quality equipment for people who want to make their own films, or provide studio space for band to record or something to engage community and people who are enthusiastic.
Engage film clubs (not sure if this works)
Research lots of films so people can always come to you to find them.
Fill the store with servers and sell downloads instead.
With bandwidth restrictions on people's net access, there could be a business for walking in and downloading directly to your device. Still faster than over the net, its an incentive over piracy (speed, reliability). You could even have previous stations where you could quickly flip through movies and preview whatever you wanted (ie, fast-forward through it you like). To save more time you could rent the movie on a memory stick in your preferred format.
Never mind you could get things that arent on DVD or arent popular enough to stock normally. And no running out of DVD's.
It would be a risky business and it would have to be done just right. You'd probably want to rent video games (still probably some life yet in that business) too and also sell iPods and memory sticks and such.
-- Senior Software Engineer, Attorney appearance services, locallawyerapp.com.
Aren't you forgetting the towel?
Blockbuster Offers Glimpse Of Movie Renting Past.
It would be great if you rent out tools and media equipment too. Just combine other products for renting out and diversify into other forms of rentals.
~ Best man at your service.
I would walk into, and rent from, a physical DVD store if:
1) It had what I wanted but couldn't get on netflix.
2) It would guarantee my privacy (the database maintains no association between what I rented and who I am once I return the dvd and pay up, so even a court subpena couldn't get any more than what I currently have out or what I owe on).
3) It would let me keep the DVD for as long as I want with no late fees (just a linear rate like a buck a day until I bring it back, and that's it).
4) I can hit a website to see if what I want is available, and reserve it via the website, saving me a trip out if what I want isn't there.
5) I can ask that the DVD be mailed to me via the website, to save me the trip out if I don't mind waiting for shipping.
6) I am not required to pay a subscription (just whatever I owe as a function of what I rented * how long I rented it).
Make that happen, and I will sign up.
If you are close to me, I can do without 6.
Unless he can get there faster then the speed of light, he will loose there also...
If you could reason with religious people, there would be no religious people
netflix and amazon are subscription services, not individual movie downloads. itunes is an awesome service, but it's expensive - $5 per movie. So the only conclusion is freetards.
Amazon, Youtube, iTunes and others all let you legally rent or buy digital copies of newly released movies. The prices and quality are competitive or better than DVD rentals, but the convenience factor of digital is the huge differentiator.
Well, that's how it is. You pay the tax on blank media but you don't obviously get the right to pirate whatever you want. The tax is to reimburse for lost revenue regardless of if you pirate or not.
Am I the only one who actually goes to Blockbuster since their price restructuring? Perhaps it's because they're located literally right down the road from me, but older releases are $.99/night, as opposed to Red Box's $1.20. They have a bigger selection. And I don't have to wait out in the rain while someone ahead of me takes forever to pick out their movie from Red Box.
Perhaps $1/night rentals would be a good way to go, if the store owner hasn't done that already. Oh, and find a good nerd or group of nerds to invest in to automate as much as you can. Maybe find creative ways to list inventory online and/or on mobile devices. I realize this may not be worth the investment, but that's for the owner to decided. :) It's just an idea.
I appreciate that you feel wronged, but I don't see how turning away ANY customer who wishes to make a purchase is a good idea. Consider that pirates statistically buy more music than any of your other customers. As an aside, if I even witnessed the kind of confrontation you described in any store, that store would be on my OWN blacklist. That might be worth considering as well.
Do you see what I did there?
So I didn't just pay to download Brave from Amazon last night? The only conclusion is freetard? Seriously,.. the only conclusion?
And referencing your statements above:
I download a movie in about 10 minutes, 30 minutes for full HD. They both can start playing within seconds. It's not a crappy copy, it's HD. No, there is no 50/50 chance of viruses from online movie rental services like Amazon. I have never gotten better advice or curation from a store than I have gotten from an online distributor of movies.
I just have to ask. Why do you want to spread false information? I'm tempted to accuse you of straight out lying but for now I'll just assume total ignorance in the topic...
My advice is close the store, get a Redbox franchise
The trouble with Redbox is that it has only new releases. How is one supposed to watch movies that have already expired out of the Redbox system yet aren't on Netflix? And should "the local telco['s] project to boost internet speeds" fail, how is one supposed to watch more than a couple movies a month on the single digit GB per month cap of a sat or cell connection?
Sell your DVDs, put in some servers, start an advertisement-supported torrent site.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Agreed. Carry stuff that isn't easily available online, make your inventory easy to search, and make the transaction as quick and painless as possible.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
As bandwidth improves
It's not just burst bandwidth that has to improve but also sustained bandwidth. Several types of home Internet access, such as satellite and cellular, have acceptable burst bandwidth (in the high hundreds of Kbps to low Mbps) but unacceptable sustained bandwidth (typically less than 10 GB per month). That's not going to change until A. it becomes drastically cheaper to get rural areas wired for fiber, or B. the state subsidizes getting rural areas wired for fiber.
In my experience Amazon Prime unlimited streaming is roughly on par with Netflix
Except that Netflix is available on a wider selection of tablets. The only tablets I know of that support have Prime streaming are Kindle Fire and iPad, not my Nexus 7.
Others: - Hors d'oeuvre plates - Feng Shui reflectors near your front door - Scarecrow in your garden - Pistol target practice
Your imagination is the limit!
There's no sense in being precise when you don't even know what you're talking about. -- John von Neumann
maybe offer coffee and a place to sit and watch a movie.
Good luck negotiating public performance licenses with the big six movie distributors.
The older crowd sounds like a good idea, while university students love technology and will download anything, people in their 60s-80s simply don't. They're comfortable with the old way of doing things. They also tend to watch different types of movies than the younger generations, stock the movies these people like, and advertise in places these people are, and you could well hang on for another decade or so without much of a change in business plan. Obviously this is a stop gap measure, but it should buy a fair amount of time (The summary doesn't say how much time he needs, I'm sure he plans to retire eventually, if that's in 5 years, this is probably great, if it's still 35 years away, then he'll still need to find something else in the future)
Make it as easy as possible for his customers to shoplift.
Free postal return envelopes would help.
Drive-thru returns would help.
Browsing and renting online would help.
Maybe even a drive-through pickup for online rentals.
If there is a drive-thru fast food in the parking lot, it can be a two-fer
Make a deal with the fast food joint to let online rentals be picked up from their drive-thru window.
The reason I won't rent DVDs any more isn't that I can't find a movie in the store, or enjoy it.
It is the hassle of returning the DVD and late fees and all that.
I use to go to a local pawn shop twice per week to buy DVD's as for a while they were super cheap around $2.99 each and get a 5th one free. Then all of a sudden just like CD"s the DVD's pretty much disapeared and it was all games and BR's. So now I only go there every few months. I picked up two box sets yesterday but only because they were rare box sets.
Now for me even though I still downlload lots I'd rather buy the original and rip it. Plus I get a kick out of finding rare films/shows I've forgotten about and at $2.99 I'dd be stupid not not buy something.
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
I recently spent a couple of days in Raton, NM. It's quite small but they have a thing there called the Whittington Center. It's a gigantic place to shoot, museum, store, and library on all things having to do with shooting. (How it got there is a fascinating political story that I'll leave for another day.) I'm retired and I love to shoot but it was that library that drew me in. I spent hours and hours there, finding new gems and old, every time I scanned a different shelf. I would literally consider moving to Raton just to have easy access to that specialty library...if it weren't for the fact that I spent enough time there to discover that Raton is an armpit of a place.
In the large metro area where I currently live there are a couple of niche stores that are doing at least OK. I can think of two stores that sell just vinyl records. I can think of one that rents rare DVDs, has an extensive anime section, even has some old stock on tape that never made it to disc, and sells a small selection of high-value, carefully-selected hardware to equip your home theatre. They have employees who seem to know *everything* and can make a dozen recommendations based on scanty evidence. I've brought three discs to the front counter and said "I've seen these. I liked them. What else would I like?" Within three minutes, an employee will have sprinted me around the store and put a dozen other titles in my hands (guaranteed I haven't even heard of half of them) and I can pick at random from that pile with no fear of disappointment.
I'm definitely willing to pay for that kind of service. It's just too bad I retired and I'm too far away from them to use them now. (In fact, I've been away for so long that I don't know if 2 of the 3 examples I just gave are still in business and I don't want the potential heartbreak of looking them up online to see if they still are.)
That brings me to my last point - location. Most DVD stores that were successful back in the day did so by being where there were the most people. Everybody was renting DVDs so you just had to be located where the most people were to be found. There were even DVD stores that did rentals inside major shopping malls.
Times have changed. Joe Average is no longer your customer. If the store in question is in a place with good traffic flow but no *specialty* traffic flow, then they're screwed, doubly so since not only is the customer base falling but the location rents are probably higher *because* of the good traffic flow.
The first idea that pops into my head is that specialty equipment stores that sell guns, weightlifting equipment, cosmetics, whatever, etc., tend to have a shelf somewhere with a couple of "how-to" discs to buy. The selection is always lousy and the discs are for purchase only. I wish someone would come up with a way to put a smaller, lower-tech version of a Red Box in every speciality store in the country. Said kiosk (or just a shelf of DVDs with bar-coded labels that somehow communicate with whatever vertical app the store is using to sell all their other stuff) would rent out "how-to" and specialty DVDs to those people who are interested in the goods sold by that particular store.
Wherever there's a successful brick-and-mortar store, there's the potential to sell and rent DVDs with highly-specialized content to the customers of those stores.
Why not abandon the "DVD store" concept? Bring the stock to the customers instead of making the customers come to the stock. I know one gun store that tried this with books and it failed but only because it took up too much room. On a per-square-foot basis, keeping a book store inside a gun store is stupid; there's so much more profit in just adding more display space for high-dollar-markup guns. With DVDs, though, we're literally talking less than two square feet of floor space for a tall, rotating rack.
Just an idea. I hate to see the OP's friend go out of business without at least an idea or two on the table.
The problem isn't the store, it's the studios. The studios refuse to license that stuff that way, if they haven't started selling the whole season on DVD yet (which generally happens only after the whole season has aired in all markets) then they won't let someone rent people the DVD either.
In fact that is the single biggest thing holding back all new video watching services. Studio licensing. People want to be able to watch anything, anywhere, on any device, at any time. They are willing to pay for it. Studios on the other hand still see the model as "release movie, let it run in theatre for a few months, wait a few months to build up demand, release DVD for rental only, wait a few months until everyone has rented it, finally offer for sale, wait a couple of years, discontinue product, wait a couple more years, release the extended version, or director's cut, or whatever" Slowly the studios are introducing things in to the gaps, but they are always careful not to let one thing compete with another, which means you can never go to one place to get everything. For example with TV shows now, often shows end up in the TV provider's "on demand" catalogue shortly after airing, however they are removed from that catalogue before the season goes on sale so as not to compete.
People don't want to play those games anymore, they just want to watch what they want, when they want it, and people have finally realized that this is all artificial too, so there's no good reason for it.
So, show the movie not from the big six, develope a nitch.
There are the right answer in this episode - burn the place and get insurance money!
Seriously, DVD rental? Consider buying my collection of music stored on compact cassettes, you could add innovative music rental service to your store, I'm sure there got to be a HUGE demand for rare punk rock albums!
Here is Sarasota, FL, there's a place that's been around for a long time and continues to survive. Business is probably not what is was 10 years ago, but the last time I was in, I asked such questions. Before I learned much, I interrupted to ask about Terry, one of the guys who for the last decade (or two?) seemed inseparable from the place. Unfortunately he'd passed away. Terry Porter was a real wizard of film. Aside from being a kind and interesting fellow, I knew I never had to leave the store empty-handed if I could just vaguely describe a desired genre to him. All the folks who've worked there (or still do) exhibit an impressive knowledge of film. One advantage of the store is that for many years, they've specialized in difficult-to-find material, and I suspect that even in the age anything-you-want-right-now, they still have a few things up their sleeves one would struggle to find elsewhere.
That's about all I can say. Whether I've described their virtues well or not, they remain in the same location - with customers, but apparently without a website. I dug up their Faceclamp page and a news article on Terry; maybe between the two you'll find an idea.
Forward! -- Emperor Norton, 2012
I see two potential options that MIGHT allow a DVD rental company to stay above water. For the first, you could change the focus to porn and market more to the folks who like that sort of thing. For the second option, you're going to need a time machine, since nobody wants to go to a store to rent DVDs anymore and there is too much competition from RedBox and everything on the internet. Other than that, trying to keep that sort of business alive seems like an exercise in futility and being poor.
This is a hacked account, for which the owner can not be held responsible.
Perhaps add a lounge area and sell coffee. Provide movie magazine literature wifi for browsing. I myself prefer browsing in a physical store and the movie banter that can be had. My biggest problem is the returns, late rentals remembering to return physical media. It would be nice if this could be solved by using a temporary media or return by mail.
Many a long talk since then I have had with the man in the moon; he had my confidence on the voyage. Joshua Slocum
As these stores close, they will lose power and lose the ability to control the market like they have been.
You see, back in the 90s when HBO came out, these rental places were worried. So they brokered a deal to pay obscene prices for Videos before they went to HBO. $120 per VHS just so they could have it three months before. Now, there are deals with Video stores and HBO before they hit Netflix.
These guys are running scared and delaying the inevitable. I would develop a content box and sell that with a sub to Netflix/Hulu if I wanted to stay viable in the industry. Make it allow updates to provide additional services like music services or other streaming services as they come out.
If not, might as well close the store.
Oh wow, this takes me back. I remember when this sob story was posted on /. about five years ago and kuro5hin about ten years ago. And it was always a store that had been around for 12 years.
Ah, happy days.
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
This is a really old copy/paste troll from back in the Napster days.
<xml><I><am><so><damn>Web 2.0</damn></so></am></I></xml>
When I designed a database to store sequenced DNA and it's attendant "annotation", clients had to subscribe individually to about 80 feeds (beyond a few free ones) of data. Each one was a negotiated rate and contract. A client told me that if I could negotiate with all of these sources and deliver data from a single source, he sou;d make me an extremely wealthy man. I found that the only way to accomplish this would be bribes, beatings and blackmail. This is why Netflix has a lineup of movies for streaming that include the worst movies ever made, from "Amazon Women on the Moon" to "Nazis from the Center of the Earth". There is no reason why every movie, every made, in every language couldn't be available to stream on the web. Movies aren't that big and bandwidth is growing. I watch HD movies over wireless - no problem. Negotiating with the movie owners and getting reasonable contracts is the problem. He who can do this will become a very wealthy man (or woman). DVDs, CDs, etc. are used less and less to distribute everything, including software. If you must, at least for the moment, sell the DVDs that people can't get anywhere else.
Actually the buggy whip business isn't dead, but has turned into a niche market. A quick google search revealed http://www.jedediahsbuggywhip.org/sales.nxg which goes after the accurate period reproduction whips and repairs and has been in business since 1851. A different company has gone after the modern market with LED buggy whips (for visibility at night). The advantage is that these stores can reach a national market from a centralized location (much like Netflix).
The real solution is to redefine the business using the existing customers as a base...video game rentals, snack food/beer with a side of video. But it's a pretty tough challenge in a saturated retail market with not a lot of IP other than a customer list, knowledge of movies and location.
Yep, that's it. Convert it to a cozy cafe with a few shelves of DVDs attached, provide space for laptops, and charge per hour. Provide some small separate rooms to watch the DVDs together, in case people like to sit around and have some selection.
(Oh. I must admit this idea is stolen. Manga cafes in Japan work that way - and they are still relevant).
Alternatively: One of the things where people may be more comfortable paying in cash than via a credit card and somebody keeping a central record may be adult movies.
DVD-watcher here.
Your friend may have to get with the times, because let's face it: the days that physical media were a requirement for distribution are over. It's so much more convenient for people not to have to leave the comfort of their own home when they want to watch a movie. It's for a reason that rental places have now started mailing out the media and accepting them back by mail: It's far more convenient than having to go to a DVD store.
I don't rent movies, but I do buy them on DVD. However, I'm cheap; I rarely ever pay full price for them. For the most of it, I either get them refurbished or from the thrift shop. Very sorry but I'm no longer willing to sponsor the thugs that call themselves "the movie industry". Also, I still like having the physical item, which allows me to watch them at my convenience (rather than being forced to watch them within 24 hours from paying), in reasonable full-screen quality. To me, there's still some added value to physical media. If your friend wants to remain in business, he'll have to either switch business model to media-less distribution, or provide significant added value that downloadable movies cannot offer.
In the end, it's not about watching moving images but about entertainment. If your friend provides a one-stop no-hassle solution for that, he might draw people to his shop. In addition to DVD, he might consider selling various snacks and beverages. For rom-coms, perhaps he might provide candles, essential oils or whatever else sets the mood. Perhaps it's worth considering making a deal with a local restaurant and provide dinner vouchers at reduced price.
Now the above isn't new. The media business has been doing many of the above already for a good number of years. If your friend insists focusing on selling or renting out physical media, he'll have a very, very tough time ahead.
Visit http://ringbreak.dnd.utwente.nl/~mrjb/growingbettersoftware to download your free copy of the book
There's a locally owned DVD rental store near where I live. This may not be viable for your friend, but they've always also been in the market of Game Rentals/Used Sales. They are essentially the only place to rent video games, and their prices on Used Games are way better than EB/Game Stop. Not only do they pay more (cash) for your used games, they also sell them for cheaper, so competing with EB/Game Stop is not incredibly challenging. Only problem, is that they've been in this business since BEFORE we had an EB games in the mall, back when I'd buy my Super NES games used. I'm not sure if it'll be possible to start that up from scratch at this point, with most people already granting EB the monopoly in their minds.
My buddy used to own a video store. He's a bartender now. He makes more money, and I get free beer.
In Germany there is a kind of tax on blank media like CD, DVD or USB-sticks to compensate for *legal* private copying. You are legally allowed to copy for your own friends but not for people your known only to share with.
If it is a good retail location, look at storing the DVDs in a more efficient manner to make room for other products to sell. I would look at what is missing in the area of the store and see if you could offer that as well. Maybe serve good espresso, and make room for a few tables if it is allowed by zoning laws.
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All of the go niche posts are going to lead to tears. I keep seeing do anime, or do unusual scifi, or become and expert service, book/movie clubs. The trouble I see here is these all rely on exclusivity and digital media by its very nature defies that.
It might be true that today none of the big streaming services is quite all things to all people but the market is speaking pretty clearly. The horse has left the barn some combination of streaming and digital downloads are the future video distribution, at least as far as entertainment is concerned.
All the nice plans will require a major investment, and the corner video store guy is not going to be able to negotiate any kind of license exclusivity. All it would take is one of the big streaming players to get some blanket license agreements for the big content players ( who own the rights to much of the independent and historical stuff one way or another ) and suddenly his very narrow selection of customers is gone to greener pastures. In the meantime he will have invested lots of capital into assets of little or no residual value.
Personally I think his best bet if its good retail space is sell off library and lease or sublet the shop to someone interested in operating a business of some kind fit for the modern era.
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
I live in Austin and there are actually still quite a few video rental places around town. Some within blocks of each other. The reasons these places have survived seems to be a mixture weird Austin culture, and the video stores having genuinely unique and hard to find titles. The atmosphere of the stores is usually something quite good to. For example "I Luv Video" in Austin offers FREE BEER on Tuesdays. Here are some links to their websites so you can see what make these places special:
http://www.iluvvideo.com/#!home/mainPage
http://vulcanvideo.com/
I always thought that a really good business could be had in store sales of on demand burned dvds. As a store owner, you wouldn't need any inventory. As a consumer you wouldn't need to worry about figuring out how to play a downloaded video on the big screen ( several middle aged and younger idiots really can't figure it out) or worry about you not having the video they want. They just need the studios to be on board and not charge exorbitant prices for the movies.
Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
Turn it in to a museum for archaic media models - like the various 'Computer Museums' that can be found in many cities.
Seriously... in a world where many titles are now completely downloadable -- and content creators are designing their products to resist the second-hand market (one-time use product keys, etc..) -- Gamestop is still surviving, even in cities where bandwidth isn't a problem at all.
Why? Events, employee knowledge, various rental policies, buy-backs, reasons to pre-order/frequent the location, etc. Whatever they're doing, try to duplicate it at your movie shop. Make it a "go-to place" for your community and provide the best, most custom service you can.
Millions of fans stood in line for Breaking Dawn, Part 2 this weekend when many could either wait for streaming soon, or pirate it the same day if they were technically inclined. Why? There's a shared experience in a midnight showing. Find a way for your rural location to provide something similar and you might be able to buck the trend.
Hire a Linux system administrator, systems engineer,
I think DVD rentals will be dead in a few years if not already however if you are not going to supplement inventory with something else, like a coffe lounge or other products like people mentioned, how about DVD viewing rooms for people rent. Perhaps couches and nice TV's out in the open so people can watch it in the store. Have options where they can upgrade to private rooms for up to 12 people with stadium seating, popcorn, soda machine etc. Many audiophiles will have a crazy home setup but many people don't so they may be willing to rent a DVD and then watch it in these rooms. Kid's maybe will have b-day parties there
Prime streams in a flash-enabled browser.
"Chrome for Android does not support this plug-in."
for those services that allow you to download a time locked copy to view offline you could allow folks to pay a certain amount of money for %timeblock%.
you could have different types of blocks for sale
1 cheap/free: you get throttled down to 256K speeds
2 economy: 1M speeds
3 Gold: 2M speeds
4 Platinum: Unthrottled
Of course you would want to have good logs and say thumbprints of each account holder (legal reasons)
Any person using FTFY or editing my postings agrees to a US$50.00 charge
Maybe he and his employees, or his customers, "Swede" those movies on DVD, a la Be Kind, Rewind?
Go with it!
- Allow people to walk in with their own hard drive. Plug in by USB and download directly to it, no knowledge encrypted form via a connection that won't involve harassment (VPN, copper pair to Data Centre, I'm sure Slashdotters can elaborate), and possibly even setup so the data is "owned" by the people downloading it, if that's possible, like a shell. You could have a fee to deposit your drive, a fee to retrieve it and a fee to store it. You have to get those 3 fees balanced reasonable yet at the right rate so people treat it with respect.
- Rent 3D displays and other expensive 5 minute wonder gaming equipment no one can (should) be able to afford. When not being sold, allow people to play with them in store for a small fee
- act as a porn shop for people's gadgets that they no longer need, then rent them out to people as part of the agreement!
- come to some sort of agreement with Valve and Steam? Let people play in store? I'm sure this was covered before somewhere...
A blog I run for the wealth
Look at top-film lists for any genre or time-period and then see which of those are available on Netflix (streaming). It's less than 1 in 10. Then look at new releases. Very few are available on Netflix for download. Selection is a big divider for Netflix and brick/mortars. These two areas (popular/classic favorites and new releases) are Netflix weaknesses that are local video store strengths. Hang on to these and try to do them well.
Common weaknesses are general selection. The fact is there are millions of movies out there, and not even Netflix can offer all of them. I'd really like to see all the films of Francois Truffaut, for example, but you can't on Netflix. You also can't at your local video store. But this is where I like what another slashdot commentor said: let the user sponsor the dvd. I think they said through buy-back, which is a good option if the store wants the disc, but if not, I'd also let them purchase the dvd and share in any profits from rentals and let them own the disc after a time if no one's renting it.
One area where video rentals could have innovated 10 years ago but are still resisting is in video research. Put up a kiosk in your store where people can do movie research and that shows them whether the movie they want is available (for rent, and whether currently in-stock) in your store. Put this online too, so people can look it up before they drive all the way to your store. You already have computerized systems that tell the store the same info, so it can't be too hard to make it available to the customers. Even Netflix is squandering this possibility, especially since they split the dvd and streaming business lines. Now when you search for a movie that is not in their streaming-only system, it doesn't show you the title and say 'sorry-not available for streaming' or give you the option to rent-by-mail, it actually suggests totally different movies, making you think you entered the wrong title or something. And while you're at it, give the users a flat-screen tv to watch movie trailers on while they're there.
There are ways for brick/mortar's to survivce for a bit longer, but I give dvd/hd rental companies 3-5 years max, for the ones that really try to hang on. The ideas I've given above are areas where locals can offer big advantages over digital streaming services, but those wrinkles will be ironed out soon enough in streaming. I guess then you could try to target poor areas where the net isn't ubiquitous. Long-term, perhaps there is a way to take advantage of the meat-space aspect of local stores, but I can't think of any, except for the general fostering of community. Sorry I can't help in this area, but if you want to survive long-term, it's got to be in the community--something that puts customers face-to-face and interacting in a fun way.
The only possible way to survive is to develop a niche. Streaming services are usually pretty good for recent movies, but a lot of back catalogue stuff is hard to find. Specialize in the stuff that's out of print, rare, etc. But really, I'm hard-pressed to see how that business model would be sustainable as a primary income source in most communities. There simply isn't enough demand for the content, especially given the huge amount of material available through Netflix's mail catalogue.
Videomatica in Vancouver was (is?) famous for their foreign films and back catalogues and were staffed by movie buffs.
They had talked about closing up, but checking them just now (redirects to new site), they've closed their flagship store and are sharing a location with a record store.
They'd been in business for some 25 years or so, yet had to downscale their location in a reasonably large city just to keep the doors open.
http://www.scarecrow.com/ - it's just a matter if your local market will support it..
Videomatica in Vancouver was (is?) famous for their foreign films and back catalogues and were staffed by movie buffs.
They had talked about closing up, but checking them just now (redirects to new site), they've closed their flagship store and are sharing a location with a record store.
They'd been in business for some 25 years or so, yet had to downscale their location in a reasonably large city just to keep the doors open. And I think they were popular Canada-wide for those really hard to get rentals among people willing to pay shipping...
Your friend might be able to get some ideas by looking at how they adapted to the times.
PS Tried to post this before, still have the "Working" throbber on my screen; apologies if it's a repeat.
IMO, the brick-and-mortar movie rental business is in its very last days. I spent over 10 years working at an independently owned, two-location movie rental business that closed our last shop just under two years ago. Certainly, just because we couldn't continue doing it, doesn't mean no one else can. Local markets are all a bit different (I have no idea if your friend is even based in the US). Still, I feel I do have some insight into the issue.
In short, there is only so much you can do to "stay relevant". The very nature of the at-home movie watching market has changed and will only continue to do so. You can do your best to offer films which are not yet available from Netflix, Amazon, and the other online companies, but the clock is ticking there. You can minimize your overhead as much as possible and streamline expenses to keep your doors open for as long as possible, but again, the clock is ticking.
We outlasted the local Hollywood Video and the local Blockbuster but arrived at the conclusion that our days were numbered. The question for us was how we wanted close up shop: Holding on and scraping by until the last minute, racking up debt and anxiety in the process, or going out on a good note. We chose the latter.
We announced our closure 30 days in advance. We threw a party and invited all of our customers and staff, old and current. The local community radio station came and broadcasted live from the store. There was food and drink. We arranged a giveaway to select customers who met certain criteria: Our first customer through the door on day 1, and our last customer through the door on our final day of formal operation, our top five highest-renting customers, and the customer who payed the most late fees. These customers were allowed to pick any 5 DVDs and keep them for free. Every other DVD was available for sale. Turn out was better than we could have hoped, we sold a lot of inventory, and the kind words from our customers were amazing. It was bittersweet to be sure, but we ended on a good note and when it was all said and done, the owners made it out alright financially.
Best of luck to your friend and their employees.
PPPFFFFTTT, I became aware of it in the 90s, therefor, it did not exist until I knew about it. :P
I'm going to share what I would do if I was opening a video store today: I'd make sure to have enough space for 3-4 screens, in addition to the rental and server space. When the screens are not in for special events - for example, showings of Christmas movies around Christmas or the Lord of the Rings Trilogy before The Hobbit comes out - they can be used to show trailers, like many of the TV screens used in many of the video stores today are, and the area itself could be used for a cafe/coffee house that has wi-fi hotspots built-in. I'd also throw in a record and book store, and sell stuff relevant to the movies. For example, around Christmas I'd make sure to stock up on the famous leg lamps similar to the one in "A Christmas Story", as well as a constant supply of red Swingline Staplers (in addendum to other geek-based staples, such as lightsabers and star ship models.) I'd try to keep the merchandise consistent to the videos we sell - for example, while we'd sell CD's by Linkin Park, we'd probably have more "Dracula 2000" or "Transformers" soundtracks - where they're featured artists - than studio or live albums in stock, except when new releases come out. I'd also play on social media, trying to keep people interested in the store, and encourage customers to "hang out." Most businesses think of customers who stay in longer than a set period - usually 30-45 minutes - as wasted space, but I see them as opportunity. Offer services, such as food and drinks, while customers decide on something; offer private screening rooms for "Twilight birthday parties"; etc. On the web site, offer links to services you offer, games and other things to keep people interested, etc. Heck, even offer electronics - why not go home with a new TV and Blu-Ray Player for those three copies of Harry Potter you just rented? I'd also go as small as possible in two areas: Price and franchises. If possible, in fact, avoid franchising altogether - you may get a good deal by going with BlockBuster, but their rules and marketing may interefere with your strategies and prices. Likewise, you want to attract people to YOUR business - you can't stop others from copying your idea, but if you can limit your base to one store like yours for every 200,000 customers, you should be able to do the kind of business that video stores used to do when there was one every other block. Pricing should be kept to a minimal as well - it may cost $100+ per copy of every movie, but charging more than $2 a night on any movie is a little unreasonable, especially in an age where people can easily access illegal copies for free.It may mean that you make only a couple of dollars an hour more, after expenses are paid out, than your top managers, but the adoption of little niches and things that make you stand out will, in the long run, keep you open and more relevant longer than your competitors that stick to the "tried-and-true" business model adopted by many video, record, and media stores that have and are going by the wayside. This is just what I would do, though - I don't know what this guy has for space, whether his video store is a franchise or is his own business, or the kind of location dealing he has for his area or with the companies he deals with.
Find something else to sell. Possibly the use of on-site 'screening rooms' with equipment, that customers can use to watch a movie they just rented with friends, or make the DVD a free gift, when spending $30 to rent a room -- make the money on selling drinks and popcorn.
Switch to selling books, posters, art.
Find a legal way to provide a "digital" version for the rental period.
It all boils down to: begin developing and executing a backup plan immediately, get into other business besides DVD rental, plan carefully but move post haste into other businesses that are similar that you can execute, that are more long for this world than DVD rentals.
I think the problem is if you forever want to rent DVDs you will never turn a profit... because DVDs are basically inferior to what I can download. That said, I think there is a tremendous untapped market on game console rentals. Being able to go down and rent a Wii for a weekend is a stellar move, and you move games with every system rental that goes out the door. Glue a GPS to them in case they don't come back. There is a massive video store down the road from my house. Completely useless building. I can't even rent PC games from them. And why would I ever want to rent a $5 DVD when I can own the damn thing for $19.95? Hell, the last time I used a Blockbuster the assholes tried to stiff me with a $50 fine.
They all turned into DVD vending machines here about 5 years ago.
Suburbs of Paris, France
Watch this Heartland Institute video
its cheap, and the smell brings in people that the rational mind would not.. :-p
of coure —you've got to get them out from behind their computer at home first.. :-p
j
There are ways to adjust I believe. Offer independent movies that earned prizes at some of the many (many!) festivals worldwide like Canne, Berlinale, Sundance etc. Basically build a niche that is quality versus recent stuff. Oscilloscope movies for example are often good and Netflix is lacking many of these. Get international movies which are really hard to get in U.S. except through shopping like Infidel, Samsara, Intimate Strangers, Dragonhunters (french) etc. Cater to themes, Star Wars, Star Trek etc with special editions which fans will want to watch but you can't get through streaming. Offer if possible random but acclaimed picks of each major genre so people can just go and grab something without searching much for a movie. Deliver movies like a pizza with people able to select/order one online. We have Netflix and such in streaming but still often go for Redbox or small DVD rentals because ... there are lots of movies we'd like to see but not available in the mainstream market.
Seriously. Once a medium is past, you can't pump it up again.
maybe if it's small add viewing nights or themes. providing a lounge is a good idea. adding books and well basically local B&N yourself but make it worth the time of the customer to enjoy your place. There is a place in orlando called stardust that kinda has a feel on this situation
some people are a "glass half empty" some are "glass half full" i'm a "there is something in the glass be happy" person
How is one supposed to watch movies that have already expired out of the Redbox system yet aren't on Netflix?
Netflix.
Somehow I don't understand. Would you explain how to use Netflix to watch movies that aren't on Netflix?
He needs to move to a Redbox style setup. There are plenty of vendors online that have better setup's than Redbox. DVDNow and a few others. Even offer video games which suprising is still a pretty good rental market. A lot of kids rather rent the game for a few days to a week since that is all the time it takes to beat most of them now days.
When all else fails, hire me!
I have a favorite DVD rental store that keeps my business and seems to stay sufficiently useful to my community. Others have mentioned the importance of niche films--classics, art films, sub-genres (e.g anime, LGBT, etc.). It's not that these can't be found on-line (I don't know--maybe they can't), but they provide an environment where it's easy to browse through them along side of the blockbuster movies. Thus, you might go in looking for the Avengers, but you might also come home with a documentary, too. They also do a nice job of assembling temporary theme shelves that again mixes the new and familiar with the older and more obscure. Hey, I still enjoy bookstores, so maybe i'm living in a bubble of yesteryear.
Part of the reason that streaming/downloading is so popular is that I don't need to go to the video store, deal with lines, etc.
Combine DVD rental with that other staple of human laziness - fast food delivery. Get into business with the Pizza store and provide food + blu-ray / dvd delivery as a bundled service.
If you're going to simply keep your existing product and try to compete with digital downloads, you will fail.
Actually even then it might be hard - another beauty of digital download is that once I'm done with the movie, i need to do nothing - no returns, no overdues, etc. So they'll need to address that as well.
I run: Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD. Just because you have a hammer, doesn't mean everything is a nail.
Offer a membership to a movie 'Club'. Have a monthly fee and let the customers have 3 movies out at a time. This would be better than Netflix in that you could pick and watch your movie within the hour. If a customer wanted have a movie marathon one weekend, they could literally go through a dozen movies in a weekend. It is no sweat off of the rental store's nose if the customer changes his movies a half dozen times in a weekend. They will still only have three movies out at a time.
While you are at it, include games. There is a lot of crap out their for all of the systems. The games are expensive. Being able to rent a few games, and when they suck, take them back the same day and try something new would be a boon.
I don't know if anyone does it in other areas, but I haven't seen any rental stores that have a Netflix style subscription.
Blockbuster know this. This is why Blockbuster are selling up. That said, Domino's Pizza are offering free movie rentals with pizzas now - maybe move to pizza delivery?
Operation Guillotine is in effect.
This takes me back. Back about oh, six years ago when I read this exact same story on another forum. WORD FOR FUCKING WORD.
Operation Guillotine is in effect.
There is still a significant market for DVD rental in this country - senior citizens. They tend to own TVs and DVD players but they tend not to own computers (or at least, with high-speed internet). Stock up on the movies they want to rent. Offer a senior discount (maybe just on Tuesdays or something). Advertise in areas where they go and places where they live.
Naturally, that market is time-limited, but you should be able to make money off of it for a while yet. While it's still viable you could even try running it as a senior-centric internet cafe, offering them assistance with things that might not be easy for older folks to do online.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Take on your biggest competition - Netflix and Redbox - head on. This will only take "homework", which is just the owner dedicating a little time. Create a special, prominent movie section. Start picking out very popular yet older movies. Check if each of those movies are available locally at Redbox, Blockbuster kiosks, and / or streaming (Netflix, Amazon, etc). That can be done totally online. Any of those movies that you have for rent that are not available through those other sources go in your new movie section. This section needs to be promoted as movies you can get NOW, that you cannot get ANYWHERE ELSE. "Instant Entertainment", that can only be had from your rental store.
You do have exclusivity! That is what you need to play on. There are HUGE gaps in what is available for streaming, and Kiosks have such small capacity that pretty much all they carry are the latest releases. All that is required is to recognize which titles meet that marketing criteria, which should be done weekly, and most importantly, to let customers know that your competition actually provides a very small and incomplete selection of movies.
Take this even further by promoting series and prequels to movies currently in theaters. For example, The Hobbit is coming out next month. Interest in the entire LOTR series will be increased because of it. Same with Twilight. Promote all the previous movies. Most of those are not available via streaming, and would be hit or miss in kiosks.
In addition, you need to have as large a collection of older movies as possible. Even if they don't fit on normal display shelves, or if you have to pack them in tight like books on a bookshelf, you cannot have too much selection or too many older movies. If you must, store the older ones in a storeroom and provide a listing / directory of those titles people can choose from. Ideally, list the movies on your website so people can at least browse them online. Even you don't have the infrastructure to set up a site allowing people to reserve online, they can still easily call and reserve that way.
The most important part is bringing specific movies to people's attention. There are many, many older flicks people have completely forgotten about that they would enjoy, and can only get instantly through your business locally. So you need to promote good movies on a regularly changing basis.
Now, I will point out that Netflix and others do have mail service, where people can "rent" physical movies online. Yes, you can pretty much get every movie ever made that way. However there are two huge downsides:
1) No a la carte. People have to pay a recurring monthly membership to get those moves, and Netflix has split that service off of its streaming services. The customer can't just pay $2 for a single movie that caught their eye, and that is a big turn-off. That makes your service more economical for people who aren't planning on circulating a dozen different DVDs back and forth to Netflix a month.
2) It's not instant. A huge appeal of a brick and mortar store is the ability to go in on a Friday night and grab a few movies for the weekend, and that requires instant gratification.
Better known as 318230.
Don't focus on renting DVD's. A lot of people own a few hundred DVD's that they don't watch. Offer to buy those, and sell used DVD's cheap enough so that it amounts to a rental that you don't have to return. You can make money over and over on the same DVD that way.
Allow people to do this by mailing in DVD's. Make it as easy as Netflix.
Otherwise, make him watch the latest Halloween South Park and pour him two or three shots of a good single malt scotch.
If moderation could change anything, it would be illegal.
- Offer online reservations. - Blu-rays and DVD's are the same price - Free popcorn in small bags - Eliminate late fees. The one thing that pisses people off the most is rushing down to the store before it closes to avoid the late fee. Many people probably never return to a rental place if they pay a late fee. - Have enough copies in in stock for newer movies. The 'New Releases' wall was almost entirely empty every time I went. It really pissed me off. - New movies should be the same price as the older movies, or at the very least, put the "new" movie releases into the 'regular' priced section a lot faster. Rogers Video often had New Releases there for 6 months before moving them. Pathetic. One month maximum. - Maybe offer something like Netflix did for their physical rentals - tiered pricing: Rent 'x' movies at a time for a certain price per month. The more they want, the more they pay. - Offer regular movie fair snacks like chips and drinks.
Shouldn't speak for all us youngsters
It's impossible to speak for every member of any group larger than one. However I believe the general concept still stands. Older people use less tech, and are less comfortable with it, younger people use more tech and are more comfortable with it, some exceptions do apply
. So please guys, not all of us are into Tech that can be taken away at the flip of a switch.
While I can understand a desire to hold the physical object, from the stand point of "can be taken away at the flip of a switch", what difference does it make if it's just a rental? The whole point being that it's gone tomorrow anyway.
As for purchasing, that's one of the biggest arguments against most DRM schemes. Don't pretend you've sold me something if you can still take it away later against my will. This is also one (not the only) reason why pirated material remains popular, Pirates know that once they have the file, they can use or store it however they want.
Back in the early 80's video stores also rented VCRs. Now there's 3D films on blueray, but many people don't have a 3D TV. So rent out a PASSIVE 3D tv (LG makes a good one) with a half dozen glasses. Kids parties would be a natural (or 3D porno for adult parties).
Also if he is not doing S-8 to DVD transfers and picture scanning he's missing out on a big advantage, as his customers would not have to risk mailing their orginals.
Another idea would be to get a WIDE assortment of gizmos from DX.com. Most of the items could be kept in a stockroom, if he had a few kiosks for customers to browse. Use the display for new items and kids toys.
Quite simple really. Set up a local mirror of all the usenet groups.
Sell them the right to download news articles unmonitored and unlogged to their laptop/phone/tablet at approximately $2-$4 per 4.7GB at gigabit speeds while they browse your DVD selection.
Just a thought...
Where is the store that I can walk into with usd 10 and a usb stick and buy a movie, buy software?
It does not exist. That's what needs to be addressed, I believe.
Use rfid or other tech so that when someone is leaving with movies, they are automatically logged and displayed. This is what you will be billed for starting now.
Bill by the day.
Make it easy to purchase the movies as an alternative to returning them. Take advantage of lazy purchasing.
Keep a computer terminal up and locked on IMDB so people can look up the movie or find a movie they remember.
Have three return bins. Liked it, hated it. Defective. Let your customers vote on which movies to keep in stock.
Make it easy to order movies for purchase an put on their account. Take advantage of impulse purchasing.
Dont ever ever ever ask them to sign up for an additional type of membership. Always a downer.
Make it so that they never leave without a movie. Have a "are you feeling lucky" freebie movie.
stress the importance and worth of the special features (which are unavailabe on streaming)
Dont waste shelf space with all your titles flat. Keep one face up, the rest on edge.
Dont be prudes
Stock movies you would watch. Dont stock movies you could never stand to watch. Be a good place to find good movies.
Contrary to the grandparents, I think this guy should go mainstream. Become a DVD retailer and try to get the box office hit DVDs as soon as they come out before the bigger guys get them. I think it's quite feasible because the big studios and online streaming services are always on a tug of war on the share of royalties. And make sure you advertise the hell out of it so everyone knows they can rent the movie before you can even stream it online or get it mailed to you on Netflix.
You can also beat Netflix with their cost model. Every time Netflix ships a DVD, it costs them postage. How much longer can Netflix ship cheaply when USPS starts reducing service and increasing prices to cover their financial black hole? Every time your customer picks up the DVD from your store, it's free for you, and marginally free for your customers if they're already on their way doing something. Netflix allows only at most 3 discs at a time. Give your customers 7 discs at a time plan. And promote the hell out of it too.
There is no way you can cater to a customer who considers downloading pirated movies as an option. You might as well sell them home theater projectors and expensive sound systems. Also going niche would not work at all. Torrents are much better at providing the long-tail niche movies.
I once had a signature.
He should liquidate as soon as possible and use the funds to start a different business that has a market. A pizza place or a McDonalds franchise would be 10x more profitable.
I don't go to rental places. mostly because it's inconvenience with no benefit over downloading. perhaps he can build an awesome "home theater" in his store that is not as good as a real theater but better than what most folks can afford at home. have enough seats for a family and charge $25/film. dunno if that small revenue would fix the issue, but it gets bodies in the door.
I thought it was common knowledge that it's the adult section that's kept mom-n-pop (or brother of a friend) video stores in the black since the mid-aughts. What would make that profit center's browsing experience more pleasant are electronic kiosks with well lit seating. Less risk of in-store fapping when the erotica isn't hidden away in narrow back aisles, and with a decent kiosk UI, you may get quicker turn-around and more browsing converted to sales.
I used to think offering iPod, et al loading for music and video would be a winner, albeit only for individual stores in the sticks that can stay under the licensing radar.
Luke, help me take this mask off
The only kind of DVD rental that can possibly survive is a specialist store that carries something that is not readily available on the internet. Nowadays that would mean older films, artsy films, all sorts of older tv series... basically everything except newish blockbusters and porn..
Catering to film geeks is harder and requires building up a reputation.
Adding wifi or coffee or whatever into his business is probably not that great an idea as it is likely to draw focus from the core business. Unless he wants to found a coffeeshop with a few DVDs and wifi in competition with Starbucks, because that's the competition he would then face and have to compare himself against.
1) When selecting your area of operation, select low competition sectors.
2) Select, create, or maneuver into, a position of high bargaining power against clients and suppliers. That is, you can apply price pressure to suppliers and the client has not much leverage with your prices.
3) And last but not least: Thou shalt not go against macro trends in Economy, Demography or Technology.
I think your friend's business fails in the the three rules of basic strategy, specially sinning against the Third. There is nothing much to be said, except trying to reinvent the shop, preferably as other kind of shop. If keeping it as a video rental is paramount, I'd specialize, perhaps in terror-gore films, or European films, or black and white. But of course only if the shop is in a big metropolitan area, not in a mall.
Rome taught me patience and assiduous application to detail. Virtues which temper the boldness of great, general views.
You should have sold the business back when redbox and netflix burst on the scene, It's a little late now to do anything with your business, except maybe have it as a second business. Coffee shop with TV's at the table. Restaurant with TV's at the table. I doubt you would even make enough ends meet to have those rare flicks not on netflix. I would say switch to xbox /ps3 games with rare films, but probably with the new systems coming out they will forgo media and have those download only games.
The would run into a lot of trouble with the Mafia with the digitization of movies. Audio they could do as no copy protection, but movies have copy protection and you can not circumvent copy protection without the Mafia being in your business.
That won't stop streaming.
I agree that the poor Internet connections in rural areas have not stopped Internet VOD services from becoming popular in urban markets. So what business model do you recommend to reach rural markets? Or are you of the opinion that rural customers are an edge case not worth serving?
People like Netflix because they are lazy, and the disc arrives/departs without them leaving the house. But they don't like waiting too long, so they stream. So why not give them what they want? Have a delivery guy there that delivers the movies, and include a prepaid envelope to return it. That way, they get the convenience of Netflix without waiting 2 days for the next disc. Plus, you should have a much better selection than Redbox. Also, you should be able to upsell a bit with *reasonably priced* snacks.
seriously, this was my first and only thought.
Offer blowjobs. Why? Because frankly, I have physically touched a DVD maybe 3 times in the past year. I don't buy them anymore, I don't use them. The vast majority of media that I consume comes through my internet feed.
I just don't see these coming back, I am sure they have some niche for some people but, short of removing the net from people's homes? Blojobs is your most realistic answer; that or location....locate the store some place where this is not true and people still need DVDs for entertainment....beyond what the red vending machines at the supermarkets and discount dvd bins provide.... where people can't afford cable with on demand content.
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
Y'know, I'd go to a store that offered all the stuff in the checkout area of my local Fry's (plus their magazine rack) with some regularity. That's a pretty attractive product mix.
But if they've got the "Let's make everybody feel like a suspected shoplifter" jerks at the exit door, then the whole idea is a non-starter. :-)
Seriously, though, the GP is in Houston. There are plenty of neighborhoods around here where stores like he describes are found and doing well. It's partly cultural and partly the fact that Houston has (essentially) no zoning.
... and call it Netflix. Sure to be a big hit!
In Reason We Trust
Stock cult classics, hard to find titles. Cater to the hipster, and cultivate a "vintage/retro vibe" Works for the Videodrome near Georgia Tech.
I mentioned this when I first got into programming school in 2000, and came up with a new business model that would replace the (back then) current dvd rental stores.
Simply put, you have a dvd burner on the spot, and catalogs of movies available, and images to burn them unto dvd on the spot.
This means the person will never have to wait for a release again, and also, can keep the dvd should they want it for an extra charge of ?$
The rental itself would be 1$ and when they are done, they can bring back the dvd (with watermark stamped into the dvd itself with barcode to identify the returned dvd)
This new model requires no personel nor heat , only electricity and legal rights to burn the dvds, and this can all be done in a small cubicle the size of a 2 x 2 closet
The dvds that are returned can be placed into a slot that can be emptied once a week, and those dvds can then be resold at a lower price, or given the chance to buy if the person wantys to hold on to it, through their credit cards, so if they pass the 5 day return limit, they have actually agreed to buy it outright, say for 5$ vs. the 12-25 $ in the stores...
A sound business model that requires no employee benefits, vacation tracking, heat, oversized room, sick days, etc....
Netflix is already on this model, sort of, when you would get the cds in the mail....but i think that ended, no?
except for the post roads, roads were just paths between towns and farms, that towns and counties improved as traffic increased. The idea that roads generally were built by governments is a fantasy from people who weren't there when it happened and can't imagine anything but government building roads.
So the government built all the post roads, and the government rebuilt all the roads from towns to farms to serve postal customers who happen to grow the food that urban dwellers eat. I see no fantasy here.
Well, the mean hourly wage for employed folks in Virginia (right to work state, 5.9% unemployment) is $23.50 while the mean hourly wage in Michigan (not a right to work state, 9.3% unemployment) is $21.01.
If you feel like putting together a complete table, you can find the data at http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcst.htm. If I had to make a bet, I'd bet on the pool of unemployed workers dragging down the wage of employed workers so that there's a similar correlation between right to work and wages as there is between right to work and unemployment.
Moderating "-1, Disagree" is simple censorship. Have the guts to post your opinion.
Hmm, maybe I will do a bit of analysis there.
One thing about Virginia: It is a VERY special case in that huge numbers of people there are employed either directly by the Federal Government or through very large federal contractors. The Virginia economy always does fantastically because of this, has home values that bounce back more quickly after recessions, etc.
Same goes for Maryland, but to a lesser extent.
With the first link, the chain is forged.
One browser not having a particular plugin is different from
"Android tablets are not supported by service X."
You might want to try Dolphin, or Firefox.
Were that I say, pancakes?
Vinyl records are making a comeback.......so a vintage shop would be a good idea! HAH seriously, that is an idea though. Frankly I'd look into a coffee shop / internet cafe type of thing.....I really saw video stores being passe about 10 years ago. That would be cheapest, plus most video stores have lots of windows, so they are conducive to coffee / juice bars. Actually the "new thing" is 3D printing. I'd tell them to invest in various 3D printers and offer services to print 3D objects. I have been pushing this tech for 10 years (not in that market area, but recognize the potential) I thought the DVD store thing was dead anyway.....Now with Netflix, VuDu, roku, GoogleTV, etc DVD is pretty much a data storage media or backups.
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." - Arthur C. Clarke
[To run Flash on your Nexus 7,] You might want to try Dolphin, or Firefox.
From this page: "I got a notification from Dolphin that Flash would be disabled in my browser because it was no longer supported and caused the browser to become unstable. Now all Flash sites won't work for me."
I tried this tutorial with Firefox. I was able to watch halfway through a Zero Punctuation video until I clicked "full screen" and the video stopped, replaced with a circled exclamation point. Did Flash Player crash? I just want to make absolutely sure it'll work before I commit to a 12-month Prime subscription.
Of course. Maryland and DC aren't a right to work states so their unemployment hovers at 6.9% and 8.7% respectively. Virginia's is at 5.9%, despite the direct and indirect influx of massive amounts of federal dollars to all three.
The major difference is that the Internet industry settled in Northern Virginia ignoring Maryland's every attempt to lure it across the border. Of course there was more to that than right to work. In Virginia we sarcastically refer to our northern neighbor as the "People's Republic of Maryland" because they enact a lot of nanny-state laws, not just on employment.
Moderating "-1, Disagree" is simple censorship. Have the guts to post your opinion.
Yes it's a big city, but does it have the demographic of people that would shop at a business like that? I mean, if a business can survive in Victoria (greater area of 300K people), then it has to be demographics and marketing.
"If you are going through hell, keep going." - Winston Churchill
Promote a local community.
Your friend needs to offer something that Netflix and others can't provide.
Organize local meetings about movies, promote rare movie trading and other fan activities in the store, keep people visiting frequently and they will keep buying stuff.