The DVD kiosk is king

The DVD kiosk is king
Tags: DVD Kiosks, Kiosks, Vending Kiosks
March 29, 2011

During the first month of this new year, a watershed milestone was reached for the DVD kiosk business: redbox, the reigning king of the concept, also took the overall lead in physical media rentals in the United States. With about 35 percent of the DVD rental market captured-- according to market research firm NPD Group -- the kiosk operator surpassed past Netflix, Blockbuster and everyone else.

In just a short number of years, in a world of fast-paced technological advancements, the "simple machines" have managed to overtake all competitors and become the No. 1 method that U.S. consumers choose to rent their movies. How could this be? Well, by doing a great job of meeting exactly their needs for convenience by letting them save a trip, getting a one-stop shopping experience and more importantly delivering a high-value experience price wise.

And on the path to this market leading position, this concept has continued to surprise many involved in the overall entertainment industry. As Marc Cuban, the famous media billionaire once said in speaking of redbox's success: "The point is that when everyone is looking in one direction, sometimes industries change and profits can come from where everyone is telling you not to look."

This prompted Variety writer Diane Garrett to say that: "redbox, it turns out, is an example of "disruptive innovation". It is convenient, cheap and offers consumers what they most desire: the latest hits. It started at the bottom of the market and moved up."

Now, how far it can continue to move up in the always-changing media consumption world, history will tell. For now, after many years of hard work to establish the concept, The DVD kiosk can briefly enjoy its status as the King of Rentals in the U.S. market.

For sure, there will always be challenges to overcome within each industry and for all competitors. And the amount of capital and operational execution that it takes to install and operate such networks of self-service automated media kiosks involves a lot more than meets the eye. Therefore, it is not a coincidence that, so far, only a handful of larger DVD kiosk operators have been leading the market. That being said, the industry is also fast growing to offer many new investors and operating groups of all sizes the right tools to have an opportunity to get involved in implementing successful similar operations.

Relying on many years of experience in this business and on our work at iMOZI, a company which provides such OEM products and solutions, I will look forward in my coming blogs to elaborate in more detail about the critical items and steps needing to be addressed for such ventures.