Rich Fiscus
7 Oct 2007 13:25
Redbox, whose video rental kiosks have become common sights at McDonald's restaraunts around the United States, is attracting interest as a replacement for existing in-store rental operations from at least one company. Giant Eagle is about half way done installing the kiosks in 90% of their stores.
“In general, customer interests have moved away from renting videos in bricks-and-mortar rental stores and toward both video purchasing and newer, more convenience-oriented rental services,” namely via online and kiosks, he said. “As Giant Eagle changes its video business with these trends, we have made the decision to transfer our video rental offerings away from our Iggle Video departments and focus on both our video sell-through offering as well as our Redbox rental kiosks.”
The kiosks typically have the week's top 100 new releases, which is certainly fewer than the number typically available from each store's in-store rental operation, but without the overhead associated with stocking and operating such a service.
Movies cost $1 per night to rent, and can be returned to any Redbox kiosk, including those at McDonald's.
Source: Video Business