Blockbuster (movie rental store)
Blockbuster Inc. () is one of the largest
chains of ,
video game and
DVD rental shops in the world. It is headquartered at
Renaissance Tower in
downtown Dallas,
Texas, and has locations in twenty-nine countries, including the
United States,
Canada,
Mexico,
Argentina,
Ireland,
Puerto Rico,
Australia, the
UK,
New Zealand,
Brazil,
Peru,
Taiwan,
Italy, and formerly,
Spain.
Blockbuster opened its first store on
October 19,
1985, and with
Wayne Huizenga at the helm it soon grew into a multi-billion dollar corporation. It was sold to
Viacom in
1994, at a price of $8.4 billion. During the
1990s Blockbuster bought out their major UK rival Ritz Video and changed the name of all the stores to their own, which made them the number-one video rental store in the country by a wide margin. In 1999, Viacom spun off Blockbuster as a separate company with the issuance of a new
IPO.[
1][
2]
Blockbuster has lost significant amounts of money in recent years: $1.6 billion in 2002, almost $1.0 billion in 2003, and $1.2 billion in 2004.
In December 2004, Blockbuster announced it wanted to do a
hostile takeover of
Hollywood Video, its major U.S. competitor.[
3]. In response, Hollywood Video agreed to a buyout on Monday,
January 10,
2005 by its smaller competitor, the Dothan, Alabama-based
Movie Gallery. (It is unclear if the proposed takeover by Blockbuster would have received
anti-trust approval from the
Department of Justice).
As of February 2006, the company had a
market value of under $500 million.
In March 2006, the company announced that was closing all the stores in Spain. The reason that Blockbuster claims, is that they had about 5,5 million
euros losses in 2004, 65 percent more than the previous year, due to movie piracy. [
4][
5]
At the end of
2004, Blockbuster's annual report put the number of U.S. stores at 5,803 (4,708 company-operated and 1,095 franchised). International stores (operating under Blockbuster and other brands) totalled 3,291, including 426 in Canada, 897 in Britain, and 408 in Australia. It has been claimed that there are more than 43 million U.S. households with Blockbuster memberships.
The company has a large
Irish subsidiary,
Xtravision, which does not operate under the Blockbuster
brand name. Blockbuster also owns
Rhino Video Games.
Blockbuster opened 24 outlets in Hong Kong, but announced in January 2004 that it would shut down all of its outlets over an 18 month period [
6]. A major factor in closing the outlets was competition from much less expensive bootleg (illegal, pirated) copies of movies on tape and DVDs.
The standard business model for video rental stores was that they would pay a large flat fee per video, approximately US$65, and have unlimited rentals for the lifetime of the cassette itself. It was
Sumner Redstone, whose Viacom conglomerate then owned Blockbuster, who personally pioneered a new revenue-sharing arrangement for video, in the mid-1990s. Blockbuster obtained videos for little or no cost and kept 60 percent rental fee, paying the other 40 percent to the studio, and reporting rental information through
Rentrak. What Blockbuster got out of the deal, besides a lower initial price, was that movies were not available for sale during an initial release period, at least at an affordable price point - customers either had to rent, wait, or buy the film on tape at the much higher
MSRP price targeted at other rental chains and film enthusiasts, at that time then between $70-$100 before the end of the initial release period.
In 1998, Blockbuster refused to use the same model for DVDs, which was just starting as an alternative format. The studios then decided to price DVDs low enough so that it could be sold to the public in direct competition with video rentals, and to provide no rental-only release period. As a result, the amount of DVD sales increased while rentals of the same titles did not. By 2003, the studios were taking in three times as much money from DVDs sales as they were from VHS videos.
Special Programs and Offers - Guaranteed in Stock
Blockbuster stocks a larger-than-average number of copies for certain new release films, allowing them to promise that the title will be "Guaranteed in Stock." If all copies of that particular title are rented, the customer receives a rain check coupon to rent it for free on his next visit to that location. The goals of the "Guaranteed in Stock" promotion are to appease customers when a particular title is unavailable, to assure customers that Blockbuster carries a large number of copies, and to retain business by encouraging the customer to rent another, different movie during his same visit.
Typically, a voucher is given for the movie that was not in stock - which must be used within 30 days.In addition, it appears to be the pollicy that Blockbuster will only issue one certificate per visit per person - even if more than one "guaranteed in stock" movie is found to be out of stock.
Special Programs and Offers - Blockbuster Rewards
Blockbuster Rewards is an optional, paid membership program that began in 1998 to offer Blockbuster members additional benefits. For a yearly fee (usually $9.95 tax-free), members can obtain free rentals through their Rewards membership by the following means:
1. Monday through Wednesday, for every paid rental, the customer may rent a non-New Release ("Blockbuster Favorites") movie free. A member who rents two New Release movies and one game may also rent three non-New Release movies for free. There is no limit to the number of free movies a customer may accumulate using the rent 1, get 1 free promotion.
2. Once a month, the customer receives a coupon for a non-New Release movie. This coupon is printed on a receipt after a transaction prior to the transaction receipt. Therefore, in some cases, a member will have already paid for a non-New Release movie and just then receive the monthly coupon for a non-New Release. The majority of stores would not allow said member to be refunded the paid rental to use the coupon on. In the majority of cases, however, the monthly coupon prints a month ahead, given the customer is actively in the store. As demonstrated in the case above, this member would have been inactive for the past month, and therefore not only would he or she receive the coupon for the current month, but also would receive his or her coupon for the following month.
This coupon does not require a paid transaction to print. A member may receive said coupon through e-mail if said member has entered his or her e-mail address into his or her Blockbuster account. Providing an e-mail address is optional; upon doing so, a member is e-mailed a free New Release coupon and may receive other deals. This e-mail service, despite what many customers may think, is not a spam service. The e-mails are sent in intervals of 2 weeks, and may be changed at any time.
3. For every five paid rentals within one calendar month, the customer receives one rental free. The rent 5, get 1 rental may be any item in the store - including new releases and games. Only two free rentals can be accumulated each calendar month using the rent 5, get 1 method. Unlike the free non-New Release coupon, a member does not need to keep track of anything to use this free rental. And unlike the rent 1 get 1 non-New Release free promotion, rentals stack from visit to visit and reset each new month. A member may rent 3 movies one weekend and 3 the next, and one of the last 3 would be free. Employees will usually ask a member if he or she wishes to use the free rental for this transaction. Doing so is considered in good nature, as this free rental is applied to the highest priced item automatically. Thus, some customers prefer to save this free rental for New Releases or game rentals.
Rewards customers who accumulate more than 125 paid rentals within a year are upgraded to a Gold Rewards status. All Rewards customers start at a Blue status. The Gold Rewards Card extends the rent 1, get 1 free rental window from Sunday through Thursday and waives the $9.95 yearly fee. Gold Rewards cards are no longer sent to these customers. Other benefits for being a Gold rewards member are on a per-store basis. For instance, most Gold Rewards customers may have movies put on hold for them for an extended period of time, where as any other customer typically may only have a movie set aside for 1 hour, at which point the movie is then returned to the shelf if not picked up. Gold rewards members may also be called if a movie is not available at the time of visit or call but arrives later.
The Rewards program is designed to provide a discount to high-volume customers, especially those who watch more than just the latest releases. Because the cost is relatively low (about the cost of 3 rentals) and its effective time is so long (1 year), it also caters to those with sporadic rental patterns. Moreover, unlike the Movie Pass program or an online program, no credit card is required to purchase Rewards, so it can serve as a volume discount to those without credit cards.
Special Programs and Offers - Movie Pass and Game Pass
Blockbuster also started a Movie Pass program, which operates similarly to NetFlix or its own mail-in rental service. Blockbuster members pay a flat fee to rent as many movies as the member would like. There are currently three different plans: 1, 2 and 3 Movies at a time. The customer rents 1-3 movies at no additional cost, watches the movies, and then returns them to the store in order to swap them for 1-3 more movies. The in-store Movie Pass has the advantages of both speed and volume. A customer may swap movies twice a day or more, if he/she so desires. Moreover, the Movie Pass allows a customer to obtain a movie on-demand, rather than waiting the 1-2 days for an online rental. On the other hand, the selection is limited compared to mail-in programs, and the in-store Movie Pass is typically more expensive. When Extended Viewing Fees were still charged, the Movie Pass program enabled a customer to keep their movies for whatever period they wished without having to pay Extended Viewing Feees.
Blockbuster also offers a Game Pass, which works like the newer movie pass, except that it allows customers to swap games instead of movies.
Quantity and Selection of Titles
Blockbuster (like most other rental stores) tends to stock more new movies than older releases, in order to capitalize on heavy consumer demand for new release titles. Titles that are more than one year past their initial release date are stored as "Blockbuster Favorite" (non-new release) titles. Typically only 1-4 rental copies are retained past the first year of release. The large volume of new release copies are typically sold after the initial renting rush. These copies are usually sold "previously viewed" for around $10-15, sometimes as low as $5. Some Blockbuster locations also accept trade-ins of used DVDs, which are sold alongside the existing stock of previously rented movies in order to create a more robust selection of titles for sale.
Obviously, not every video rental location can hold every title ever made. Increasingly, Blockbuster, movie companies, and other rental stores are adopting online or other methodologies [
7] to deliver movie content to their customers. Those customers who are interested in a large catalog of older movies are best suited to online rental programs, such as Blockbuster Online (see
infra) or
Netflix, both of who offer a larger variety than any brick-and-mortar video store can provide.
Special Programs and Offers - GameRush Stores
In Summer 2003, Blockbuster started converting select stores in select regions to GameRush stores. These stores sell and buy consumers DVDs, games, gaming systems, and accessories. It is offered as a direct competition to stores such as EB Games and GameStop. Blockbuster used their location status to get instant converage; it also promotes these stores by hosting video game tournaments, special trade-on offers, and a more "hip" look to the section and staff.
Elimination of late fees
|
An older DVD rental case from Blockbuster Video. The newest version replaces the paper insert with the film's actual DVD lithograph. A barcode sticker is placed on the front (and back) and a '2-Day Rental' sticker is on the front; no '2-Day' sticker is present if the title is a seven-day rental. |
On January 1, 2005 Blockbuster introduced[
8] their "End of Late Fees" program.[
9] Instead of
late fees, which Blockbuster called Extended Viewing Fees (see infra), Blockbuster allows a seven day window after the due date, wherein the item may be returned without charge. After this point, Blockbuster automatically converts the rental to a sale and charges the customer the sale price (usually the Previously-Viewed item price) of the unreturned item. (
As of August 22, 2006, Blockbuster discontinued the rental-to-sale policy that had customers pay for the price of the movie minus the rental fee. Now, the rental fee will not be deducted from the sale.) Customers may then return the item within 30 days after the automatic sale date to have this charge refunded, less a "restocking fee" of $1.25. The initial due date of the rental item and the automatic sale date are both printed on the receipt beneath the title of the rental item.
The "No Late Fees" policy, as stated above, applies to corporate-owned stores, and some elements of the policy may differ among
franchised stores. Exact terms and conditions[
10] can be found Blockbuster's website.
On February 18, 2005 the
Attorney General of
New Jersey filed suit[
11] against Blockbuster, alleging that it had failed to clearly disclose the terms of the new policy, and that some
franchised stores were not participating in the program, had shorter grace periods, or charged higher restocking fees. Other states began looking into the program as well. On March 29 Blockbuster signed an "Assurance of Voluntary Compliance"[
12] with 46 states and the
District of Columbia (not including New Jersey), in which it agreed to more clearly inform customers of the terms and limitations of the program. A refund program was set up for those affected by the purchase charges or restocking fees, and rental coupons offered to compensate for Extended Viewing Fees paid in non-participating stores prior to the agreement. Blockbuster also paid $630,000 to the states involved to cover the costs of the investigation.
In 2002, Blockbuster settled a prior, unrelated suit that claimed that the company's late fees were unfair. Under the old Blockbuster policy, a customer was charged the full rental price for every day a movie was late. For example, if a 5-day movie rental cost $5, and the rental was returned 5 days late, the customer would be charged $25 in late fees. The settlement included coupons distributed to customers who had paid late fees under the old policy. Blockbuster changed their policy and began charging "Extended Viewing Fees," where the customer simply paid as if he had re-rented the movie. [
13]
United States
In August 2004 [
14], Blockbuster introduced an
online DVD rental service in the U.S. to compete with the established market leader,
Netflix. The initial price of the standard three-disc plan was $19.95, which was below the Netflix price (which had increased from $19.95 to $21.99 in June) [
15].
In October, Netflix reduced its own 3-disc price to $17.99; Blockbuster responded by reducing its price to $17.49 [
16]. Blockbuster made a further reduction to $14.99 in December, and apparently guaranteed this price to existing customers until January 2006 [
17]. In August 2005, Blockbuster raised their prices for new customers to match the Netflix level of $17.99 [
18].The above prices are for the standard three-disc plan; other plans vary from $9.99 for one disc to $47.99 for the 8-disc plan.
Blockbuster currently offers in-store bonus coupons to all of its online customers. Customers with two-disc or higher plans are given four coupons per month to rent a free DVD from a brick-and-mortar location, while one-disc customers are given two in-store rental coupons each month. Blockbuster also offers a special promotional discount to customers who purchase the online subscription in-store. The first month of online service is free for a three-disc plan. After the initial month, customers have the option to retain, cancel, or modify their subscription packages.
Blockbuster's U.S. online operation started with around 10 warehouses; further expansions [
19][
20] have brought that number to 35 plus 1000+ stores in the Blockbuster Online network [
21]. The company had 1 million customers by August 2005, and has stated a target of 2 million by the end of the first quarter of 2006 [
22].
United Kingdom
In the
UK, Blockbuster has been providing a version of online rentals since October 2002 [
23] with its "Pay Per Rent" [
24] service. This is more like a postal version of store rentals than the traditional online DVD rental subscription model, with per-rental prices of £3.50-£4.50, with a rental period of 5 nights (usually Monday-to-Friday, not including postal delivery times), and late fees (£0.70-0.90 per disc) [
25].
In May 2004, Blockbuster also introduced [
26] a conventional online subscription service [
27]. The unlimited 3-disc plan is £14.99/month.
Blockbuster's massive international permeation and domination of the video market has placed certain business practices under scrutiny.
On
September 27,
1990, the
MPAA introduced the
NC-17 rating in order to distinguish non-pornographic adult material from '
X-rated' materials. Under pressure from the Christian organization the
American Family Association, headed by Rev.
Donald Wildmon, Blockbuster decided not to stock NC-17 titles, and certain "unrated" titles. The AFA also successfully campaigned against them carrying films such as
The Last Temptation of Christ.
*Note: Although this may have been the case originally, many locations, including Blockbuster's Online service[
28], currently carry
The Last Temptation of Christ and other controversial films. Their actual stores also carry older NC-17 rated films such as
Henry and June and
Showgirls in their uncut form.
Blockbuster policy prohibits Adults Only rated video games. Recently Blockbuster followed many other retail stores and pulled
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas from store shelves after the game's rating was increased from Mature to Adults Only. Later, Blockbuster began carrying a modified version of the game, from which
"pornographic elements" had been removed.
Critics of the chain, including
Naomi Klein in her
anti-globalization book
No Logo, say that Blockbuster is involved in
censorship - this accusation stemming allegations that Blockbuster edits videos for release beyond the standard retail cut, or at the very least uses its significant market share to influence studios to do more editing in order to offer movies that have more "family-friendly" ratings and can potentially reach a wider market. This, however, can be seen as bogus, due to the fact that when available, Blockbuster will almost always carry the "unrated" version of a DVD release instead of the theatrical cut.
Advertising campaigns
 |
Tippett-produced television commercial for Blockbuster, with Carl and Ray. |
One of Blockbuster's most well known
advertising campaigns was launched during the 2002
Superbowl. It starred the voices of
Jim Belushi and
James Woods, as a
rabbit and a
guinea pig in a pet shop, located across the road from a Blockbuster store.
Franchising
In Australia the company has pursued a franchising model whereby its once corporate store base of approximately 120 or so stores is now progressively being whittled down to single digits.
Metropolitan Victoria (Melbourne) is the last remaining significant corporate store base with newspaper advertisements recently placed for the sale of many of the remaining corporate stores.
This model follows the approach of Australia's leading video rental chain "Video Ezy" which has been a largely franchise-based operation for many years.
Slogans
* "Wow! What a difference!" (Australia, Canada, UK and U.S.)
* "Make it a Blockbuster Night." (All Countries, 2001-2003)
* "Let the good times roll!"
* "Go home happy." (U.S., 1997; and Australia, 2004)
* "One word...one world" (related to combining Blockbuster Video & Music, 1996)
* "Bringing entertainment home." (U.S., UK, and Canada, 1999)
* "The end of late fees. The start of more."
* "Feel The Rush" (Note: Only applies to special "Game Rush" stores)
* "Renting is BETTER Than Ever."
* "Feel the FREE." (used in Canada for the Blockbuster REWARDS)
* "MORE from BLOCKBUSTER." (used in Canada and Australia)
* "Don't rely on anyone else to entertain you!" (UK, 2005)
* "More movies, more choice, more value." (UK, 2005)
* "JOIN OUR CAST & CREW... FROM LEADING ROLES TO STARRING ROLES." (help wanted ads in Canada, 2006)
*
Movie Gallery/Hollywood Video*
Netflix*
Rogers Video*
Family Video* Various independent and locally own video rental stores.
*
Blockbuster Video Corporate website*
Mexican Blockbuster video website*
Canadian Blockbuster video website*
Australian Blockbuster video website*
Argentinian Blockbuster video website*
Hollywood's New Zombie: The last days of Blockbuster, by Edward Jay Epstein; Slate, January 9, 2006
*
The Blockbuster hate and complaint site.
