Blockbuster Thinks You'll Drive To A Store To Download A Movie?
from the our-dumb-ideas dept
While I do think Blockbuster is trying a few interesting ideas in its ongoing effort to adapt to a rapidly changing market, some of its ideas are just flat out bad. For example, new Chairman and CEO James Keyes actually spent time at the company's recent shareholder meeting to unveil and talk up the possibilities of a special movie download kiosk that can be placed in stores. It sounds like someone got "kiosk fever." For those who don't follow the e-retailing space, I guess you can be forgiven for actually thinking digital kiosks make sense (though, barely). But the concept of in-store kiosks for digital content has been around for over 20 years, and shows up like clockwork every two years or so -- and fails miserably every time. People just aren't interested -- especially when they have the best, most useful "kiosk" they could ever need at their home in the form of their computer. The idea that people will want to go to a Blockbuster store to download a movie seems preposterous.
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Filed Under: brick-and-mortar, downloads, kiosks, movies, video
Companies: blockbuster
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Re: Doesn't anyone ever think about fixing broken kiosks
And what about any network connection? Does it make sense for each store to have a high-speed Internet connection that can also break? I doubt they'll have T1's from each store directly to the regional datacenters, so they'll have to rely on their ISP and the 'Net to get good bandwidth. And ensure reasonable load.
Did this idiot think about this at _all_ before saying "Make it so"?
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don't write off the whole idea
Putting kiosks at places where people already are, and giving them good options on how to get the movie - dl to ipod, email me a secure link to watch the movie online etc - and the idea could have some wings.
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Re: don't write off the whole idea
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Re: don't write off the whole idea
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On that topic
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Seriously, this is the kind of idea that could have worked at the tail end of the last decade when most people had dial-up and 4Gb hard drives. Now, the only people this will appeal to are people who haven't quite worked out this newfangled Internet thing. But then, why would they want to download instead of renting the DVD? Why would anyone?
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Consumers can't be fooled.
How do -YOU- feel about vending machines? Always have a good experience with them? Not me. I hate the things.
If you are a retailer and you are replacing employees with machines at the checkouts, you are alienating your customers.
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Re: Consumers can't be fooled.
That is just not true. If I'm at a store with self checkout I will usually use it if I don't have very many items. If they can have one employee running four or six checkout lines, that is fantastic. Everyone spends less time waiting in line, whether they use self checkout or not.
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Borders
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What about slow internet access countries?
Where I live the average internet connection is nominally 1 mbps, though actually more like 512 kbps.
If this thing is located at a mall for example, I could go download a few movies into my laptop/pendrive/external harddrive while I do other stuff and come back a few minutes/hours later to pick it up.
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Re: What about slow internet access countries?
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Re: What about slow internet access countries?
> go download a few movies into my laptop/pendrive/external
> harddrive while I do other stuff and come back a few
> minutes/hours later to pick it up.
Yes, please leave your laptop unattended at the mall kiosk while you go do other things!
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great idea
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Why bother, when you have redbox?
Redbox is a great idea and works pretty well (especially if you take use of free rental codes) in our area. The only draw back is that they are getting popular and you have to wait a few minutes to get/return your DVD sometimes.
So stop by my local McD's, Walgreens, grocery store, etc and play a $1 to get a dvd rental or go to a Blockbuster store and wait for a download and deal with humans that will certainly pressure me to buy a magazine subscription?
Blockbuster would be wise and try to purchase a controlling stake in Redbox when it goes public soon, because between Netflix + Redbox, Blockbuster stores are outdated and no longer needed.
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There is a Redbox (dollar a night new release DVD rental - actually a mcdonalds company) at our local supermarket, and they do a brisk business. It has the potential, especially if they do highdef, to at least slow the bleeding for bb.
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But you left out the best part...
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Re: But you left out the best part...
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I anxiously await the day I can buy a car from a vending machine. I can see it now-- scan your drivers license, scan your thumb print, and the keys come out thru the front.
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I had this idea several years ago though. The fact that blockbuster, whose business is distributing movies is behind me in idea generation is disturbing.
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Re:
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Redbox
The economics of $1.00 a movie per day work as opposed to paying monthly service fees for downloading and purchasing blank DVDs. If a site offers $1.00 downloads with no other agreements, you would have a better argument as the home pc being the best kiosk.
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Typical...
I tend to agree with idleline on this. Redbox not only beat them to the punch, but have a much better business model. They place RedBoxes in grocery stores and in some places quickie marts (or so I hear).
Not only can I get a $1 per day movie, I can go online and see what's available at my local kiosks, and rent them from my PC to pick up later in the day.
Granted, RedBox's selection is usually somewhat limited, but it's FAR LESS ANNOYING to go online and see the movie I want is out of stock, than it is to go into a video store and see the same thing.
Hence, I have not darkened the door of a Blockbuster or Hollywood Video in over three years.
Now, how long until someone builds a Netflix client for Linux?
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Absolutely retarded
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Possible (good) reason for this
With this option, you can still get that movie even if you don't have a GOOD connection to the net. Probably also without having to have a monthly membership.
What would be smart is to pair these kiosks with burners, to burn the movies to disk - but that would be a nightmare for them with the DRM crowd and all.
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Kiosks as Shelf Extenders
However, it also won't fix the major problem with Blockbuster's in-store experience that no one wants to drive to get their movies at all. So while it may be a short-term service enhancement, the long term for Blockbuster's retail stores looks very grim.
Eric.
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selection
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Not a horrible idea
2. These won't involve downloading off the net, the movies would likely be on the kiosk and it'd just be a transfer.
3. The kiosk could offer tons of movies not in the store.
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it's one of those ideas that no one will know will catch on until its tested. Its certainly not a "bad" idea.
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Provided the download doesn't have to be returned, someone without high speed internet might do this. They would save money on gas by not having to bring it back. I'm guessing that many people who return a movie rent another at the same time. That wouldn't happen in this case.
Another possibility might be someone who already goes to Blockbuster and wants a very rare movie that is not stocked, provided it was available via download. The customer would have to know this ahead of time to bring something to download the video to.
The only thing that could possibly work would be a Redbox type machine not in a Blockbuster that would download a movie to device instead of renting a DVD. That way movies would never be out, could have a bigger selection and would not need to be returned.
But what do I know?
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Other ideas for digital kiosks
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Same idea for PC (or all) games
Use this for the back catalog of all games ever released and now you can go to game stop, ask for some game from the 90s and sell that to a customer on the spot.
Take the key server one more step and when a game gets traded in at say, the end of the earth, a new key is added and a new disk can be made at the other end of the earth. That way the profit on traded games can be kept.
A system like this has only the most basic DRM, Online games will check the key, offline games dont care. This will allow the sale of PC games (which are tied to a key and not the physical product) Safe keeping of your old key, but not the requirment you use eather product.
Just a silly idea from a computer gamer with to many extra games now.
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Too big
So given I have to go to a store anyway, I dont really care if they change their media delivery process.
CB has made some valid points too.
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I think it's ok.
Redbox and other vending machines are fine, and convenient, but have a very limited selection. In theory, this kiosk would be great to allow access to obscure titles that it wouldn't make sense to keep physically in-stock at the store.
They'll probably botch the system somehow, by either making it to inconvenient, overly expensive, or with a limited selection, but I don't think the basic idea is bad.
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ican'tthinkstraight
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