DVD rental kiosks are moving out of convenience stores and gas stations, into laundromats, health clubs, pharmacies and office towers as entrepreneurs test the new model. Rental stores such as California-based Valley Home Video, are in fact converting store space to DVD kiosks in response to current rental market conditions.
Valley Home Video had previously operated next door to a grocery store, Valley Food Super Center, which now provides automated DVD rental kiosks with an online reservation facility instead of a separate video rental store.
With drive-through DVD rentals offered at two McDonalds’ restaurants in Longmont, Colorado, the automated, payment card-activated DVD rental model can be said to have mainstreamed. If DVD-dispensing kiosks are located at convenience stores at gas stations, consumers have an incentive to buy gas as DVDs are returned to the kiosk, while station operators benefit from the kiosk’s revenue potential and the impact on store traffic. Kiosks serve spontaneous customers that want to watch movies at specific times, and allow operators to tweak titles for local markets.
Industry analysts confirm that video rental stores are fading out of the picture, with DVD rental kiosks enabling consumers to use a payment card to rent a DVD for USD 1. Some actually plan to take the DVD home, burn a copy and then return it the same day, which has led a few kiosk operators to provide DVD- or CD-burning services on-site at a store’s premises. DVD kiosks tend to hold 500 to 1,500 titles, to compete with brick-and-mortar and online rental services, but in time, some kiosks may also sell consumer products such as iPods and wireless accessories.