Redbox
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Redbox Automated Retail, LLC | |
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| Type | Subsidiary of both Coinstar and McDonalds |
| Founded | 2003 |
| Headquarters | Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois |
| Key people | Gregg Kaplan, CEO Mitch Lowe, COO John Harvey, CFO |
| Industry | Retail/DVD rental |
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For other uses, see Red box.
Redbox rents DVDs via self-service or interactive kiosks located across the United States in locations such as McDonald's, where it began — as well as other retail, pharmacy and grocery store locations across the United States.
Entertainment Merchants Association ranked the company as the fifth largest DVD rental company in the United States.[1]
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[edit] Kiosk design and operation
Redbox began in 2002[2] using re-branded kiosks manufactured and operated by Silicon Valley-based DVDPlay at 140 McDonald's restaurants in their Denver test market.[1] The first DVD rental kiosks in the Washington DC area accompanied the company's unsuccessful attempt at automated convenience store kiosks.[1] In May 2005, Redbox phased out the DVDPlay-manufactured machines and contracted Solectron — a subsidiary of Flextronics, which also manufactures the Zune, Xbox and Xbox 360 — to create and manufacture a custom kiosk design.[3]
The company's typical self-service vending kiosk combines an interactive touch screen and sign, a robotic disk array system[4] and web-linked electronic communications. Kiosks hold over 600 DVDs with 70-200 titles, updated weekly.[4] DVDs can be returned the next day to any of the company's kiosks; charges accrue up to 25 days, after which the customer then owns the DVD (without the case) and pays $25.00 plus tax. Customers can also reserve DVDs online, made possible by real-time inventory updates on the company's website.[5].
[edit] Company information
Redbox Automated Retail LLC was initially funded by McDonald's Ventures, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of McDonald’s Corp., which still owns 47 percent of the company with another 47 percent of redbox owned by Coinstar.[5] Redbox Automated Retail operates independently from its headquarters in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, managed by a four-person board of directors — two positions appointed by Coinstar and two appointed by McDonald's Ventures.[2]
The company passed Blockbuster Inc. in 2007 in number of U.S. locations[6] and passed 100 million rentals in February 2008.[7] As of April 2007, the kiosks averaged 49.1 rentals per day and US$37,457 a year in revenue.[1] Competitors include The New Release and DVDplay.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d "Redbox Finds Its Niche Focus on DVDs, Grocery Locations Fuel Growth". Washington Post, Ylan Q. Mui, April 28, 2007.
- ^ a b "Coinstar buys 47.3% stake in Redbox". Retailnet.com, Drug Store News, Friday, November 18, 2005.
- ^ "McDonald’s Orders More McDVD". Home Media Magazine, Holly J. Wagner, May 2, 2005.
- ^ a b "SSKA's official show wraps up in Orlando". Kiosks.org, 20 Feb 2006.
- ^ a b "Rise of redbox". Selfserviceworld.com, Bill Yackey,20 Aug 2007.
- ^ "Redbox surpasses Blockbuster in number of U.S. locations". Kioskmarketplace.com, 26 Nov 2007.
- ^ "Redbox surpasses 100 million DVD rentalsRedbox surpasses Blockbuster in number of U.S. locations". Kioskmarketplace.com, Feb 2008.
