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Redbox Goes eBox in a Bid to Battle Netflix

Written on July 19, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: marketing

Remember when Blockbuster was king of the video rental biz? It was a brilliant concept developing at a time when studios were charging $80 for a new movie on VHS. But as DVD took over from VHS and the price point on new movies began to drop, Blockbuster found itself slipping from the top spot and now has become the Betamax of home video rentals – once loved, but now forgotten.

These days it’s Netflix who is wearing the crown with their original concept of offering all the DVDs you want for a flat rate per month (no late fees), delivered right to your mailbox. With 100,000 titles to choose from, including old movies, TV shows and indies, Netflix’s only downside is the wait and that’s where Redbox comes in.

Redbox combines the easy and usability of Netflix with the “watch it tonight” concept of Blockbuster. The DVDs are rented via one of 24,000 Redbox machines located in grocery and convenience stores all over the country. Customers swipe their debt card, choose their film then return it to the machine when they’re done. The only downside here is selection. The machines only hold a limited number of DVDs, so they carry only the newest, most popular movies available at any given time.

According to Bloomberg.com, Redbox realizes that they’re giving up a great deal of business to Netflix due to their inability to offer a wider variety of films, but now they’re prepared to do something about it. They’re going to build their own online rental business that will likely contain a streaming video component just like Netflix.

What I find ironic about this story is the fact that Redbox went into the business of instant DVD delivery in order to fill a need that Netflix couldn’t. By moving their business online, they aren’t giving the consumer anything new. And without anything new, how can they possibly hope to surpass Netflix who is already firmly entrenched in the market? Add to that Walmart, Sears and Best Buy all getting into the movie rental and streaming business and it seems like the field is already too crowded to bother.

Then there’s the problem that just because you do one thing well, doesn’t mean you can do another. Blockbuster tried regaining the top slot by adding an online component but barely took a bite out of Netflix’s business. If Redbox pours a lot of time and money into getting their online unit up and running, they’ll be taking capital away from their brick and mortar-ish business and that could spell disaster for the company as a whole.

I’m all for competition but unless Redbox has something to add to the niche that isn’t already being offered by Netflix, I say they’re better off spending their money to improve the system that’s already working for them.

What do you think? Could Redbox be the first real competition Netflix has ever had?

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Redbox Goes eBox in a Bid to Battle Netflix

Google Hangs Out a Shingle for Its Apps Marketplace

Written on March 11, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: Advertising, book, marketing

Google does what Google does and it has now opened the doors on an apps marketplace that is designed for Google Apps customers. Don’t think the overlap in terminology with the other app guys is coincidence either. The difference with this form of app though is the fundamental difference that separates Google from Apple. Google provides apps that are fundamental business needs and this strategy is where the search giant appears to be hanging its hat moving forward relating to search, advertising and more.

Yesterday the Official Google blog reported:

Every day, thousands of businesses choose the cloud. More than 2 million businesses have adopted Google Apps over the last three years, eliminating the hassles associated with purchasing, installing and maintaining hardware and software themselves.

We’ve found that when businesses begin to experience the benefits of cloud computing, they want more. We’re often asked when we’ll offer a wider variety of business applications — from accounting and project management to travel planning and human resources management. But we certainly can’t and won’t do it all, and there are hundreds of business applications for which we have no particular expertise.

First of all, having 2 million businesses using Google Apps is pretty impressive. While most are the SMB’s of the world, Google has shown the world the ability to penetrate enterprise accounts as well. Of course, this hits at another of the biggest competitors against the Goog: Microsoft.

Some apps that are part of the roll out are Intuit Online payroll, Manymoon project management, PS Connect and JIRA Studio for development to manage flow between various apps.

Watching this strategy unfold is pretty interesting. There is an awful lot riding on it and it would appear that Google has more of the pieces under their roof than any other competitor does. How this plays out should be fascinating. One of the final paragraphs of the post tells the real story:

For more information on the benefits of the Google Apps Marketplace to businesses, check out our Enterprise Blog post. Developers interested in learning how to integrate with Google Apps can check out our post on the Google Code Blog. Or, you can explore the Google Apps Marketplace directly at http://google.com/appsmarketplace.

Notice the order of how these are written. What it seems to be saying is that Google wants the enterprise and is daring everyone else to find a way to stop them.

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Google Hangs Out a Shingle for Its Apps Marketplace