Question:
I am currently thinking about setting up a DVD Rental and Information site. From all the the other sites that are out there is there anything that I can do to make mine different?
Your thoughts and comments would be greatly appreciated as it is people like you I wish to target.
Thanks
BBB
I rent most of the films I watch and was using www.dvdoptions.com until they started their 'moviematch' scheme. All the films I want to rent are normally 'out of stock' and I have to wait in line until they are available, which is no good for me, which is why I use www.movietrak.com: They aren't quite as good as dvdoptions but at least I can rent a film when I want.
A good point about dvdoptions is that dvds which are released with two discs can be rented for £3.49 instead of the usual £2.99
The don't know about making it different, but the most important points are:
* Good price
* Availability
* Customer care
BIG Discounts for DVDForums members, of course! :D
There seems to be quite a few of these type of sites in the USA but not that many UK ones and certainly not many good/reliable ones.
Pre-booking new films so they arrive on their first day out would be a nice idea.
Good luck with it. :thumbs:
Yeah, there is a great site in US, GreenCine ( http://www.greencine.com/main? ) that deals mostly with anime, indies, asian, cult releases. They have any and every movie you could ever want that Netflix or Ballbuster doesn't have, and every volume of every Anime title. That was a good idea. If there isn't a service like that in UK yet, I think there is a big niche market that's still untapped.
I'd go with Soundstyle on this. Used to use DVD Options all the time until they started that "moviematch" scheme. Now all the DVDs I want I have to queue for weeks for - so I have switched back to movietrak. It may cost a bit more but at least I get the films I want when I want.
Thanks for the feedback so far, I looked at some of the sites that have been recommended but I'm still looking for an edge?
Any ideas.
Thanks
BBB
May be a daft question, but do you really need much of an edge?
If everybody switched to your new site overnight you probably couldn't cope with demand and it would be easy to get a bad reputation!
I agree with SOUNDBYTE, good prices, good customer care and high availability are the keys to building a business. You won't get 100% of the business, especially not overnight.
In the same way as the Forum users buy DVDs from several outlets, they are likely to use more than one hire firm. Don't let that put you off. If you are decent and honest the word will soon get round.
The key to the whole thing is going to be building a "sticky" web site. A site that people will want to come back to frequently.
The forums is a good site for that as there is a lot of user interaction. In fact user feedback about the films they rent could be very useful, so a small forum might be worth considering.
That would be a lot of work though! Perhaps DVD Forums would consider helping in return for member discounts or sponsorship?
Again thanks to those who taken an interest, stock should not be a problem (hopefully if this deal comes off:thumbs: !)
Chatting like this in a forum is great research for me and I will definately keep the UK public posted.
BBB
I could offer a turn around of say 24hrs on at least 3000 films!
What would say to that?
Looking for DVD packaging as well....
DVDoptions send you the dvd in a case (rather flashy nowadays - at first it was just a clear plastic envelope) and a printed envelope with postage paid for returning it
I for one would be interested :) Thing is, not just mainstream stuff hey! Have a little variety and that will be your edge
I for one would be interested Thing is, not just mainstream stuff hey! Have a little variety and that will be your edge
wholly agree
:clap:
keep it coming all this is great!
Would you like a top ten like in Blockbuster store?
How many favourites would you like to be able to store?
Thanks
What do you mean favorites? The rental queue?
I got 300 in my netflix queue and another 140 anime and indie titles at CineGreen, so, I'd say unlimited queue is needed :dork:
Top 10's suck, it'll just be the boring old blockbusters that everyone's seen.
Now a top ten based on your previous rentals or ratings, tailored for your taste, that'd be good.
exactly - the whole point of online dvd rental as far as i''m concerned is that you can get all sorts of more rarified/obscure stuff that you'll never find at your local store.
agree with everything AdminSpod said!
i myself have just played around with the idea of renting over the net, simply for fun, essentially though i felt i would never bother, as Movietrak and Dvdoptions already offer the service and both do very well... and as you've said, it's hard to find an edge over them... but as Spod says, we do use multiple sites.. i myself use both Movietrak and DVDOptions, Movietrak are 2nd choice when Options are out of stock, purely as they are a tad bit costlier.. and that's the only reason.. because both do what they say on the tin... order before 12noon and the dvd is with you next day.. and both their customer service is excellent.
But if you were to open up a site, and match their service, and even have the same price, i don't see why i wouldn't use your site too... renting over the internet will become more popular as the DVD boom continues.. and lord knows how much more popular it will be after this Xmas, it seems EVERYONE i know has more than one player in their household. So i can easily see room for another site.
But don't limit yourself like in-movies to just having these subscription type deals, be like Options and offer a range of payment plans according to the type of customer.
One thing that seems apparent is that niether site seems to reward those who rent MANY titles from them.. Movietrak have this thing, where if you are able to return 6 titles each within a day of recieving them, they will give you a free rental.. but i think this is highly impractical and totally takes away the attraction of internet renting, and that's not rushing to watch a disc. I think a better option would be giving a free rental if you rent and return more than 10 discs in one month or something like that... these subscription services are useless for people who like seeing lots of films, as nothing is ever in stock, it's only good for casual movie watchers.
I myself have stopped using these sites for anything other than what my local video stores doesn't stock, because the fact is i've come to re-appeciate the ability to pick something off a shelve and watch it that night. Off course no internet company can beat that.. the only thing you can do is offer these niche genres.
And one crucial thing in that respect is being well known for stocking less widely available titles.. not just stocking them, but actually being known specifically for it... that way you'll have a greater chance of attracting as many people as possible to your site, even if they don't find what they came in for, they may leave with something else.
Something that is within your healthy mainstream catalogue, and never being out of stock on popular titles is a definate.
as for packagaing, DVDOptions are using this very cool ejecting plastic case thing right now.. look into them, as they are seriously cool, and work a treat.
And someone mentioned having customer feedback, or a mini forum.. that could be something you could look into.. or you could even sponsor this site, and have your own forum here. But as Spod said, start off slow, those 2 big sites starting off very small if i remember, and just grew and grew, never over reaching their grasp.. it'll be hard to compete with them straight away, you need to be sneaky and quietly steal away their customers, before you start getting your website mentioned in national newspapers like Movietrak... etc...
again, Good luck mate! :)
Thank you , very much appreciated.
BBB
As a consumer I think the following things are important:
Choice: I want obscure films as well as blockbusters
Speed: I want films marked as recieved the day after I send and to arrive the day after they are marked as sent (ie 3 days turn around)
Availability: Don't want to wait 6 weeks to get the latest titles
Pricing: Matching the pricing of existing renters or beating them.
If you were to do this you'd have a very loyal customer base. I currently use in-movies and they suceed on every point except on availability ("I only get DVD's at the bottom of the list!").
However it's not easy. You'd have to spend quite a bit on stock and on staff to ensure quick turnaround. Being located in Newcastle when most of your customers are located in the SE may slow things down (but you may get more local custom.
Having a good database/website could be important as possibly software to help you predict demand and ensure optimal distribution (there may be something available or you may need to commison some).
Your thoughts and comments would be greatly appreciated as it is people like you I wish to target.
Thanks
BBB
Answers:
I rent most of the films I watch and was using www.dvdoptions.com until they started their 'moviematch' scheme. All the films I want to rent are normally 'out of stock' and I have to wait in line until they are available, which is no good for me, which is why I use www.movietrak.com: They aren't quite as good as dvdoptions but at least I can rent a film when I want.
A good point about dvdoptions is that dvds which are released with two discs can be rented for £3.49 instead of the usual £2.99
The don't know about making it different, but the most important points are:
* Good price
* Availability
* Customer care
Answers:
BIG Discounts for DVDForums members, of course! :D
There seems to be quite a few of these type of sites in the USA but not that many UK ones and certainly not many good/reliable ones.
Pre-booking new films so they arrive on their first day out would be a nice idea.
Good luck with it. :thumbs:
Answers:
Yeah, there is a great site in US, GreenCine ( http://www.greencine.com/main? ) that deals mostly with anime, indies, asian, cult releases. They have any and every movie you could ever want that Netflix or Ballbuster doesn't have, and every volume of every Anime title. That was a good idea. If there isn't a service like that in UK yet, I think there is a big niche market that's still untapped.
Answers:
I'd go with Soundstyle on this. Used to use DVD Options all the time until they started that "moviematch" scheme. Now all the DVDs I want I have to queue for weeks for - so I have switched back to movietrak. It may cost a bit more but at least I get the films I want when I want.
Answers:
Thanks for the feedback so far, I looked at some of the sites that have been recommended but I'm still looking for an edge?
Any ideas.
Thanks
BBB
Answers:
May be a daft question, but do you really need much of an edge?
If everybody switched to your new site overnight you probably couldn't cope with demand and it would be easy to get a bad reputation!
I agree with SOUNDBYTE, good prices, good customer care and high availability are the keys to building a business. You won't get 100% of the business, especially not overnight.
In the same way as the Forum users buy DVDs from several outlets, they are likely to use more than one hire firm. Don't let that put you off. If you are decent and honest the word will soon get round.
The key to the whole thing is going to be building a "sticky" web site. A site that people will want to come back to frequently.
The forums is a good site for that as there is a lot of user interaction. In fact user feedback about the films they rent could be very useful, so a small forum might be worth considering.
That would be a lot of work though! Perhaps DVD Forums would consider helping in return for member discounts or sponsorship?
Answers:
Again thanks to those who taken an interest, stock should not be a problem (hopefully if this deal comes off:thumbs: !)
Chatting like this in a forum is great research for me and I will definately keep the UK public posted.
BBB
Answers:
I could offer a turn around of say 24hrs on at least 3000 films!
What would say to that?
Looking for DVD packaging as well....
Answers:
DVDoptions send you the dvd in a case (rather flashy nowadays - at first it was just a clear plastic envelope) and a printed envelope with postage paid for returning it
I for one would be interested :) Thing is, not just mainstream stuff hey! Have a little variety and that will be your edge
Answers:
I for one would be interested Thing is, not just mainstream stuff hey! Have a little variety and that will be your edge
wholly agree
Answers:
:clap:
keep it coming all this is great!
Answers:
Would you like a top ten like in Blockbuster store?
How many favourites would you like to be able to store?
Thanks
Answers:
What do you mean favorites? The rental queue?
I got 300 in my netflix queue and another 140 anime and indie titles at CineGreen, so, I'd say unlimited queue is needed :dork:
Top 10's suck, it'll just be the boring old blockbusters that everyone's seen.
Now a top ten based on your previous rentals or ratings, tailored for your taste, that'd be good.
Answers:
exactly - the whole point of online dvd rental as far as i''m concerned is that you can get all sorts of more rarified/obscure stuff that you'll never find at your local store.
Answers:
agree with everything AdminSpod said!
i myself have just played around with the idea of renting over the net, simply for fun, essentially though i felt i would never bother, as Movietrak and Dvdoptions already offer the service and both do very well... and as you've said, it's hard to find an edge over them... but as Spod says, we do use multiple sites.. i myself use both Movietrak and DVDOptions, Movietrak are 2nd choice when Options are out of stock, purely as they are a tad bit costlier.. and that's the only reason.. because both do what they say on the tin... order before 12noon and the dvd is with you next day.. and both their customer service is excellent.
But if you were to open up a site, and match their service, and even have the same price, i don't see why i wouldn't use your site too... renting over the internet will become more popular as the DVD boom continues.. and lord knows how much more popular it will be after this Xmas, it seems EVERYONE i know has more than one player in their household. So i can easily see room for another site.
But don't limit yourself like in-movies to just having these subscription type deals, be like Options and offer a range of payment plans according to the type of customer.
One thing that seems apparent is that niether site seems to reward those who rent MANY titles from them.. Movietrak have this thing, where if you are able to return 6 titles each within a day of recieving them, they will give you a free rental.. but i think this is highly impractical and totally takes away the attraction of internet renting, and that's not rushing to watch a disc. I think a better option would be giving a free rental if you rent and return more than 10 discs in one month or something like that... these subscription services are useless for people who like seeing lots of films, as nothing is ever in stock, it's only good for casual movie watchers.
I myself have stopped using these sites for anything other than what my local video stores doesn't stock, because the fact is i've come to re-appeciate the ability to pick something off a shelve and watch it that night. Off course no internet company can beat that.. the only thing you can do is offer these niche genres.
And one crucial thing in that respect is being well known for stocking less widely available titles.. not just stocking them, but actually being known specifically for it... that way you'll have a greater chance of attracting as many people as possible to your site, even if they don't find what they came in for, they may leave with something else.
Something that is within your healthy mainstream catalogue, and never being out of stock on popular titles is a definate.
as for packagaing, DVDOptions are using this very cool ejecting plastic case thing right now.. look into them, as they are seriously cool, and work a treat.
And someone mentioned having customer feedback, or a mini forum.. that could be something you could look into.. or you could even sponsor this site, and have your own forum here. But as Spod said, start off slow, those 2 big sites starting off very small if i remember, and just grew and grew, never over reaching their grasp.. it'll be hard to compete with them straight away, you need to be sneaky and quietly steal away their customers, before you start getting your website mentioned in national newspapers like Movietrak... etc...
again, Good luck mate! :)
Answers:
Thank you , very much appreciated.
BBB
Answers:
As a consumer I think the following things are important:
Choice: I want obscure films as well as blockbusters
Speed: I want films marked as recieved the day after I send and to arrive the day after they are marked as sent (ie 3 days turn around)
Availability: Don't want to wait 6 weeks to get the latest titles
Pricing: Matching the pricing of existing renters or beating them.
If you were to do this you'd have a very loyal customer base. I currently use in-movies and they suceed on every point except on availability ("I only get DVD's at the bottom of the list!").
However it's not easy. You'd have to spend quite a bit on stock and on staff to ensure quick turnaround. Being located in Newcastle when most of your customers are located in the SE may slow things down (but you may get more local custom.
Having a good database/website could be important as possibly software to help you predict demand and ensure optimal distribution (there may be something available or you may need to commison some).
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