An intense battle has taken shape in the movie rental category. Blockbuster took command of the movie rental market through its brick and mortar presence throughout the country. The consumer buying process was shaken up when Netflix introduced a rent-by-mail approach. The convenience of having movies show up in the mailbox and more recently the ability to download some movies onto PCs allowed Netflix to grab market share from Blockbuster. The industry leader was starting to look like the industry dinosaur. Blockbuster has fought back. It has rolled out a mail delivery model similar to Netfilx, and this week the company announced the acquistion of Movielink, a firm offers movie download service via PCs.
Blockbuster’s recent moves are a signal that it is refusing to concede the online market for movie rentals. Customers of the two companies should be the winners in this battle, as both companies will likely be aggressive in pricing to lure customers. Also, customer service and product assortment should receive greater emphasis as each company looks to create a competitive advantage over the other. And, don’t count out cable and satellite television providers. They will make a play for customers, too, no doubt touting their advantage of on-demand delivery capability rather than waiting for a DVD to arrive via mail. Link
