Blockbuster Inc. is taking direct aim at rival Netflix Inc., which allows consumers to order DVDs online and receive them in the mail, with a new promotion that points out that the Post Office is closed 62 days a year, meaning customers can’t get videos on those days. The promotion is timed to coincide with Presidents Day, one of those 62 days.
To encourage customers of Netflix, which has grabbed 12% of the entire market for DVD rentals, to come to a Blockbuster store, the chain is offering them free movie rentals in return for the tear-off address flaps of their Netflix rental envelopes. They can bring in as many flaps as they wish from today through next Wednesday, “including two days when post offices are closed,” as Blockbuster points out. They will not be required to sign up for Blockbuster’s online program in order to participate.
Netflix chairman & CEO Reed Hastings will deliver the June 6 Keynote Address: The Transformation of the Movie Rental Industry at the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition, June 4-7 in San Jose.
Blockbuster, No. 70 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, reports that it ended 2006 with 2.2 million online rental subscribers to its Total Access program, which includes online as well as store rental options, of which approximately 2 million were paying subscribers. 700,000 joined Total Access in the fourth quarter.
Netflix, No. 21 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, ended 2006 with 6.3 million subscribers and signed up 654,000 in the fourth quarter.
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