The film and computer game rental industry has changed dramatically in recent years.
When the VHS video recorder became a fixture in British homes in the 1980s, the industry boomed. And as home cinema systems got much closer to replicating the auditory and visual quality of cinemas in the 1990s, film rental continued to present a popular alternative.
The noughties have brought equally as significant developments, and the ever-quickening pace of technological change makes it hard to anticipate the fortunes of the industry in the future.
DVDs are likely to be ousted as the dominant format sooner than it replaced its predecessor: a new format war is brewing between Sony’s Blu-ray discs and the Toshiba-backed HD-DVD, which has been compared to the VHS-Betamax battle of the early 1980s.
As a DVD rental store owner, you might have a difficult choice to make when the formats are released: do you stock Blu-ray discs, HD-DVD discs, or both?
You could do something different with your video store by buying automated DVD rental machines from Original Video
The good news is that the latest formats have a new encryption code to stop piracy, which would boost the DVD rental market. That this code will be effective, however, is far from certain.
Yet the whole concept of storing films and music on individual discs could eventually look outmoded. People are now able to download films straight onto their computer, phone or even iPod.
But whether people want to watch full-length movies on these mediums is questionable.
Manufacturer of automated DVD rental machines Original Video is unperturbed by the threat.
“We feel that traditional rental will continue to be the preferred method to watch movies,” says a representative, “as the issues of internet downloads, such as the slow speed of download and size of movies, make it inconvenient to the consumer at present.”
Automated
There’s no reason why video rental shops should be only a victim to technological advancement. You could do something different with your video store by buying automated DVD rental machines from Original Video.
“The beauty of our system is that once our machine has been introduced into its desired location, the machine operates as a fully automated business,” says the company’s representative.
“The full process of registering at the machine, along with rental and returns, is all performed at the machine without the need of staff interaction – meaning it can be used 24 hours a day.
“This not only saves the cost of staffing, but our credit and debit card system also ensures that the machine is highly secure, as late or unreturned movies are automatically charged.
Saving time is usually among the benefits of new technology – and these automated machines are no different.
“As a majority of problems are solved on the internet, owners need only dedicate an hour of their day to running their business.”
Original Video is technically not a franchise – it’s a manufacturer – but it offers many of the benefits of one.
You can find other DVD rental franchise opportunities on FranchiseSales.com. The usual franchising benefits apply: brand recognition, and help with your business plan, location, shop fitting, marketing and installation of stock, as well as the use of the franchisor’s proven systems.
