News

Coinstar, redbox take aim at c-stores

December 11, 2007

ATLANTA — No longer content to place DVD-rental kiosks solely in McDonald's restaurants and grocery stores, Coinstar and redbox announced plans to deploy more than two dozen DVD-rental kiosks in convenience stores across the United States. Coinstar plans to have 300 of the kiosks in place by the end of 2007, says Ray Taddeo, Coinstar's regional vice president

Coinstar, which owns half of redbox along with McDonald's, showcased the DVD-rental kiosk to convenience-store owners, distributors and retailers at the 2007 National Association of Convenience Stores trade show in Atlanta this week.

Taddeo cited high-volume traffic as the main reason Coinstar and other self-service companies are introducing themselves to the c-store industry.

"And we know that many of them are DVD renters," Taddeo said.

Redbox is the nation's leader in self-service DVD rentals, growing from 93,000 rentals in 2003 to more than 21 million in 2006. Now the company says it is on pace to reach 40 million rentals this year.

Coinstar, on the other hand, recently introduced a financial-services kiosk, which currently distributes prepaid cards at a handful of c-stores. Future versions of the kiosk will include a bill-payment application and money-transfer capabilities, Taddeo says.