Price Wars Teaser Trailer For DVD-By-Mail

from the theater-near-you dept

Netflix did it. Blockbuster followed. And now Walmart has rolled back its prices for DVD-by-mail rental services. Since Netflix costs $17.99, Blockbuster weighs in at $17.49 and Walmart sneaks under at $17.36, the question becomes: will customers really think that saving about $12 a year is worth trying a cheaper service? That probably depends on how well Walmart and Blockbuster can leverage their stores as distribution centers. All things equal, Netflix doesn't have local stores all over the place, but that could be their advantage since their distribution centers are (hopefully) optimized to do their jobs, whereas both Walmart and Blockbuster have to train their stores to handle a new rental plan and/or build dedicated new distribution centers to mail out the DVDs. In any case, Amazon may be starting to feel a bit more reluctant to enter this industry that seems willing to eat away at its own revenue in order to "get big quick."

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