Blockbuster tests online games rental program
Cleveland-area subscribers can order titles starting in June
By Danny King -- Video Business, 5/27/2009
MAY 27 | PHYSICAL: Blockbuster next month will start testing an order-by-Internet videogames rental program at some Ohio stores, with plans to roll out the service to the entire chain by the end of the year.
Blockbuster will start letting customers rent videogames online from the company's Cleveland-area stores on June 30, the company said in a statement today. Subscribers to the company's Total Access and Blockbuster by Mail services will be charged an additional $7 for each month they order game rentals over the Web, with each game being counted toward the number of monthly rentals allowed under the subscriber's specific plan, according to Blockbuster.
"Giving our consumers the ability to rent games from our online service is a natural progression for our business," Bob Barr, VP and general manager of Blockbuster.com, said in the statement.
Blockbuster, which will ship the games from its online-distribution centers and allow for both by-mail and in-store game returns, is looking to reverse this year's same-store sales decline by focusing more on a videogames market that, until last month, had been expanding as other forms of home entertainment experienced declining revenue.
The company earlier this month said its first-quarter profit fell 39% after Blockbuster's same-store sales fell 10.9% from a year earlier on a weak DVD release slate and lower in-store inventory stemming from cost-cutting efforts. Game rentals accounted for 8% of the company's U.S. rental revenue, up from 6.6% a year earlier.
For in-store returns, Total Access subscribers will be allowed to exchange games for free DVD rentals or game rentals at a discounted price, while Blockbuster by Mail customers may exchange games for both DVDs and games rentals at a discounted price.
Total U.S. videogame industry revenue plunged 17% last month largely from declining Nintendo Wii game console sales, causing sales through the first four months of the year to be down 4% from record 2008 revenue, NPD Group said earlier this month.
Blockbuster has about15 stores in the Cleveland area.
