McDonald's DVD kiosks drive sales

I think I've written about the DVD rental kiosks that they've been trialing in a number of midwest and Rocky Mountain McDonald's franchises over the past few months, but apparently RedBox is expanding into selling the disks directly through their interactive kiosks. One interesting merchandising hook is described in an article in Video Business Online, where a DVD -- in this case, commemorating a local baseball stadium -- is sold exclusively through the kiosk:

Busch Stadium, self-distributed by Major League Baseball and the St. Louis Cardinals, will be exclusively available at McDonald’s Redbox machines in the St. Louis, Mo., market until Dec. 20. Priced at $17.99, the sports documentary chronicles the historic sports field, which will be replaced with a new ballpark in the spring.

Hart Sharp Video will distribute the title to video retailers starting Dec. 20, similarly limited to the St. Louis market.

Redbox machines have been installed in 800 U.S. locations. Besides St. Louis, other McDonald’s Redbox markets are Minnesota, Salt Lake City, Baltimore, Denver and Houston.

McDonald’s hasn’t disclosed how Redbox is contributing to its overall store revenue. Sources say adding a machine has nudged up total sales by about 5% at some McDonald’s locations (VB, 7-28).

But Waring did note that McDonald’s is pleased by the fact that the machines are luring in activity that they otherwise might not have enjoyed.

You can read the rest of the article here.