Walgreens to trial DVD rental kiosks

Redbox, the DVD rental kiosk company, has scored a trial with Walgreens, according to this article in the Chicago Tribune. The trial, which began in September is currently running in 38 stores in the Chicago and Houston metro areas, and carries the same $1/night fee as the Redbox machines that have been deployed to various McDonald's restaurants. Just as in the past, the kiosk serves a dual-purpose of both making revenue from rentals and also giving people a reason to return to the same retail locations multiple times in a row:

"The whole concept is to get the purchase intent in the way of the consumer so they almost trip over it," said Paul Schlossberg, president of D/FW Consulting, a Goshen, N.Y.-based firm that specializes in the food and vending industries. "If you walk into McDonald's and you can rent a movie for a buck a night, that means you're going to come back."

I've seen more and more DVD rental stations (both Redbox and other-branded) in my own shopping excursions recently, so it certainly seems like the industry is making some positive gains (either that, or a lot of people are going to lose money on it). The ultimate solution, of course, would be to make all of the machines compatible, so I can rent a movie from a Redbox kiosk at a McDonald's but then return it to somebody else's kiosk at another location.

Past articles about Redbox:

Redbox signs Smith's Food & Drug
McDonald's DVD kiosks drive sales
McDonalds expands use of DVD kiosks

Tags: Wallgreens, DVD rental kiosk, DVD kiosk, Redbox