No longer content to place DVD rental kiosks solely in McDonald’s restaurants and grocery stores, Coinstar and Redbox announced it has deployed more than two dozen DVD rental kiosks in convenience stores across the U.S. It plans to have 300 in place by the end of 2007, according to Self-Service World Magazine.
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 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.
A Coinstar spokesman said high-volume traffic as the main reason Coinstar and other self-service companies are introducing themselves to the convenience store industry.
Redbox, located at thousands of McDonald’s restaurants and in groceries around the United States, is the nation’s leader in self-service DVD rentals, growing from 93,000 rentals in 2003 to more than 21 million in 2006. It is on pace to reach 40 million rentals this year.
Coinstar also introduced a financial services kiosk, which currently distributes prepaid cards at a handful of convenience stores. Future versions of the kiosk will include a bill payment application and money transfer capabilities, the report said.
