In with the New, Out with the Old: Netflix is Here to Stay

The amount of customers using the traditional way of renting movies has been decreasing significantly over the past few years. By traditional I mean getting into your car, driving on the highway and waiting on a long line to get your movie fix for the weekend. Today the inconvenience and hassle of doing so was made official with Blockbuster officially announcing that they are in the later stages of filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy. Blockbuster, which was the national icon for movie rentals, has been surround by rumors of looming bankruptcy because of the increased competition from Internet renting service Netflix and continued traffic at Red Boxes throughout the county.

Netflix makes renting movies much more convenient for customers because they offer multiple possibilities for viewing movies. There are four main possibilities, first you can select what movies you would like online and they are mailed to your house, second you can download the movies online and watch them from your personal computer, third you can download movies using your gaming system such as a Play Station 3 or X-Box and fourth an Iphone owner can download and view movies on their phones.

If the convenience of the service doesn’t convince to switch over to Netflix then having absolutely no late fees will. For a constant monthly rate of 8.99 dollars per month the consumer can hold onto one movie at a time for as long as he or she wants without worrying about fee. When the movie is returned, the next movie on that persons list is sent out immediately.

I think the combination of the convenience, zero late fees and low monthly price is the reason why subscription growth has been increasing since the second quarter of 2009. Not only will this growth continue, I think even more gross is eminent when consumers gain exposure to this service.

I personally believe that the best service that Netflix offers is the capability to download videos off the Internet. This is a great feature because a plan is not needed and there is a level of spontaneity. However, there is one problem with downloading movies online. The complete database for all movies available through mail is not offered through the Internet downloading service, especially the newly released films. This can be very frustrating. Regardless of that frustration, downloading a movie in the comforts of your home is much better then sitting in traffic, waiting in line and paying late fees when going to a Blockbuster.

The before mentioned Red Boxes are a good alternative to waiting in line at a Blockbuster but still cannot compare to the convenience of Netflix. Red Box’s are scattered throughout the country mostly at grocery stores. You can purchase movies using your credit card and pay a price of one dollar per day. In my opinion there are two main problems with this service. First you have to pay late fees because the cost is one dollar per day and second you still have to leave your house and drive to these Box’s. You may call me lazy but if I have the option of getting a movie dropped off in my mailbox, I wouldn’t pass it down.