subject: Should you let a shop sell you DVD rental? [print this page] Should you let a shop sell you DVD rental?
The number of DVD rental packages offered by retailers has dwindled in recent months - at one point almost every high street retailer and newspaper seemed to have an iron in the fire - but are they any good at actually providing the service?
Well, the first thing to note is that there are actually relatively few DVD rental companies operating in the UK. The vast majority of brands that you see when you look for a service or when you look at an advert for DVD rental are run by just a few large companies.
It's worth their while to run several subsidiaries in this way because those other companies will tend to already be established brands, just without an interest in DVD rental at the moment.
So, in effect, a big service with a lot of loyal customers who trust their brand and are willing to sign up to a service from them can make money from renting DVDs online without having to actually get their hands dirty at all by actually running any aspect of the company other than some basic marketing.
These new DVD rental offshoots could be fashion stores, newspapers, film magazines, supermarkets or newsagents - any business which already has a following could potentially profit without much risk. That explains why it's attractive for them.
Whether it should be attractive for you is a different matter. The facts above lead to one conclusion: you have to balance the quality of the parent company that will manage your service day to day with the quality of the offers and rewards you'll get from a shop or other company that you're loyal to.
For example, say the company is a blu ray news outlet and you're a big fan of blu ray rental - that will inevitably make going on the site a lot more interesting for you as a portal to learn about the latest blu ray releases.
In this case, the 'shop' is offering you extra value over and above that offered to you by just being able to rent DVDs online.
It could also be the case that the shop can offer you rewards which are even better than the smug satisfaction of getting your hands on the latest blu ray news.
For example, some offshoot site offer a longer DVD rental free trial then their parent company, which may turn your head.
You might also feel more than brand loyalty. For example, you might think that since print newspapers need all the help they can get adding some cash to their bottom line is no bad thing.
Overall, though, remember that it's the company behind the company that's really important: use a good DVD rental comparison site to get the full low down before you sign up.
