Winning the renting wars again!

I like renting from a movie store. I like going in, picking out what I want, and for the most part taking it home when I want. It's the thrill of the hunt I suppose. Recently, I began to investigate why everyone I know is renting from Netflix and I wasn't. And here is where the I found out how David is slaying Goliath with bricks and mortar...

When I looked at doing the whole online renting thing, the biggest thing that turned me off and still does is that I don't get it right away. So for me I don't mind going into the store paying more and having it now. But if money is an issue, renting online should really be the way to go. Then the obvious answer would be to rent from Netflix. Now if your Blockbuster, what are you to do? You have spent years builiding brick and mortar stores only to see that no one is coming in to them anymore. Well my friends here is the answer. You take that advantage and use it again your competitor. At Blockbuster you can sign up to rent online. Then exchange it in the store, for another FREE movie while you wait. Why wouldn't I go with Blockbuster? Netflix can't offer me that.

Product driven companies have really two choices for a delivery channel. They can put up a website or they build a brick-and-mortar store. Which do you think is cheaper? So what do you do if your an established b&m store and your faced with increasing competition from a website. Namely what if your Blockbuster and Netflix moves in to your customer base? Well you take the biggest thing you have (and they don't) and lob it at them as hard as you can.

The Selling Point:If your faced with tough competition in your market, take your competitor's disadvantage and make it your advantage. Because right now, I don't see any reason to rent online if I get exchange it in a store. Now Blockbuster gets the best of both worlds from me.

UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE!
I just saw a new Blockbuster commercial last night (sorry I haven't found it on youtube to post yet), but they directly take on Netflix with the advantage of the "exchange it in store" option. Excellent job of leveraging your advantage!