Video Ezy
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Video Ezy is Australia's largest video and DVD rental chain with over 500 stores within Australia as well as over 140 stores in New Zealand and 200 throughout South-East Asia. It was founded in 1983. In the busiest hour on an average Saturday, Video Ezy stores serve approximately 100,000 Australians.
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[edit] Competition
In Australia Video Ezy's major competition comes from Blockbuster, Civic Video, Network Video and to a lesser extent Movies 4U (also known as Top Video or Leading Edge Video). Video Ezy dominates the massive Sydney market. However in other Australian states like Queensland it has a similar number of stores to rivals Civic, Blockbuster and other minor companies. In February 2007, Blockbuster announced it would be selling its Australian subsidiary and franchising rights to Video Ezy, subject to approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.[1]
[edit] History
Video Ezy first opened their doors in 1983, opening up their first store in the suburb of Hurstville in Sydney, New South Wales. After setting up stores all over Australia, Video Ezy sought to find other markets.
In early 1999 Video Ezy expanded into the South East Asian market. Many thought the move was too optimistic, claiming that the large industry for piracy would prove to be harmful to their expansion into the market. The first store in South East Asia opened in Bangkok to great success. This led the way for over 100 other stores in the area.
Along with the Thailand stores Video Ezy opened up over 100 in Indonesia, as well as numerous outlets in countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Fiji and the United Arab Emirates. Also that year the franchise undertook major changes as DVDs became a part of the Australian home video market.
In late 2000 Video Ezy introduced Ezyretail©. Ezyretail© is a video store specific point of sale (POS) system exclusively used by Video Ezy. The software was first developed at Video Ezy 's Sydney head office in 1999. It replaced VideoMinder, a then DOS-based system still used by Blockbuster and some older Video Ezy franchisees. In light of many bugs, that have since been ironed out, the EzyRetail© and particularly the CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system have proven to be a magnificent asset to the continuation of the video rental business.
In Australia, Video Ezy decided to sell its corporate stores in 2003 leaving only 2 stores - Narellan and Rosehill, some 10 minutes from its new Head Office at Rhodes, although recently in 2006 it has acquired additional corporate stores.
In 2003 Video Ezy also went on to market a subscription model with DVD Unlimited a move to meet new consumer demand for DVDs. In 2005 Video Ezy started to a program to integrate more 'designer categories' such as Eastern Cinema, television series and World Cinema.
[edit] Marketing
[edit] Advertising campaigns
One of Video Ezy's most successful advertising campaigns was launched in 1993. Video Ezy’s Movie Guarantee Get it first time, or get it free was combined with an increase in the number of available copies of major titles.
[edit] Slogans
- "In the Mood"
- "Ezy does it"
- "Get it first time, or get it free" (defunct, being re-released in April 2007)
- "The choice is Ezy" (New Zealand)
[edit] Industrial relations
The company established a training facility in 2006 to develop staff expertise. They had previously run a subsidiary called Rascals which promoted the use of Australian Workplace Agreements.
[edit] Notes
- ↑ Video Ezy about Video Ezy. Retrieved January 16, 2006.
