Video Ezy
Parent Franchise Entertainment Group | | |
Website | videoezy.com.au (archived) |
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Video Ezy was an Australian
In the late 2000s and 2010s the company saw significant store closures, and by 2020 the brand consisted solely of automated rental kiosks operating within Australia. In March 2021 Evolve Entertainment, the company managing Video Ezy's rental kiosks, entered liquidation.[2]
As with most video rental chains, the once dominant business's fall is largely attributed to the rise of
History
Video Ezy commenced trading in 1983, when Kevin Slater opened his first store in the
In May 2000, the
In 2003, Video Ezy sold almost all its corporate-owned stores in Australia, leaving only 2 stores,
In August 2005, business partners Paul Uniacke and Edward Nedelko, who between them owned 24 Video Ezy franchises in
In March 2006, Paul Uniacke announced that the company had been working with digital media consultancy The Content Factory to develop a
In February 2007,
In January 2009, Franchise Entertainment Group bought failed video retail chain
In May 2011, a new
In June 2011, a select group of Video Ezy and Blockbuster franchises incorporated Metcash's Lucky 7 convenience stores, stocking more than 500 different products including newspapers, bread, milk and various snacks.[36][37][38] In October 2011, it was announced that Daryl McCormack, a former chief executive officer of Video Ezy and their largest franchisee, would partner his 15 stores with Franchised Food Company's Cold Rock Ice Creamery to open smaller, Express outlets within stores becoming dual franchises. The first Video Ezy and Cold Rock Express outlet opened in Kew, Melbourne.[39][40][41]
In November 2011, Video Ezy found itself embroiled in a
International expansion
Video Ezy opened its first international location in Auckland, New Zealand in 1988, with master licensor Video Ezy International Ltd established in 1991 to expand the brand worldwide.[44] In January 1997, partnering with Berjaya Group, Video Ezy expanded into the Asian market with its first outlet in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.[45][10] In May 1998, Video Ezy Chairman Robert Maidment told the Australian Financial Review that the company was "looking to make Video Ezy an international brand name", and had held discussions with potential partners in Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan, Brazil, Mexico and the United Kingdom, with plans to also expand into Brunei and the Philippines.[10][45] In March 1999 the company opened its first outlet in Bangkok, Thailand. The company aimed to open 100 stores in the country by the end of the year 2000,[46] and 150 in Malaysia by 2003.[44]
The first Indonesian Video Ezy outlet opened in March 2001.[47] That same year the first Video Ezy outlet opened in Singapore within the Jelita Shopping Centre at Bukit Timah. The Singapore network consisted of a mixture of corporate-owned and franchised stores located in either outdoor shopping strips like Holland Village, residential towers such as International Plaza, or large shopping centres such as VivoCity. Unlike Australia, Video Ezy Singapore could operate in most shopping centres due to 7-day-week late night shopping hours and its population less reliant on private automobiles needing to park outside stores.[48][49] In June 2005, Video Ezy opened its first outlet in the United Arab Emirates at the Ibn Battuta Mall in Dubai. The company planned to open 17 more stores throughout Dubai in the following 10 years.[50] By August 2005, Video Ezy had 156 stores in New Zealand, 128 in Thailand, 135 in Indonesia, 19 in Singapore, nine in Malaysia, one in the United Arab Emirates and one in Fiji.[18]
In its Asian franchises, Video Ezy also offered
In the four years to 2011, Video Ezy Indonesia closed 51 of their stores, blaming the closures on the continuing wide availability of pirated movies on DVD and Video CD as well as the rise in popularity of
Rental kiosks
In December 2011, Franchise Entertainment Group switched on its first Video Ezy Express DVD and Blu-ray rental kiosk after announcing their roll-out in May that year. FEG bought one thousand DVD kiosks through US company,
Video Ezy Express initially competed in Australia and New Zealand with the 300 plus strong Hoyts Kiosk network. They also competed with approximately 100 RedRoom kiosks for the first month until Evolve acquired the entire seven-year-old business, taking out a significant competitor while adding capacity.[62][63][64][65] In November 2017, Evolve acquired Hoyts Kiosk with all machines replaced with Express-branded kiosks.[66][67] A small number of Blockbuster-branded rental kiosks also continued to operate.[68]
Video Ezy's kiosks initially operated under a
At a March 2021 general meeting of the company, it was decided that Evolve Entertainment would be
Marketing
In 1993, the "Get it first time, or get it free" guarantee was launched. Video Ezy re-launched their guarantee under the "Movie Guarantee" umbrella in April 2007. This included a Rental Guarantee, a Price Guarantee and an Ex-Rental Guarantee.
Video Ezy promoted rent-only releases with the "Rent It – The Only Way To Get It" campaign. Another advertising campaign used by Video Ezy was "Upsize Your Entertainment": when a consumer rents a specific title they have the opportunity to "upsize" by buying a specified similar title for only $4.95. For example, in April 2007, Video Ezy had Charlotte's Web as the rental title and Paulie as the upsize title.
Slogans used by the company throughout the years include:
- "In the Mood" (1990s)
- "Relax" (1998–2000)
- "Ezy does it" (October 2003)
- "There is More to See (2000–2003)
- "The choice is Ezy" (1990s)
- "Get it first time, or get it free"
- "We have so many copies of our Rental Guarantee title, we guarantee you'll rent it now, or rent it free"
- "Love Movies" (2009)
- "More to Love"
- "Rent it. Buy it." (Singapore)
Due to the franchise nature of Video Ezy stores, each store also ran their own promotions and set their own pricing.
Video Ezy were major sponsors of the Canberra Raiders between 1990 and 1992.[71][72]
Competitors and downfall
In its home market of Australia, Video Ezy competed with other rental chains such as Blockbuster (before its Australian operations were sold to the company),
However, the proliferation of high speed internet in the late 2000s and 2010s that saw consumers gravitate towards more convenient online entertainment in the form of legal services such as
These impacts on the video rental industry were reflected in Video Ezy and Blockbuster franchises closing 270 stores across Australia in the four years to August 2011.
In March 2013, Franchise Entertainment Group's CEO, Paul Uniacke told Sunshine Coast Daily in response to a local Maroochydore outlet closing that, "I'm not happy that Maroochydore has gone. It's not something we like to see, absolutely there is a human cost to what's happening here." He went on to add, "the worst thing that happens in a rationalisation is losing stores and losing good people. We've been up on the Coast with Blockbuster for a number of years and with Video Ezy for about 20 years." Uniacke stated that he believed Video Ezy Express rental kiosks would ultimately fill the void left by closed stores. He asserted that "you will see us back in a short space of time. We don't want to leave that territory without the brand too long, we want to stay strong." He also added that franchisees were "lined up out the door to run kiosks in there, so you will see Blockbuster, or maybe Video Ezy kiosks flowing through there", but in the same interview he admitted, "absolutely we will have less stores, but I don't want to do away with them because they form a valuable part of the business."[69] In February 2016 Uniacke blamed high rents and wages as the main factor behind store closures, and stated that he believed the increasing popularity of online streaming did not have a major impact on the business, highlighting that at the time Video Ezy's stores and kiosks offered newer release movies that were available on disc months before they appeared on online services. He also asserted that "the business model for rental stores can be, and still is, viable under certain circumstances."[78] Ultimately, the few rental stores that have hung on the longest have done so through diversification, downsizing, and catering for older customers unwilling or unable to go online, or film buffs looking for more obscure titles not available on streaming services or with poor internet connections.[76][70][90]
Although Video Ezy's rental kiosks had extended the life of the brand beyond store closures, they were still ultimately affected by a declining customer base as well as the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in a lack of new, high-profile titles from being available after a number of blockbuster films had their original 2020 theatrical release dates (and subsequent DVD and Blu-ray releases) delayed into the following year.[68]
In media
A Video Ezy's exterior and interior are featured prominently in the first ten minutes of the first episode of Wayne Anderson – Singer of Songs (2006).[92]
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