DailyTech - Redbox to Sell Concert Tickets in Kiosks

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Gadgets Redbox to Sell Concert Tickets in Kiosks
Tiffany Kaiser - October 4, 2012 7:55 PM

12 comment(s) - last by Moishe.. on Oct 5 at 4:32 PM

Initially, the concert tickets will only be available in Philadelphia Redbox kiosks

A trip to the supermarket usually means picking up a gallon of milk or some bread, but why not grab some concert tickets while you're at it?

Redbox, the DVD rental kiosks usually set up in supermarkets, will now offer concert tickets in addition to movie rentals. The move aims to give the company a bit of an edge in the entertainment business.

Initially, the concert tickets will only be available in Philadelphia Redbox kiosks for testing purposes. As of right now, the Philadelphia kiosks are selling seats for a Carrie Underwood concert on November 28 at the Wells Fargo Center arena. Tickets are also available for Nascar races at the Pocono Raceway and for Villanova University football games.

To top it off, Redbox is only charging a $1 service fee per ticket. This is significantly cheaper than that of Live Nation's Ticketmaster, which could actually make Redbox's ticket venture pretty successful. The only downside is that you won't find any tickets for huge events in these kiosks -- just whatever's left of local events.

Redbox has been crushed under the weight of competition with the likes of Netflix and Amazon when it comes to movie rentals. Both Netflix and Amazon offer subscription models for a much larger selection of movies and TV shows that can be streamed directly to a user's computer. Redbox has had a hard time keeping up with these models, and is looking for new methods for revenue.

This new venture into concert tickets can also benefit the ticket industry, which is constantly trying to get rid of unused seats in venues. While giving them away or selling them at a huge discount are a couple of ways to go, doing either of these is obviously not profitable -- and Redbox could help to sell the leftovers.

Mark Achler, Redbox's vice president for new business and strategy, said that having concert tickets in the kiosks could help sell tickets thanks to "impulse buyers."

"We can help move inventory," said Achler. "We can be incremental without being cannibalistic."

Source: The Wall Street Journal

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Screw Ticketmaster

By makius on 10/4/2012 9:02:03 PM , Rating: 2

The subject line pretty much sums it up... Anything that has the potential to screw the scam that is Ticketmaster is fine by me... they've already screwed me enough.