Hoyts Kiosk
Hoyts Kiosk, previously known as Oovie, was an Australian company that specialised in the rental of DVDs and Blu-ray Discs via automated retail kiosks. In 2013, Hoyts Kiosk had over 500 kiosks in Australia, located in every state and territory except South Australia, with more than 250,000 active customers.[1]
| Type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Automated retail |
| Founded | 2005 |
| Defunct | 2018 |
| Fate | Sold and rebranded |
| Successor | Video Ezy Express |
| Headquarters | Sydney |
Area served | Australia |
Key people | Andrew Evetts, Ian O'Rourke |
| Parent | Hoyts |
History
Hoyts Kiosk was launched as Instant DVD by Sydney-based entrepreneurs Andrew Evetts and Ian O'Rourke in 2005. They were inspired by seeing the success of similar DVD rental kiosks in the United States.[2] In October 2009 they sold the business to Hoyts who rebranded the company as Oovie.[3]
In November 2017, Hoyts Kiosk was acquired by Video Ezy Express and all its machines were rebranded.[4][5]
Kiosks
Kiosks were located at grocery stores, shopping centres, convenience stores, and fast food restaurants. Customers could choose a DVD or Blu-ray disc at any kiosk, or select and reserve online for collection at a kiosk. Discs could be returned to any kiosk in Australia.[6] Movies had to be returned by 9 pm the following day or a further day's rental was charged. If the customer did not bring it back within 30 days a $35 fee would be charged to their bank account to cover the cost of the movie in addition to 30 days worth of rental fees, and the customer got to keep the DVD. As for movies that remained in the machine over a certain period of time, the user also had the option to outright purchase the movie from the machine, ranging from $1-$10.
See also
References
- Cameron, Nadia (25 March 2013). "Tech in marketing: Personalising email-based customer communication". cmo.com.au. Archived from the original on 16 May 2013. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
- "GROWTH, HOW I DID IT - Oovie". SmartCompany. 18 January 2011. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
- Murfett, Andrew (13 February 2010). "Boom in DVD rentals is one out of the box". theage.com.au. Archived from the original on 10 May 2017. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
- "Thanks for visiting Hoytskiosk.com.au". Video Ezy. Archived from the original on 26 August 2019. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
- Duke, Jennifer (5 January 2018). "Hoyts DVD vending business to be swallowed by rival Video Ezy Express". The Sydney Morning Herald. Nine Entertainment Co. Archived from the original on 21 September 2019. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
- Kermond, Clare (23 January 2012). "Hot competition for DVD rentals". businessday.com.au. Archived from the original on 10 August 2021. Retrieved 27 October 2012.