Introduction
This type of business used to be very popular in the nineties. I used to think they had gone under until recently I saw one on my street. Well I didn’t take it serious until I started noticing a couple of them around my area. I counted about 5 in my area alone. That was when I decided to take a closer look. On looking into one of the places, I realized they had mostly Yoruba movies and the number of people that were at that shop that day indicated that there was indeed a need here.
What you need
A shop (or actually a store front) where you can display your videos and your sign post. You can share a shop with a friend. You just need a staff to register all videos available, register all your members, register videos that people borrow etc.
Type of Videos: This is a tricky one. From looking at those shops in my area, I see that they have more of Yoruba Videos. I live in Lagos Nigeria, if you live in any other locality, find movies in the local language. Also have a couple of foreign movies. They will do very well. For a while I though the African magic channel on DSTV would kill this type of business but I have now seen that they have very unique market segments. You also have to ask your customers questions once in a while to find out what they would like and also try to be on top of the all the latest movies.
Costs
Cost of renting a video
The cost should be reasonable and comparable to that of your competitors. The price for local videos should be higher for local videos.
Cost of registration
There should be a cost of registration. You need to know your customers (especially where they live) in case you have to go recover a video yourself. Your customers must fill a form identifying them. The cost should not be higher than your competitors but low enough to encourage more customers.
Other Things
You can include certain management processes like different prices for different classes of customers, text messaging to your customers when there are new videos, competitions and awards to the best customer etc. The list is endless. Your success will depend mostly on how unique and relevant your business is to its environment. Also you should train your staff on how to effectively handle customers.
Risks
The main risk associated with this business is people not returning your videos at all. If people don’t return your videos on time, they get to pay for each day they hold on to it. Its different when it’s not returned at all. There are a lot you can do but the ultimate is to go visit them to recover your video. Also videos maybe returned damaged. A lot of people do not handle Video CDs and DVDs properly. A training here for your customers may be very important here. Since these two risks are inevitable, you must set aside some money each month to replace damaged and unreturned videos.
Conclusion
This business may not make money for you overnight but if you can increase your shops to at least 3 in different neighborhoods, with an efficient management system, it can really contribute significantly to you income. From here you can even start selling videos etc.
Disclaimer
This is presented here to provide an insight into a possible business opportunity. You are advised to do a proper analysis before you go into it. The Business Man is available to help you in all you need from business ideas analysis, business planning to setup and financing your business.
