Blockbuster Total Access allows customers to rent or order films online, receive them by mail and return either by mail or to a Blockbuster store. In time, said chairman and CEO John Antioco, the program's success could allow the chain to reallocate some of the space in its stores to other merchandise, or to reduce its footprint to around 3,000 sf.
"We aim to enter 2008 as a bricks, clicks and flicks multi-channel retailer," Antioco said.
Launched in late 2006, the service now has more than 2 million subscribers, and the company has stated a goal of 3 million subscribers by the end of this quarter.
The launch of Total Access was the culmination of a year of downsizing. The company sold its Movie Trading Co. locations and Movie Brands subsidiary, closed its store operations in Spain and sold its Taiwan subsidiary. So far this year, the company sold the Rhino Video Games chain to GameStop Corp. and entered into an agreement to sell its Australian subsidiary.
Plans call for closing fewer stores in 2007 than in 2006, but also opening about the same number of stores as last year. Store distribution by market could change, as a smaller footprint might allow stores to open in smaller markets.
"[Total Access] allows us to explore expansion in underserved markets," Antioco said.
For the fourth quarter of 2006, net income was $12.9 million, or compared with net income of $18.0 million for the fourth quarter of 2005. Revenues for the fourth quarter of 2006 increased 1.4% to $1.51 billion compared with $1.49 billion
Revenues for fiscal 2006 decreased 3.5% to $5.52 billion from $5.72 billion for 2005, mostly due to the store closings and a 2.1% decrease in worldwide same-store sales. Net income totaled $54.7 million, compared with a net loss of $588.1 million for 2005.
Blockbuster operates more than 8,000 stores throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia.
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