Fellow wazuans,

For a movie business that has just started running in a nice neighbourhood that has many teenagers and youth who have quite some money to spare (read Greenfields)what advice would you give concerning marketing it to this target population?
There is only one other shop that sells movies around that area but I still think that those shops in town are a direct competition.
Do you think that the movie business has a future in Kenya?

@mapozi the way the DVD business has been set up in Kenya, it is a race to the bottom price-wise. Soon those things will start going for 20 bob a pop!

@livie, the way prices are going, it won't be long before you have one-man DVD shops that can afford to drop the prices to a point that the profit just pays that one guy's basic living expenses. At that point, will anyone be able to have extras like deliveries, or listings on local malls?

I really dnt understand some kenyans. How can u have a bandwith of over 300 Kb/s even in some cases i have seen guys flossin 3 mbps and still buy movies. ???? Illogical to say the least.Ever heard of bitorrent.
If u want to stay ahead in ur movie business u better learn how to download movies using bitorrent and give ur customers the current deals.
There are so many torrent sites on the net where you cn download movies even before they hit kenya.
Use tech to stay ahead in ur . business.

Let's face it; the movie industry, when it comes to exhibiting foreign films in theaters, and for legit DVD or Blu-Ray sales is all but dead. Anyone with basic computer and internet skills and a five-year old or newer computer, can get utorrent and visit btjunkie or any one of the known torrent sites, and with decent download speeds and a little patience, get any movie, television show, music album, e-book, or software package they wish, new and old, sometimes even before it is available legitimately... as long as they also have virus protection software such as AVGfree.

The technology to stop this illegal downloading free-for-all simply does not exist.

So it's time to stop looking at "ticket sales" as the main moneymaker for a movie exhibition business, whether it's a large movie theater chain, or a small storefront local shop with an LCD projector and a basic surround-sound home theater setup. Noone is going to pay a premium to get the same quality that they can get for free at home or locally with little effort. Maybe they will pay a few bob to not have to bother with downloading, but that few bob will be just that- a FEW bob.

The focus has to be on getting people in the door for other reasons. Is the place also a bar? Does it have a good DJ? Is the crowd hip, or attractive? Can money be made off of food or alcohol sales? Are the waitresses and bartender good-looking? Is there very good quality lights and sound? Good music? Great, smiling service? A restroom attendant who keeps the bathrooms clean, and gives out smell-goods, shoe-shines, lotion, and mouthwash for a bob or two?

The whole "movie" part of it is going to have to become just another "room" in the entertainment complex that you can chill in, and enjoy, just to keep you around to buy more drinks, and to make you feel better about paying an entrance fee at the door. If nothing else, it gives customers an hour or two to rejuvenate so that they can recharge (or sleep) and go back to whatever they were doing or paying for, without leaving.

It's just a value-add, not the main attraction. If your business is focused on showing foreign movies, you'd better be looking for the exit door; the industry is burning.

Best,

Hill