Blockbuster Entertainment Corp., owner of the nation's largest home video chain, said it expects to hold at least 10 percent of the video rental market by the end of this year.
The company said at its annual meeting last week that it plans to continue fattening Blockbuster Video's market share, including a promotional strategy new to the industry - an eight-week, $10 million contest for customers offering prizes ranging from free popcorn to $100,000 in cash."We have the tools we need to do the job," said H. Wayne Huizenga, chairman and chief executive officer.
Marketing plans also include a continued emphasis on national TV advertising, said Thomas A. Gruber, the company's chief marketing officer.
Blockbuster's 1989 revenue was $663 million, more than the chain's 16 largest competitors combined, Huizenga said. Analysts project sales will total $1.1 billion in 1990.
The 90-minute meeting attended by 800 shareholders had a decidedly Hollywood flavor. It opened with the theme from "Raiders of the Lost Ark," and a film reviewing the company's performance in 1989 included footage of the Marx Brothers and Three Stooges.
Huizenga purchased the Blockbuster chain in 1987, when it consisted of 19 stores. Now there are 1,200.
With Americans renting a million videotapes a day, Blockbuster expects to increase its share of that market from the current 6 percent to 7 percent to 10 to 11 percent in 1990, Huizenga said.
Blockbuster plans to continue to open 400 stores per year until the total in the United States and Canada reaches 3,000. The company also has stores in Europe, Puerto Rico and Guam.