Zip.ca

Zip.ca
Private company[1]
Industry Electronic commerce
Founded 2004
Defunct 2014
Headquarters Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Key people
Robert Hall, Founder and Chairman
Christina Beavis,CEO
Products Online DVD rental
Movie rental kiosks
Revenue Not disclosed
Number of employees
~50
Website www.zip.ca
Zip.ca DVD Rental Kiosk

Zip.ca was an online DVD rental and movie rental kiosk company operating in Canada. It had a database of over 82,000[2] unique titles.

Zip.ca was a member of the privately held Momentous Group of companies, and was owner of the Ottawa Rapidz baseball team until its first-season bankruptcy.[3][4]

On August 17, 2014 Zip.ca announced on its web site that it was closing its doors and was no longer shipping discs to its members.[5]

Corporate history

2000s: inception

Zip.ca began its rental operations in February 2004,[6] from its base of operations in Ottawa, Ontario. In July 2005 it arranged to provide the fulfillment services for Rogers Video Direct, a new online subsidiary of one of Canada's largest video store chains. By February 2006, Zip.ca had over 30,000[7] subscribers; currently it has over 47,000[8] and is shipping over 24,000 discs per day. In December 2006, Zip.ca announced passing the 6,000,000[9] disc rental milestone.

2010s: kiosk debut

Zip.ca's movie rental kiosks were introduced in 2010.

Policies

Zip.ca follows the general model for an online DVD rental company. Some details specific to Zip.ca include:

Rental plans

Monthly disc shipments Discs included Blu-ray
Up to 2 1 No
Unlimited 1 No
Unlimited 2 Yes
Unlimited 3 Yes
Up to 11 4 Yes
Up to 16 6 Yes
Up to 22 8 Yes

Zip.ca imposes a free shipping limit per month, unless the customer chooses the special "Unlimited" plan. When the DVD shipment limit is reached, the customer must choose to pay for additional shipments ($2.49 per DVD) in the billing month or wait the next billing month before Zip.ca continues shipments. In November 2011, Zip.ca began charging a $1 rental fee for each Blu-ray disc.[10] The Blu-ray fee was removed in October 2012. Blu-ray is not available on either of the 1-DVD plans.

Canadian rental marketplace

On August 30, 2005 Zip.ca announced[11] that it was buying out the online operations of its then main Canadian rival, VHQonline.ca, and has also picked up assets from other companies going out of business.

References

  1. Federal Corporations Data Online
  2. "Zip.ca and Canada Post Deliver Success". Zip.ca. August 18, 2006.
  3. "New owner rename-z Ottawa Rapids baseball team". CBC News. April 28, 2008. Retrieved August 17, 2008.
  4. "Ottawa Rapidz go under". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. September 30, 2008. Retrieved November 16, 2008.
  5. Bagnall, James (2014-08-18). "Zip.ca video rental service shuts down". Ottawa Citizen. Postmedia Network. Retrieved 2015-01-13.
  6. "The Disks are in the Mail". Ottawa Citizen. February 24, 2004.
  7. "Forum posting from Zip.ca President". Zip.ca. February 2, 2006.
  8. "Alliance Atlantis stakes online space". Playback Magazine. January 8, 2006.
  9. "Canada's largest online video service ships 6 millionth rental DVD". Zip.ca. December 15, 2006.
  10. Jameson Berkow (October 18, 2011). "Zip.ca to raise prices amid growing costs, competition". Financial Post.
  11. "Zip.ca and VHQ Online Enter into Purchase Agreement". Zip.ca. August 30, 2005.

Coordinates: 45°19′58″N 75°42′17″W / 45.33278°N 75.70472°W / 45.33278; -75.70472

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