Zip.ca
 | |
| Company type | 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 |
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 the owner of the Ottawa Rapidz baseball team until its first-season bankruptcy.[3][4]
On August 17, 2014, Zip.ca announced on its website that it was closing its doors and was no longer shipping discs to its members.[5]
Corporate history
[edit]2000s: inception
[edit]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. In December 2006, Zip.ca announced passing the 6,000,000[8] disc rental milestone.
2010s: kiosk debut
[edit]Zip.ca's movie rental kiosks were introduced in 2010.
Abandoned digital service
[edit]In July 2009, Zip.ca announced it had partnered with Sonic Solutions as it prepared to offer a streaming video on demand (VOD) service similar to that introduced in the U.S. in 2007 by its largest American counterpart, Netflix.[9] In May 2011, after Netflix's 2010 Canadian launch as a streaming-only service, Zip.ca announced a further partnership with Samsung, and said its service would launch as a transactional VOD platform, not as a subscription service.[10] The service remained unlaunched at the time of the company's closure in 2014.
Rental plans
[edit]| 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 imposed a free shipping limit per month, unless the customer chose the special "Unlimited" plan. When the DVD shipment limit was reached, the customer had to pay for additional shipments ($2.49 per DVD) in the billing month or wait until the next billing month before Zip.ca would continue shipments. In November 2011, Zip.ca began charging a $1 rental fee for each Blu-ray disc.[11] The Blu-ray fee was removed in October 2012. Blu-ray was not available on either of the 1-DVD plans.
Canadian rental marketplace
[edit]On August 30, 2005, Zip.ca announced[12] 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
[edit]- ^ "Federal Corporations Data Online". Archived from the original on March 12, 2007. Retrieved August 21, 2005.
- ^ "Zip.ca and Canada Post Deliver Success". Zip.ca. August 18, 2006. Archived from the original on November 14, 2006. Retrieved September 7, 2006.
- ^ "New owner rename-z Ottawa Rapids baseball team". CBC News. April 28, 2008. Retrieved August 17, 2008.
- ^ "Ottawa Rapidz go under". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. September 30, 2008. Archived from the original on September 25, 2013. Retrieved November 16, 2008.
- ^ Bagnall, James (August 18, 2014). "Zip.ca video rental service shuts down". Ottawa Citizen. Postmedia Network. Archived from the original on November 29, 2018. Retrieved January 13, 2015.
- ^ "The Disks are in the Mail". Ottawa Citizen. February 24, 2004. Archived from the original on March 12, 2007. Retrieved September 7, 2006.
- ^ "Forum posting from Zip.ca President". Zip.ca. February 2, 2006. Archived from the original on October 31, 2007. Retrieved June 7, 2006.
- ^ "Canada's largest online video service ships 6 millionth rental DVD". Zip.ca. December 15, 2006. Archived from the original on February 20, 2007. Retrieved December 16, 2006.
- ^ Arellano, Nestor (July 7, 2009). "Canada's first online movie streaming service unveiled". ITBusiness.ca. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
- ^ "Zip.ca to launch movie streaming with Samsung". CBC.ca. CBC News. May 6, 2011. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
- ^ Jameson Berkow (October 18, 2011). "Zip.ca to raise prices amid growing costs, competition". Financial Post. Archived from the original on October 20, 2011. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
- ^ "Zip.ca and VHQ Online Enter into Purchase Agreement". Zip.ca. August 30, 2005. Archived from the original on September 9, 2006. Retrieved September 7, 2006.