EXCLUSIVE – We chat with new UK Steelbook players Zoom

The previously little known Zoom have recently made their mark with a couple of high profile UK exclusive steelbook releases – the long-awaited video game adaptation Warcraft: The Beginning and action sequel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.

They certainly took collectors by surprise, so we got in touch to ask them to introduce themselves.

The good news, as you’ll see, is that they are already reacting to feedback that they have received, and welcome more from their customers.

Here’s what we found out…

First of all, can you please provide a bit of history for Zoom? Many UK steelbook fans may not know you

Firstly, it is important to state that we are a division of Universal Pictures (UK) Limited & Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Alliance and our mission is to provide an online consumer platform on behalf of our studio and TV content partners. For some time now there has been a desire from our studios to bring film and TV fans closer to our content and what better way to do this than forming a direct relationship via Zoom.co.uk.

Zoom only came into being at the beginning of 2015 and we have been busy adding new partners (Studios and labels) and content, and developing our site everyday since.

We hope your readers will feel confident in getting to know us and we welcome any feedback that will help us to deliver a better experience and improved content in the future.

Will Zoom now be the only place to get Universal, Paramount (distributed in the UK by Unversal) and Sony Steelbook releases, or will some still go to other retailers?

We want to share our passion for film, TV and Music with as many fans as possible, including our own customers. We also work closely with our retail partners to ensure that their consumers have great content.

We are excited to be entering the Steelbook market directly because it will help us learn more about what fans want, and yes we are planning some further exclusives

What are your long-term plans for your steelbook range, and will there be other non-steelbook exclusives coming our way?

We hope to become a trusted choice for all consumers who want to immerse themselves in our content. It’s important to us that we develop a strong relationship with the steelbook community, so we can better understand how to make their experience better.

We are working on making Zoom much more interactive and informative which will of course include accessing extra content and building a deeper and richer range of products.

We are currently working on improving packaging to deliver Steelbooks to customers to address some of the current consumer issues

Can you clarify if you charge consumers at point of order for pre-order?

We offer the widest form of payments possible for our customers including most credit/debit cards and Paypal.

For pre-orders paid for by credit/debit card we only take full payment just prior to dispatch of your order. The process is that on credit/debit cards we attempt authorisation of £1 to ensure card details are valid, registered to billing address and not stolen. This is purely a validation process to prevent fraud and pre-authorised funds (£1) are returned in full to your account after 5 days.

With Paypal we comply with their policy which is to charge the full amount at point of order. If Paypal change their policy in the future to allow payment to be taken prior to dispatch we will of course amend.

So it certainly seems like they mean business, and are keen on getting feedback and reacting positively to it.

Feel free to leave your comments below, and we’ll try to get clarification on any points of concern raised.