So my views on this; well at first it will be a great shame to lose another well known & established high street stores but it's not a surprise to me. If you follow the financial side to this whole story you will have realised that it's a surprise that HMV has lasted this long as it's been limping on for a couple of years now.
Now I don't know the full ins & outs of the business or how it operates but the pricing system within the chain has been somewhat off the mark. If you look at videogames for example, HMV was generally the most expensive store on the high street for them. For a store that dedicates sections to videogames you kind of want to be competing with other stores like GAME & CeX for lowest prices wherever you can & not generally being the most expensive; therefore the generally avoided store.
But then again I know that generally a high street store can't really compete to well with the online market and generally that is where most consumers now are going. You don't even need to really own DVD's or CD's anymore now that there is itunes, Spotify, Netflix, Lovefilm and various other online streaming services/stores. The future itself isn't looking to bright for most some stores on our high streets but then again you can sometimes turn things around.
Take GAME for example, a couple of months ago they were going under and now they are doing quite well for themselves. I believe that this has come from the more interactive/personal approach the company has taken now. Each store now has their own social media forum, stage special events for gamers and there is generally a more personal touch now whereas a year ago I didn't like GAME because, to me, it felt like a cold & heartless store & company.
I genuinely hope that HMV doesn't disappear completely and like GAME, can find a way to bring itself back from the brink.
No comments:
Post a Comment