I just can not believe Blockbuster still survives and did not bankrupt yet What a shame for an advanced economy.
If you look at one of Blockbuster's competitors, Hollywood Video, they're closing locations just as fast. The industry finally realized they're outdated and lately has essentially stayed in many locations simply to fulfill their lease obligations. As soon as the lease expires, they close the store. None of the stores are really viable businesses any more. Gone the way of music stores.
+1 It's free - plus you can download the movie before it even hits shelves in Blockbuster. No way to compete.
Really? They had streaming video, Netflix, and fast torrent downloads that could challenge physical movie stores back in 1995?
one ADVANTAGE BB has is that it allows me to RENT BLURAY movies. for which I pay 2.99 for 1 single day. . new releases. I like the instant gratification.. i dont like netflix, becuase, u are tied to a monthly subscription. and you never get NEW releases when you can HERE IS WHAT BB Should do. Make stores much smaller. Less employees.. get rid of all the popcorn useless stuff which doesnot sell.. reduce rent.. may be even employees. and use automated machines. to dispense Dvds/bluray discs.. man. the best thing about machines is ,you dont have to contribute to FICA, 401K. unions etc. he he. jump on the BLuray bandwagon and pummel Netflix out.. plus start streaming model which NFLX is doing.
People buy because of product, price, and service. It's real annoying when you are looking forward to a move and its so scratched, even after washing an buffing, that it won't play. Killed the viewing experience on State of Play when it wouldn't play half way through after receiving it in the mail. So if you want to stay in business figure out a way to better control the beyond watchable copies to your customers. Besides I shouldn't have to break out a Sham wow to clean up their mess.
Thats kind of what i was saying...they should'nt have tried to compete with netflix. They should've just kept doing what they were doing. "Kept their original business model". Yes they still would've lost market share, but they wouldnt be bankrupt. There will always be people who are afraid to use computers, or who are too cheap to buy highspeed internet access which makes downloading movies too iritating to do when your connection is slow. Redbox is only for people with credit cards and not everyone has a credit card and not everyone has a debit card either because alot of americans do not have bank accounts. Why do you think cash checking places are so popular...because there are a good amount of people that do not have bank accounts. These people still like to watch movies and their only option is to pay cash at a brick & mortar place. Blockbuster could stay in business if they just keep their stores open in the lower income areas and get them out of the high income areas and also go back to 2 day rentals with late fees. Also I've done netflix, online downloading, cable TV movies, blockbuster and redbox and if blockbuster had something like 2 day rentals for 2 bucks, I would go there allthe time as i hate waiting for netflix movies to arrive(and the fact that netflix doesnt ship on weekends) and redbox lines can sometimes be long plus not a large selection. Cable TV movies are more expensive than blockbuster, and online downloading you can only watch on your little screen. With blockbuster you get what you want right now, you can buy candy and soda without having to make 2nd trip to the corner store. And although I dont rent games, I would think that many teenagers like the instant gratification of game rentals without having to wait a few days to get the next game in the mail.
Really? You fell off the turnip truck yesterday and are surprised that there was competition that was threatening video stores a long time ago?