Blockbuster, Inc.
It's not like Borders is the first to fall to recent technology. Blockbuster, Inc. went from over 5,000 stores and almost 60,000 employees to a bankruptcy filing and eventual sale to the DISH Network. The process resulted in the closing of thousands of stores and the down-sizing of many others. Many analysts feel that it's only a matter of time before all face-to-face movie rentals will be replaced by mail-order and kiosk-based rentals and that ultimate destroyer of physical rentals: online viewing.
The General Music Industry
So Who's Next?
Are Borders and Blockbuster anomalies? Or are they just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Death by Technology? Will the book and movie industry join the music industry and fall victim to technological innovation? There has already been talk that online ordering, direct shipping, and cloud computing may harm local pharmacies, traveling salespeople, video game console manufacturers, public libraries, and community banks. We know that the internet has changed the way we shop, from car buying to electronics to even clothing and food. It's also changed marketing interactions for a number of services in industries such as banking, investing, medicine, and consulting.
So what's your take? What industries do you predict will be seriously challenged or even be completely obliterated due to the ease and efficiency of e-marketing exchanges?
New technology is nifty, but only when it's sensible.
Be sensible,
Anthony
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More reading:
“Chapter 11 Auction of Borders' Intellectual Property to Be Held on September 14th. Likely Suitors Include Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Apple.” PR Web, September 6, 2011. <http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/9/prweb8765897.htm>
DeGusta, Michael (2011), “The REAL Death of the Music Industry,” Business Insider, February 18. <http://www.businessinsider.com/these-charts-explain-the-real-death-of-the-music-industry-2011-2>
Parker, Lyndsey (2011), “July 4-10: Reports Of the Music Industry's Demise Greatly Exaggerated?” July 8. <http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/thatsreallyweek/134449/july-4-10-reports-of-the-music-industrys-demise-greatly-exaggerated/>
NOTE: Graphic linked from Digital Music News: http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/081611thirty
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I believe that Blockbuster and Borders is just the tip of the iceberg. E-commerce is a really big giant and coming out slowly.
ReplyDeleteWhen Blockbuster and Borders announced bankruptcy I do not think that it was a huge surprise to many of the people all around. They probably already have a feeling that it was coming.
The next to fall victim may be newspapers, maybe?
Newspapers are already close to extinction, alongside magazines. You have your devoted newspaper readers who like the smell of ink in the mornings, but those are usually the devoted book readers too. Clearly they're not a big or strong enough group to stop e-commerce from replacing them.
ReplyDeleteParents have always read bedtime stories to their children and planned trips to blockbuster as a family to pick the movie. Does the end of an era mean the end of core family values too? Will Kindles and downloadable movies replace cherished family moments?
Very interesting. The way we make business is changing and many familiar stores as BlockBuster are going out of market, but at the same time, I think, the internet is bringing new good opportunities. For example, in he music industry, emerging muscians have many ways to promote their music for free on social network and music websites.
ReplyDeleteI like your mentioning of cloud computing. I think that right ow is the calm before the storm when cloud computing revolutionizes just about EVERYTHING. I think that right now many localized and small businesses are unaware of the impending threat of nimbler and larger competitors who will take advantage of the opportunities provided by cloud computing. A quick example that comes to mind is that of graphic designers. As of now, it is common for people and businesses to turn to local graphic designers for all their visual content needs. In the near future, it will become much more convenient and affordable to collaborate online in real time with a graphic designer from a larger company or who is stationed abroad, willing to charge a lot less than their American or local counterparts.
ReplyDeleteThe natural selection (survival of the fittest) theory states that only strong will survive. Those who are not ideally suited to compete will not make it. Blockbuster and Borders failed to change with the times and thus their demise. Blockbuster was reluctant to incorporate emerging internet based technologies and took on a reactive response to change. This allowed rivals to thrive and blossom. With the advent of Apple’s iPad, and Barnes and Nobbles NOOK print media has seen a significant decline in revenues. Players like Borders have lost a great deal of market share due to the emerging electronic print and subscription based markets. The internet has allowed those willing to adapt and change with the times achieve economic efficiency and huge profit margins.
ReplyDeleteBlockbuster and Borders one way or another in this economy were doomed to be bankrupt. I personally, will miss them both. For me, Blockbuster wasn't just a video rental store, it was a place of excitement. The feeling of going there to see what new releases were available and which new games were coming out. All of your curious questions were answered at your local store. As for Borders, I see why there would not be a need for them, with how the "Nook" and other e-readers, which provide a countless amount of books in their online database. This is still sad for some consumers who enjoyed the outing of going to a book store to sit down with friends, coffee, a good book, or just to past the time in a quiet environment. What's to say that Libraries aren't next on the list of extinction. Technology has obviously taken over, but will we allow this take over to continue to the point in which no one leaves their homes other than to work? Regardless of what the future entails, we can be certain that the market will continue to grow just as the internet grows. Marketing will never seize to exist.
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ReplyDeleteOne of the most obvious casualties due to the changes brought by the internet is the fall of print. Some major newspapers which went out of circulation include: The Philadelphia Daily News and The Minneapolis Star Tribune. There One of the most obvious casualties due to the changes brought by the internet is the fall of print. Some major newspapers which went out of circulation include: The Philadelphia Daily News and The Minneapolis Star Tribune. There are many more following their path. The reason for their demise has been the internet's cost effective business model. Online has several advantages: quicker turn around and much lower production cost. Also Online offers more ad inventory for advertisers.
ReplyDeleteBlockbuster and Borders are a perfect example of many industries faced with a challenged or becoming obliterated because of the Internet. I believe Blockbuster not only had a problem with e-commerce, but its customer service was horrible. For instance, I don’t know if anyone remembers when Blockbuster started charging customers if the movie was not returned by noon on a specific date. Soon after that, Netflix came along [online company] with advertising explaining that there are no late fees, one doesn’t have to wait so long in lines nor drop what they are doing just to return the movie on time. Obviously, all customers [even loyal customers] switched from Blockbuster to Netflix. On the other hand, Borders faced a problem, what any other company would face later- the advanced technology. Just like travel agents, Borders failed to sell books because Nooks and Kindle came along to sway customers that reading is more efficient, less expensive, and environmental-friendly when it comes to purchasing Nooks or a Kindle. The music industry is an industry that is still struggling with the problem they are facing, but have plans for the future to recuperate customers. Back then, customers would have to buy CDs’ to listen to music. However, when the Internet came along, pirated music such as Napster gave people an opportunity to not pay for a CD and download as much songs as one would want. I really enjoyed how the pie chart illustrated how the music industry has changed over time. There are many articles and books explaining, blaming how technology has caused many problems for the music industry. In addition, music industry has litigated many pirated companies to stop the distribution but that's the same when cutting up a star- it'll just grow another leg.
ReplyDeleteE-commerce is a reality that is definitely transforming drastically the way people do business. Each and every day more people prefer to buy online instead of going to an actual store. Since the amount of time people spend on the Internet has increased severely, companies have invested heavily on e-commerce. Although it is a segment that is constantly growing throughout the years, there are still people that do not trust websites to buy certain products, especially older generations. They prefer to physically interact with the product before buying. I still have some concerns with the idea of buying clothes online, for example. The fact that I can actually see the product and see if it fits rather than buying online is still a great thing. I believe that there is still a significant portion of the population that is concerned with Internet security, which prevents them from buying online. Investments on web site security and the decrease on the numbers of online identity theft incidents will boost the segment even more.
ReplyDeleteAs I am writing this comment, I am being distracted by two 96-disc "Case Logic" CD cases on my bookshelf. Amazing that CDs are now very dated. In my opinion, Napster was the first innovation that exploited the shortcomings of physical media in a digital world. Blockbuster learned this lesson the hard way as Netflix exploded, Video on Demand increased in popularity as well as many other forms of streaming technology where people don't need to leave the comfort of their homes. Barnes and Noble countered with their Nook, and Amazon with the Kindle, however, Borders relied on their massive retail outlets with very high overhead and traditional library appeal. I believe that any company that does not adapt to the latest techonologies are doomed to be extinguished by whomever creates the techonology.
ReplyDeleteThe constant for any successful company in today's world is change.
Amazing stats and cool graphic. I liked this post and the comments. One of my sad photos from a recent trip to NYC was of a big Borders going out of business. :(
ReplyDeleteOn the music scene, MySpace has been a big venue to reach out to followers. I can't comment on that too much as I'm stuck in a rut in music from the 60's and 70's but sometimes people turn me on to new sounds. Fortunately I reconnect with one of my favorite artists from several (!) years back, Michael Tomlinson. I found him on Twitter and the fascination didn't die, nor his music. I then reconnected on Facebook and am happy to help turn other people to his sound. Sorry if I'm off track on the comments, but he's worth hearing. Will See if my sis, who's into using Facebook to promote musians will way in.
Here's a free listen (and download from Michael t:
http://www.michaeltomlinson.com/_vti_bin/shtml.exe/music/things_that_i_dont_know1.html
The music industry is changing ahead of books and printed mediums, because music isn't naturally archived in any one medium (album, cd, tape, mp3, online stream). That has meant that the biggest music vendors have had to rethink their marketing and packaging to appeal to buyers. There is so much music online for free that the trend now is to provide samples and hopefully generate enough interest that the public buys the product for their own library. This is where itunes was way ahead of the curve because artists were able to see the revenues from their music and get the music to their listeners, both with samples and downloads for sale. I think the same trend has started for books and print media. The last book I looked at I browsed through Amazon and decided there was enough in it for me to order.
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