Game must survive solely on clueless people buying presents. As the older generations move on (well, die) they'll be screwed as most people are far more savvy.
Are entertainment stores like HMV redundant?
- Thread starter Doodlebug12
- Start date
Game must survive solely on clueless people buying presents. As the older generations move on (well, die) they'll be screwed as most people are far more savvy.
Same company!
HMV (Aberdeen) has a comically poor layout, the music section is ridiculously small. They've also managed to fill half the store with seemingly random choices of books and generic tat...
I've never found pricing to be that competitive, even the privately owned music store near it can consistently beat HMV's pricing.
I'd sooner spend money at a store that had an interest in music.
I gave up on them completely after they started with the used games/consoles bandwagon...
HMV, cheerio.
HMV's big boom in opening stores on every high-street never really came from Music though, it was from DVDs.
When DVD players first became cheap commodities ten years ago, the likes of Play were also still in their infancy, nor did you have online rental companies.
HMV was good for DVDs, because they had plenty of buy 3 deals. I know I used to buy loads, as did many others. These days though it's cheaper to buy online and I also find that while I get Blurays now, I prefer to rent from Lovefilm unless it's something I know I want.
In the past I bought loads of DVDs that I've probably only watched like once.
You're crazy if you think this is the case. With the demise of Zavvi and all the other records shops, HMV basically have no high street competition. No competition. They are the top place in the country to buy media on the high street and they cannot be challenged. Remember that HMV don't just sell CDs but DVDs, Blu Ray, games, books etc etc. Since the downturn of trade on CDs they have just been stocking up on more of the rest. HMV know all too well that it's easier to sell cat turds than CDs. They won't go down with the rest of the sinking ships in a hurry, believe me.
Game does so well because it's making a killing through Pre-Owned sales. The reason their new prices are so high, say a copy of MW2 right now at full RRP is because they want you to buy the Pre-Owned.
Doing so gives them 100% of the profit, which is why Publishers are getting more and more annoyed about it.
Supermarkets sell all of those things, and cheaper.
In fact I've got an Asda living store up the road which kicks the crap out of HMV on just about everything they stock except naff band t-shirts.
They do, but their breadth of choice is crap.
I guess you don't do your own food shopping then?
It's the Supermarkets that are also contributing to their death. People have to make a trip to the Supermarket each week, not so for HMV on the high-street.
The reason HMV has diversified their products so much is because they are in trouble, but I'm not really sure it's working as they can be had from plenty of other places.... Argos for example.
I think we will see a lot of HMV stores go... I'm sure they will keep the Flagship, but then not even Virgin did that.
I think we will see games with online codes soon for online play so they can only be used once.
Is HMV really that much better? I mean it's better, but not much. For what it's worth I hate to see bricks and mortar stores closing, but it's their own fault. Last thing I bought in there was some iTunes cards as I had HMV gift vouchers, I picked up a 500ml bottle of diet coke and it was £1.89! They're not even trying.
Soldato
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The same boxset is £27.99 on their online site. Less than instore but still a lot more expensive than the competition.
The DVD and CD selection at my local supermarkets is pants in comparison to HMV.
Agreed, they are already making moves towards it.
Battlefield Bad Company 2 with its VIP code for example.
Like I say, supermarkets do stock those things but their choice is rubbish. I have a massive Tesco up the road but it only stocks the very top of the chart CDs and DVDs. People know if they want something slightly specialised they can go to HMV. Every time I go to an HMV in London it's doing very healthily for customers. Especially this Xmas I couldn't move in the one in Bond Street.
Also remember that when Zavvi closed HMV expanded. Not the first signs of a company in trouble.
Obviously Supermarket sizes differ... but in general the CDs and DVDs that sell are the brand new advertised ones, this is the same with HMV even though they may have thousands of CDs.
If you are looking for Leona Lewis' latest, which will be a big seller, you can get it anywhere and probably pick it up cheapish on your weekly shop.
If you want the best of Dire Straights, you won't get it in your Supermarket, HMV probably has it... but then it would be more expensive than the big online only retailers.
Perhaps, but the main chart music accounts for a massive percentage of physical sales. Probably not far off the old 80/20 rule... 20% of artists/albums accounting for 80% of sales...
Well, your mileage may vary with different supermarkets, but around here it's fairly clear.
Even with it being pants, I bet they've got the charts though, and that's where the money is. It's all very well stocking obscure Anime, but if it's going to sit on the shelves for 7 months it's not making them money.
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For me, they're totally redundant. I buy everything like that online.
TBH I'd sooner buy a DVD from one of the asian dudes who wander into pubs. With those guys, there's a 50% chance you're getting ripped off: With HMV, it's 100%.
TBH I'd sooner buy a DVD from one of the asian dudes who wander into pubs. With those guys, there's a 50% chance you're getting ripped off: With HMV, it's 100%.
You realize that they announced the Bond street store is to close?
Obviously Xmas sales are important, but they need to make a profit the rest of the year as well. The fact that they need to close a store on the busiest shopping high-street in Europe is quite critical, don't you think?
The Flagship store though is a separate case, it's a unique store... hell it has an entire underground floor devoted to classical music CDs... you won't find that elsewhere. It's nothing like their average high-street store. It's also in Central London which is somewhat different again to people who live elsewhere in the country who go to a big supermarket warehouse which will have a decent selection, who would probably have to drive and park to go shopping in a town with a HMV that would have a fraction of what the Flagship store.... there in you can see the problem.
Like I say, HMV know all too well what sells and what doesn't. If it's not making them enough cash, they'll pull it. Or the distributor will. Or the studio. Or the label. The whole recording/film industry has its finger very much on the pulse.