OMG HMV
As we start another year, the newspaper headlines are awash with yet more bankrupt brands. It was Comet before Christmas. Jessops starts the year, closely followed by HMV and Blockbusters.
Sad news?
It would seem to be the opinion of some as many of us have grown up with these brands.
I have fond memories in particular of HMV. It was the place to meet up with school friends on a Saturday afternoon, back before days of mobile phones and Facebook updates. We didn’t even need to arrange a time. We would simply congregate outside HMV in Swan Lane, next door to Athena (oh, yes … remember them??!) and once we were all together, we would wonder off up and down the cobbled High Street of Guildford.
Happy times 🙂
So it’s of no surprise to me that I have heard and read comments about how sad it is that some brands are now struggling to the point that they have to admit defeat and give up.
Is the fault of the economy? Perhaps the Government haven’t done enough to help businesses in the UK? Can we blame the exchange rates?
Or should we blame ourselves for not shopping in there more often?
There are many theories running as to why these High Street brands are going under. And I am sure each business has it’s own story to tell. But essentially, what all these recent bankrupt brands have in common is that they all failed to move their business online.
HMV were doomed ten years ago by not making the internet part of their business strategy.
Blockbusters had more hope in selling ice to the Eskimos than to continue with their nostalgic hope that customers would continue to walk in through their doors to rent a DVD on a Friday night.
Jessops’ apparent poor customer service and Woolworth’s approach to pricing, meant they were destined to give up and go under.
So what has this got to do with you?
I know you don’t have a High Street presence. Nor do you have a couple of thousand people on your payroll to man your retail outlets or face the challenge of paying thousands of pounds on business rates week in, week out.
Surely, you can afford to keep doing what you are doing and stick to your brochure-style website, crossing your fingers that enough people recommend you to their friends.
Well, that “word of mouth” marketing strategy is fast becoming the same nostalgic wish that Jessops, HMV and Blockbusters were all praying … but ended up failing at.
John Lewis, in complete contrast, is not only going strong on the High Street but reported a 6.2% increase from last year’s trading figures. And although they report much of this is due to three new stores opening up last year, their online shopping experience is, I’m sure you will agree, most excellent. In fact, EConsultancy.com report that their online trade has increased by 44%.
John Lewis have invested huge sums in building an online shop that is easy to get around, has a simple checkout process and well designed product pages. In fact, the article is well worth a read, whether you are an online retailer or not. There are great lessons to learn and apply in your own website, and without the need to be spending tens of thousands with web design agencies.
So whether you offer your services as a coach or massage therapist; sell baby clothes online or aromatherapy soaps; sell yourself as a marketing consultant or corporate trainer … your website needs to sell.
Not in the brochure “it’s all about me me me” way. That kind of website is doomed to follow the failure of HMV, Jessops and Blockbusters.
I am talking about a website that offers something in exchange for an email address. A website that sells a start of a relationship. A website that reaches out and talks directly to your target client so that when they do end up on one of your pages, they jump up and down for joy for having found you.
Wake up and smell the coffee.
You can no longer rely on that nostalgic “word of mouth” marketing strategy (in fact, I find it hard to even refer to it as a marketing strategy!!). You have to evolve and change and realise that your customers are looking for you online, whether you like it or not.
And are you putting the plans in place to make sure that’s it you that they find?
How has the New Year news of yet more big brands going under affected you and the way you think about your business? Has it made you do anything different? Or is it just causing you to go in to blind panic?
Leave your thoughts and comments below. I love to know what you think.
Good post Karen and I 100% agree with your take on the high profile failures.
What John Lewis is doing is not rocket science either. They offer good products at realistic prices with a shopping method to suit the customer: in store, on-line or click and collect. All that is backed with well thought out stores and excellent customer service.
In short, they make shopping a journey of discovery and make it easy for the customer to buy.
For my work with retailers, I have been looking closely at Marks and Spencer recently. Their stores are becoming a shambles. Unless they are very careful they could be accelerating down the slippery slope too..
I agree about M&S. I used to love shopping with them online but have found myself automatically going to John Lewis in recent months for stuff that used to be guaranteed sales for M&S. Making it easy for the customer to buy … that’s what is’t all about. Thanks for your comments, Geoff.
Hi Karen. Well written, thought provoking article. For the past 15 years my training and coaching business has all been word of mouth. Whilst my preference is face to face learning, I have recently had potential clients who want to work with me who are not local. One I am coaching over the phone, the other two are based in Kent and India and are looking for group training. Need to look at creating online products. Thanks for sharing.
Great to hear from you again Sharon and thanks for stopping by with your thoughts. We need to catch up again, don’t we? :O)
Spot on.
It’s been a bout 5 years since I stepped foot inside a Blockbuster and in those day’s we’d happily rent but then forget to take them back on time and get fined. We soon switched to online services like “i love film” – why didn’t blockbuster compete with these guys? why didn’t they move to courier/dial-a type media delivery. OK that would not help them through the next 5 years where we’re moving into the cloud but that would have put them on a level peg for a bit longer.
HMV – where do I start. They should have downsized their shops ages ago and transformed them into digital cafe style stores where visitors can browse, buy and download online. simple.
Physical shops and fabulous customer services cannot be beaten when combined with a proper convenient digital strategy…
Sad to see these guys go but very exciting about trends I am seeing online especially when is comes to eCommerce.
Hi Zoe. Great to “see” you again. And yes, this topic is right up your street, isn’t it? I am sure you are helping lots of businesses change and adapt to this online commerce world … thank goodness :O)
Hi Karen
Fantastic blog article! Of which I completely relate to being 44 years old!
I’m a John Lewis fan, because I find their stores a pleasure to shop in, with quality staff, prompt delivery and excellent service.
In my working day I do not have the time, for companies that cannot operate efficiently.
I think we can all learn from the success business’s.
Teresa
Absolutely Teresa … make the time to learn from the success businesses. It’s a great path to follow!
Great post, Karen! I was discussing this just last night with my husband… I remember not that long ago the music industry nearly coming to its knees when downloads became the popular alternative to buying CDs. They thought they were too powerful and didn’t want to diversify (and they’re still trying to recover).
Each of these big brands you mention in your post could have been saved, if they’d only acted quicker and took more notice of the buying habits of their customers. Blockbuster could have sold its real estate and moved to a virtual/online platform to rival Love Film etc. I expect there will be more dinosaurs to come…
I predict WH Smith won’t be too long now … their shop windows are looking more like Woolies’ bag-a-bargain every day!
Times change and businesses and consultants that survive are the ones who changed either following the change or leading the change.
I’m sad that HMV went – like you Karen it brings back happy memories of my student days.
Have shared your post on LI.
thanks for sharing Gillian – much appreciated.
Great post Karen. The news was inevitable.. dinosaurs who don’t evolve become extinct (ok, we now know it was actually a great big comet , but the metaphor still works for me!)
The Internet is an exciting place and being a small business offers more possibility now than ever before, IMHO. So no blind panic here – except when I look at my to do list!
Onwards and upwards, off to conquer the world, one click at a time….
Yup it was a big comet that got Comet in the end ;o) Keep on clicking, Amanda!
Being alien to British life and culture, I barely recognize High Street and John Lewis. But I do recognize your deep digital marketing insight. Your reference to the e-consultancy article is quite informative. I had to bookmark it for future reference. Actually, I both follow you on Twitter and receive your latest blog articles at my email account. Frankly speaking, this is the first time to carefully read and taste your knowledge and authoring flavour. I very much enjoyed both. Thank you Karen.
HMV had lots of time to pivot and change their business model. There was and is plenty of space in the onlne music/books/everything under the sun web site model. The blame is squarely at the feet of an inept management who refused to believe that the internet, after years of chances to get on the band wagon, was a flash in the pan. The long pause killed them and with the digital age of muisic downloading had ample opportunity to put up their own itunes type music site, no brainer here. They refused to believe that people would rather download music than buy the CD. Sam Goody in the states died from the same old world thinking in the vinyl age. Has anyone heard of the kindle, same logic, why do you need a book, you snooze you looze and they deserve to be out of business, their employees pay the price, management get big after administration pay off, the employees get a free CD and their walking papers. As an FD of a large concern here in the UK it’s suicide to not keep your hands on the trends, these people failed, that’s what should be discussed, the failing of management not the failing of a business which could have been saved.
hi Karen,
what strikes me most about this is the success that John Lewis is having, the main reason being that they are an employee-owned business, which doesn’t have ‘staff’ as they are all ‘partners’ in a democratically run structure, including Waitrose, their food business. They really come to the fore with the customer service because each partner has a vested interest in the business doing well. My son worked for them recently, and everyone had a voice on how improvements and changes could be made and a great deal of this was implemented, unlike other retailers he had worked for, where ‘change’ was viewed with suspicion! John Lewis is so different from the ‘customer service’ offered by most retailers, where you’re often greeted (or not!) by a surly member of staff, often with the attitude that they get paid, irrespective of whether or not each customer makes a purchase. I agree about M&S and other big names too too – they seem to think that they are immune because of their history, while losing customers in droves. I think we can relate this to our own businesses – we have a vested interested in succeeding and should never be complacent and take our eye off the ball.