Is it the beginning of the end for HMV?

[WillPS]

Regardless of whether streaming is up to task, HMV simply cannot compete with online retailers due to the overheads involved. I'm completely disloyal when it comes to entertainment media; I go on find-dvd or the like and whichever offers the lowest price gets my order. I suspect I'm not alone, and I'm sure there's plenty more that'll check Amazon's prices and see they're far cheaper normally too.

Personally, I wont miss HMV. The service has always been really poor in my experience (instantly I'm reminded of two occasions when I've been huffed at), and the shops have never really inspired me. Virgin Megastores/Zavvi were another breed altogether though, and generally a much better shop.

I suspect the HMV brand will be relegated/sold so that it ends up online as Zavvi has, Waterstones might well last a little longer but I think conceivably within 8 years they could both be High Street history.

[DVB Cornwall]

Suggestion I've heard is that the stores will become agents for the suppliers, HMV themselves will sell directly the distributors product with them taking on the stock value on their balance sheets. HMV being paid a space rental and commission on each sale.

The manufacturers aren't over keen on losing contact over the high street and relying on the supermarkets. They can see the continued value of browsed stock on shelves,

Might work for the really popular stuff but the back catalogue simply wont be stocked.

[WillPS]

Suggestion I've heard is that the stores will become agents for the suppliers, HMV themselves will sell directly the distributors product with them taking on the stock value on their balance sheets. HMV being paid a space rental and commission on each sale.

You mean like Zavvi?

[steddenm]

Everything Everywhere Ltd t/a Orange are to close all their franchises in HMV stores by the end of the second quarter, and launch some stores in Asda Supermarkets instead according the the latest Orange Price Guide booklet thingy.

[WillPS]

Everything Everywhere Ltd t/a Orange are to close all their franchises in HMV stores by the end of the second quarter, and launch some stores in Asda Supermarkets instead according the the latest Orange Price Guide booklet thingy.

Never saw an Orange concession. Interestingly, the weekend Zavvi Nottingham reopened as HMV, it still had a Virgin Mobile concession at the back. A week later, it was gone.

[DVB Cornwall]

Suggestion I've heard is that the stores will become agents for the suppliers, HMV themselves will sell directly the distributors product with them taking on the stock value on their balance sheets. HMV being paid a space rental and commission on each sale.

You mean like Zavvi?

If that was the model they were using, yes.

[Sput]

On the upside to that analogy, at least HMV won't have HMV to compete with.

[WillPS]

Suggestion I've heard is that the stores will become agents for the suppliers, HMV themselves will sell directly the distributors product with them taking on the stock value on their balance sheets. HMV being paid a space rental and commission on each sale.

You mean like Zavvi?

If that was the model they were using, yes.

At some point in the 00s Virgin Megastores went from being a traditional retailer to an agent for Entertainment UK, earning a commission on the stock of theirs they sold. The problem being that your company's fate then rests well and truly upon the ability of one supplier, which meant whilst HMV were able to simply order more stock from an alternative supplier when EUK/Woolworths went tits up, Zavvi were stuck relying on EUK to get stock to them (which they couldn't, thereby providing the hefty straw necessary to break the camel's back).

Okay, you could argue it's a gamble and EUK/Zavvi is an example of where that gamble went particularly wrong, but the supplier wouldn't have to go bust for a similar problem to arise; it could be a case that the supplier only has limited stock, and would have to prioritise it so that the all-important supermarkets and Amazon get their stock to ensure future orders from them. The supplier wouldn't have that level of commitment to a shrinking HMV which isn't paying upfront anyway, and HMV would loose out on 'Gavin & Stacey', or whatever the key release is that Christmas.

I don't think that having supermarkets be (pretty much) the only place you can get media products (and then only 'chart' stuff) is a bad thing, we're lucky in the country to have 4 major supermarkets competing with one another, especially on that chart stuff.

[Ebeneezer Scrooge]

I've yet to see a Blu-ray BUT I have bought a player from a pal and will get it soon. Yayeth.

I imagine its a richer experience than streaming 1080i movies from Virgin - but even so I'm happy with the quality of the latter - but currently their prices are ludicrously high. Why should it be £5.99 for a newish release when you only get 24 hours to watch? Renting a DVD or Blu-ray is less money, and typically I can keep it for 3 days.

Absolutely. Comparing services based on their format (1080p/i or 720p) is a bit irrelevant as it still depends on the bitrate used. Much as I love BBC's HD services, they simply can't compete with the bit rate I get with blu-ray discs.
Of course, that doesn't mean every blu-ray disc takes full advantage of the higher bit rate.
I subscribe to lovefilm for £7.99 a month (for up to 4 discs a month) and I've noticed that while certain films look and (more significantly for me) sound beautiful, some films don't raise the DVD bar very much at all.

Still, for the few excellent examples, I'd always stick with watching movies on Blu-ray over streaming and even broadcast.

As for HMV. I was in the Leeds White Rose store this week and I was amazed at how there was one double sided aisle of CDs in there. A massive section of box sets and the rest of the space split down into individual movies and games. Although some of their pricing was too high, quite a lot of it was only slightly higher than what I could get on the internet. That would be all well and good - charging a slight premium for the privilege of being able to walk out that day with some merchandise, but if I'm not sure that I would get said merchandise because of the poor selection of stock I'd tend not to go and look anyway!

[WillPS]

I suppose the FlimFlex rental cost includes a convenience charge... it doesn't take anything to set up and for very occasional users like my parents (who rented 2 movies last year) it doesn't amount to anything anyway.

[nwtv2003]

Everything Everywhere Ltd t/a Orange are to close all their franchises in HMV stores by the end of the second quarter, and launch some stores in Asda Supermarkets instead according the the latest Orange Price Guide booklet thingy.

Never saw an Orange concession. Interestingly, the weekend Zavvi Nottingham reopened as HMV, it still had a Virgin Mobile concession at the back. A week later, it was gone.

There's an Orange stand at the HMV in Market Street in Manchester, which is quite pointless as there's a big enough Orange shop a tad further down the street and that the Orange stand that only seems to sell about 14 mobiles phones is always very quiet. I was in there yesterday and couldn't believe that there were a few single disc Blu-ray titles that were being sold for £35!!! Granted I know HMV is always going to be a tad more expensive than the likes of Play and Amazon, but that takes the mickey. I'd be sad to see HMV go, but they do need to sort themselves out, I'm not sure how they can do that, but their Warrington store is usually quite shocking, go in on a Monday (when new DVDs/CDs have been released) and there's usually very little.

Someone else mentioned Virgin Megastores, at their peak during the 1990s they were ace shops, they just seemed to have a cool edge to them, but since Woolies finished and WHSmith pretty much given up it appears HMV just seem to be doing what they feel like. The big 4 supermarkets offer good prices on chart material, if HMV were to we'd lose looking round at the mass stock that you probably wouldn't find anywhere else on the High street, and that I wouldn't like.

Slightly OT, if anyone has a 'Big' store in their town or city, have a look inside, there's one in the Manchester Arndale (Next to the old Manchester City shop) and there's loads of cheap DVDs, CDs and Blu-rays, plenty of BBC and ITV material available too, they don't have much chart stuff, but it seems they've picked up alot of stuff cheap and it's not bad, hope it does well.