I think the disgusting prices ruined HMV. During the recession, HMV was not the best place to go and it's why the likes of Play.com and Amazon became more popular. You could get the same product for a hell of a lot cheaper than on HMV. They would sell decades old films for like £15 quid.
Totally agree with many of the posts on here that if HMV were to even think of continuing then they would need to rethink their entire business plan. It does sound like they are trying to find a solution to prevent closure completely but I think in order to continue they will probably have to close some stores and certainly change how they price themselves into the current market.
Not sure why they continued to sell gift cards this late when they obviously knew that administrators would need to be called in but this in a way shows one of the faults in that Head Office weren't talking properly to the stores
The cost of music has fallen substantially and sales of music have fallen too. That's a dying market if ever there was one. They've lasted the longest anyway - others burnt out long before them. But it was always going to end.
I bought my girlfriend a DVD for Xmas but her friend bought her it too. As it was before Xmas, I replaced it with a different gift (Shrek boxset) but was unable to order to online to get delivery before Xmas. Sadly HMV was the only choice, but the price was significantly higher.
Online £16 and delivered
HMV £25 and it reckoned it was reduced
No reason at all for the price to be £9 higher. I understand the stores have overheads, but £9 is excessive. I also had to battle with other shoppers and make my own way into town specially for it. No wonder why HMV are going into administration.
Oh the hardship of having to go into town. What a terrible thing to do. You COULD always do your Christmas shopping early. Honestly, I can't believe you think HMV is an inconvenience because you had to go to town. And the £25 is the RRP. If online sellers are selling it cheaper it's because they trade in the Channel Islands and are exempt from VAT and have different tax levels to pay. HMV are not in that category.
Play.com are stopping their retail side due to new changes in off mainland tax laws. Rather than agree to pay UK tax they threw their toys out of the pram and decided not to sell directly anymore.
I don't like the comments in this thread that claim it's because of the "online generation". It's simply not true. HMV stores are always packed full of people - you can go into the majority of HMV stores now and see this. The problem is wholly their prices. Their stores are full and people aren't buying there for a reason. That reason is prices. Sure, they have some good deals on sometimes (such as the 5 for £30 on blu rays), but as a whole, they are extremely overpriced.
No one in a sane mind is going to spend £10+ more per item purchase just so they can "support the high street"...
The online generation is indeed destroying the high street and real social interaction. To claim its just about prices is obviously not true. In the mid 2000s the MD of HMV was shown three major threats to the business...
"....we stood in the boardroom in front of the new MD, Steve Knott and his directors. For some time we had felt the tides of change coming for HMV and here was our perfect opportunity to unambiguously say what we felt.
The relevant chart went up and I said, "the three greatest threats to HMV are, online retailers, downloadable music and supermarkets discounting loss leader product".
Suddenly, I realised the MD had stopped the meeting and was visibly angry. "I have never heard such rubbish", he said. He accepted supermarkets were "a thorn in our side" but not for the serious music fan. "As for the other two," he continued, "I don't ever see them being a real threat. Downloadable music is just a fad and people will always want the atmosphere and experience of a music store."
Unfortunately he was wrong as many people now base their lives online and are less social. With the music store absent from the high street it will only compound this.
I get the feeling that the loss of HMV is very much like the loss of Woolworths, i.e. lots of people upset about it but not many of them actually bought enough stuff in the stores to keep them viable.....
That article is fascinating. I'd forgotten about HMV's takeover of Dillons.
There was a story in the Bookseller magazine about Dillons' boss at the launch of their new store in Chiswick. A man was pointed out - he was the owner of the independent bookshop across the street - and the boss replied "well, he won't be for long". Sure enough our local independent bookshop shut down a few months later.
That was back in the 80s, the decade when the seeds for a lot of today's problems were sown. And a lot of terrible music was made, and at least some people made a lot of money out of it. I'm not gloating at all about HMV's collapse. It is the worst thing that can happen for music fans because most places will now have no music shop in their high street. But the predatory behaviour of the large music and bookselling multiples was responsible for the death of many local independent stores. And all we've to show for it is that terrible music.
I'm surprised HMV lasted this long in the first place tbh. I can't see why people bought music from there in the past few years, when you could get it so much cheaper on the Internet, even physical copies.
I only just wonder if HMV does go down on Monday what will the music industry do now.
It's not going to make much of a difference in my opinion, because HMV has become almost a non-factor in the music industry in the past few years. People will just say "Oh, it's a shame. This signals the end of the physical era, etc.", and then things will carry on the same as before.
I'm surprised HMV lasted this long in the first place tbh. I can't see why people bought music from there in the past few years, when you could get it so much cheaper on the Internet, even physical copies.
It's not going to make much of a difference in my opinion, because HMV has become almost a non-factor in the music industry in the past few years. People will just say "Oh, it's a shame. This signals the end of the physical era, etc.", and then things will carry on the same as before.
I agree I can't see much change maybe it sign of getting old or Show like X Factor and downloading have alot to answer for.
I agree I can't see much change maybe it sign of getting old or Show like X Factor and downloading have alot to answer for.
I think the X Factor is pretty irrelevent in the music industry as well. In the top 100 of the charts this week, there's by my count 7 songs by X Factor artists, and 93 songs by non-X Factor artists. And this is just after X Factor season, you tend to find when you get to Spring time there's often no X Factor artists at all in the top 100.
I agree downloading is a large part of the reason this happened to HMV though.
Just came back from HMV in the Gallaria, Hatfield. They are taking stock counts, so I guess this means they are going to be closing some stores soon.
I would have thought stocktaking is a normal part of the administrative procedure; afterall, if you want to work out the value of a company you need to work out the volume of stock and how much said stock is worth.
EDIT: They've now updated the site to show a message about the administration and that their online trading has ceased until further notice.
As much as am pissed of about my gift card, I wil stil be sad to see HMV close. Even more sad when you see there logo of the dog and thing (not sure what its called)
As much as am pissed of about my gift card, I wil stil be sad to see HMV close. Even more sad when you see there logo of the dog and thing (not sure what its called)
The HMV dog listening to the gramophone is called Nipper. The logo is from a painting titled His Master's Voice.:)
The big problem for the industry is the album side of things - physical sales are already on the slide and digital habits trend towards singles so digital albums aren't coming close to filling the void. HMV was the last real high street presence the industry had for its physical product.
As much as am pissed of about my gift card, I wil stil be sad to see HMV close. Even more sad when you see there logo of the dog and thing (not sure what its called)
HMV only have themselves to blame. Its very sad but they just refused to adapt to the changes in the retail market.
This is very true. With change in consumer habits, they should have made more of an effort to push their online stores and keep with up with the trends. It's really sad to think that when you now go into town, there'll be no HMV to have a browse in.:( Admitedly, I haven't bought a CD in God knows how long but I'm still a frequent shopper when it comes to DVDs. We really are witnessing the death of the High Street as we know it. The next 10 years will tell a lot with all the major retail chains.
Comments
Not sure why they continued to sell gift cards this late when they obviously knew that administrators would need to be called in but this in a way shows one of the faults in that Head Office weren't talking properly to the stores
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21023016
Oh the hardship of having to go into town. What a terrible thing to do. You COULD always do your Christmas shopping early. Honestly, I can't believe you think HMV is an inconvenience because you had to go to town. And the £25 is the RRP. If online sellers are selling it cheaper it's because they trade in the Channel Islands and are exempt from VAT and have different tax levels to pay. HMV are not in that category.
Play.com are stopping their retail side due to new changes in off mainland tax laws. Rather than agree to pay UK tax they threw their toys out of the pram and decided not to sell directly anymore.
The online generation is indeed destroying the high street and real social interaction. To claim its just about prices is obviously not true. In the mid 2000s the MD of HMV was shown three major threats to the business...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-21028803 "HMV: How the top dog lost its bite"
"....we stood in the boardroom in front of the new MD, Steve Knott and his directors. For some time we had felt the tides of change coming for HMV and here was our perfect opportunity to unambiguously say what we felt.
The relevant chart went up and I said, "the three greatest threats to HMV are, online retailers, downloadable music and supermarkets discounting loss leader product".
Suddenly, I realised the MD had stopped the meeting and was visibly angry. "I have never heard such rubbish", he said. He accepted supermarkets were "a thorn in our side" but not for the serious music fan. "As for the other two," he continued, "I don't ever see them being a real threat. Downloadable music is just a fad and people will always want the atmosphere and experience of a music store."
Unfortunately he was wrong as many people now base their lives online and are less social. With the music store absent from the high street it will only compound this.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21023610 "HMV leaves social gap in High Street"
For those of us that are still social, losing the music store is a huge loss.
That article is fascinating. I'd forgotten about HMV's takeover of Dillons.
There was a story in the Bookseller magazine about Dillons' boss at the launch of their new store in Chiswick. A man was pointed out - he was the owner of the independent bookshop across the street - and the boss replied "well, he won't be for long". Sure enough our local independent bookshop shut down a few months later.
That was back in the 80s, the decade when the seeds for a lot of today's problems were sown. And a lot of terrible music was made, and at least some people made a lot of money out of it. I'm not gloating at all about HMV's collapse. It is the worst thing that can happen for music fans because most places will now have no music shop in their high street. But the predatory behaviour of the large music and bookselling multiples was responsible for the death of many local independent stores. And all we've to show for it is that terrible music.
Put It in the hand of ASDA and Tesco who only deal with X Factor and what hip no alternative.
It's not going to make much of a difference in my opinion, because HMV has become almost a non-factor in the music industry in the past few years. People will just say "Oh, it's a shame. This signals the end of the physical era, etc.", and then things will carry on the same as before.
I agree I can't see much change maybe it sign of getting old or Show like X Factor and downloading have alot to answer for.
I think the X Factor is pretty irrelevent in the music industry as well. In the top 100 of the charts this week, there's by my count 7 songs by X Factor artists, and 93 songs by non-X Factor artists. And this is just after X Factor season, you tend to find when you get to Spring time there's often no X Factor artists at all in the top 100.
I agree downloading is a large part of the reason this happened to HMV though.
I would have thought stocktaking is a normal part of the administrative procedure; afterall, if you want to work out the value of a company you need to work out the volume of stock and how much said stock is worth.
EDIT: They've now updated the site to show a message about the administration and that their online trading has ceased until further notice.
http://www.hmv.com/hmv/site_down_1a.jpg
The HMV dog listening to the gramophone is called Nipper. The logo is from a painting titled His Master's Voice.:)
This might help:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSINO6MKtco
This is very true. With change in consumer habits, they should have made more of an effort to push their online stores and keep with up with the trends. It's really sad to think that when you now go into town, there'll be no HMV to have a browse in.:( Admitedly, I haven't bought a CD in God knows how long but I'm still a frequent shopper when it comes to DVDs. We really are witnessing the death of the High Street as we know it. The next 10 years will tell a lot with all the major retail chains.