Rating: Is this a classic case of no ‘click & collect’ offering?
Over here in Blighty [UK] we’ve all been fond of the little do sitting next to a gramophone which symbolises HMV (His Master’s Voice). Although it enjoys an estimated 38 per cent share of physical music sales in the UK, HMV has just recently slipped into administration. Market watchers appear unanimous in their verdict that online sales have badly hit the chain’s 249 stores. What should HMV have done or do now to save itself? GoMobile News agrees with the suggestion made by Gregory Mead, Musicmetric’s CEO that it should have embraced a click & collect model. We also agree with Ovum’s Mark Little that this development might well give an unexpected boost to digital music sales.
We think that Gregory Mead hit the nail on the head when he said, “You’d be hard pressed to be able to walk into an HMV store and buy songs directly on to your iPod.”
He adds, “where [UK] retailers like John Lewis have embraced the internet – building customers through its Click and Collect service – HMV has simply failed to adapt to the changing tastes of music fans and the seismic shift we’ve seen as everything has gone digital.”
Mead also noted, “Digital technology has overhauled the way we interact with records, means that artists can engage directly with fans, meaning physical retailers have needed to evolve as well.”
He continued, “While previously it was all about CD releases and the Sunday chart show, now the most important thing is knowing where your fanbase is and what drives them so you can market to them directly and maximise revenues from a myriad of sources.”
“Consumers consider digital music channels instead as well as new services such as Amazon’s Autorip that offers a physical CD with a free digital download, in a bundle with strings attached naturally,” he concluded.
GoMobile News can’t help but think that if supermarkets can offer a service where smartphone owners can get prints made from the stored photos, the music chains should be able to do the opposite.
Namely download a purchased track straight onto a mobile device. Don’t forget such a solution would work for tablets and dedicated music players as well as smartphones so there’s a ready market.
We’re sold old that we actually possess a copy of the Ministry of Sounds – Big Tunes on a Nokia compatible memory stick here at GoMobile Towers.
So we don’t think that dispensing with CDs and going over to a memory card format would work. However, the relevant technology must exist.
Is this a job for NFC, perhaps. What could be easier than touching your mobile device against the till after your purchase?
Apple would have to embrace NFC at last, though.
