Law Students

Blockbuster v. Netflix?

OK, I have been hanging on to our Blockbuster membership despite the fact that I knew that there were other "more viable" options. I clearly was aware of Netflix's offering. Why hang on? Dunno. Ritual maybe. I would usually go rent movies late in the week after a workout. I have been doing that for about four years now and I had perhaps convinced myself that it was "therapeutic" to be more physically engaged with the world, instead of staring at a monitor all day long.

So the last trip to Blockbuster was the tipping point. They changed their pricing model and it was confusing. Apparently I would be saving money if I returned the movies on time but I get "whacked" for being late. Previously they had this "grace period" for late returns and we never incurred late fees. So in addition to making a special trip I now had to worry about getting the movies back on time. I hate worrying about that kind of nonsense. There are far too many things to legitimately worry about, like generating additional revenue in the worse recession since the Great Depression.

That was it. I signed up for Netflix, reviewed the movies I wanted to see online and the shipment arrived in one business day as promised. The ability to check out reviews online is a big deal. I mean I should have known that it would be, but we all have some "luddite" baggage that we carry. That said, more and more of us will begin to shed this luggage as the realities of the new economic world order set it. I want interactivity. I want to buy stuff that I am more informed about. I will find other meaningful ways to engage with the physical world, but renting movies won't be one of them.

Old purchasing habits die hard, but they eventually do die, especially when switching costs are non-existent. Business organizations that fail to adapt will simply die a death of one thousand cuts and slowly bleed to death, not a happy thought during the holiday season but hey, it is what it is.

Full post as published by LawTechTV on December 23, 2008 (boomark / email).