From Sarah Zhou’s blog post Farewell HMV, it is evident that technology, as well as other factors, can change our lifestyles. Due to high lease and the accessibility to acquire music both legally and illegally online, HMV has no other choice but to close down some of its stores. The store in Downtown Vancouver alone is already on the move.
This can be related to a topic we’ve covered in COMM 101. In Class 9, it was briefly mentioned that Blockbuster was not making as much revenue as it used to. They moved on to renting videos at kiosks, but as a result it was not successful. Just like the video retailer, HMV is facing a similar situation. iTunes, YouTube, and other sources are contributing to the business’ suffering.
It has come to my attention that businesses like Blockbuster and HMV must regularly come up with innovative ways to make sales and to keep up with consumer demands. For example, Apple is always producing “new” goods; in other words, the company takes its old product and adds another feature or two to make it brand new. However, the strategy does always end up attracting more customers into buying their products. If HMV wants to keep up in the market, it needs to come up with something that will blow our minds away – and fast.
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Other source(s): HMV to close down flagship downtown Vancouver store