“It’s what retailers do at this time of year, and any other interpretation is just the usual media speculation,” said an HMV spokesman.
Four days later administrators are appointed…confirming that the speculation was right.
It all feels a bit like the news of pubs closing; sad but I cannot remember the last time I went there.
In 1921, the Gramophone Company opened the first HMV shop in London, England; the composer Sir Edward Elgar participated in the opening ceremonies.
Today we are on possibly seeing the last Christmas for HMV. I hope not, but things are looking dire for them. HMV has said it may sell its live music division to raise funds, as it battles with another drop in sales.
My view on all this is that it’s too little and too late. Back in the late nineties was the time for HMV to broaden their delivery of entertainment across other formats. The recent successful foray into live music is making money but is one of the few assets they can sell to prop up the business.
When the live music business goes, and the retrenching to a CD/games retailer is complete, why should we shop at HMV? Amazon does pretty well for me, as does iTunes and Spotify thank you.
How about flipping the strategy? Keep the profitable live music business and sell off/close the loss making shops. Just a thought.
Almost half of UK consumers are not interested in buying products via social commerce, such as Facebook stores, according to a study.
The study, conducted by Havas Media Social and Lightspeed Research, suggests that despite the retail industry hailing social commerce as the “next big thing”, 89% of people have not bought a single product through Facebook and 44% are not interested in doing so.
Retailers and brands including HMV, Asos, Bulldog and French Connection have all launched Facebook stores in recent months.
via UK consumers unconvinced by Facebook commerce | News | Marketing Week.