It’s probably been awhile since most of us have thought about the once magnificent movie giant Blockbuster, but they are about to be on our radar once again! Today’s article, Blockbuster is bleeding to death, is a lesson to us all in why it’s important to innovate.
Now, in the case of Blockbuster, I am referring to the fact that they have been lagging behind in innovation for years at this point, and appear to finally be doing something about it. You see, when Netflix came around, 13 YEARS ago, I guess Blockbuster didn’t see them as a threat, and ignored them. They ignored them until 2004, when they finally launched their own DVD by mail operation! This gave Netflix a 7 year head start, which means that Blockbuster wasn’t innovating, they were merely trying to catch up. You see, innovation is defined as a new way of doing something, and that isn’t what Blockbuster was doing. They were merely trying to compete. Now that they are almost near bankruptcy, with actual brick and mortar stores becoming obsolete, they are trying everything they can to get out from under their $1 billion dollars in debt, and luckily for them, that includes innovation. They have announced a deal that makes them the first in the market for mobile devices. What does this mean? Smart phone owners will be able to purchase or rent movies from Blockbuster over their phone to watch on the go. The problem? Right now the service is only available at T-Mobile. It has been said it will be available on Android and Windows Mobile phones soon, but not now. What about the I Phone? Well, Apple is in talks (rumored) with Netflix.
As far as things go, I applaud Blockbuster for trying to innovate to save their company, but I fear it is too little too late. Their business model of their brick and mortar stores became obsolete a few years ago. Not only do people find it easier to just “update their queue” with the movies they want to watch, but they can stream movies live and save money since the monthly fee generally works out to be cheaper (and no late fees). I mean, I remember when Blockbuster was charging almost $5 to rent a movie, and would charge a late fee if it wasn’t back in 2 days. There is NO WAY that business model can compete with Netflix, or Redbox with its $1 for 1 day movie rentals.
What is the lesson here? Don’t let the opportunity to innovate your job, your business or your life pass you by. If you figure out a new way to do something in your business or your life, see what you can do with it. Maybe it’s just a way to make some darn fine chili very fast (I am very proud of my chili), or maybe it’s a way to revolutionize how we look under our clothes, like the inventor of Spanx, Sara Blakely. Maybe you decide that there is a better way of doing something at your job that will save the company money (and possibly get you a nice bonus), or maybe you decide to innovate your whole life, and do everything in a different way. Either way, don’t wait to act on an idea!
