As you may or may not be aware, Blockbuster used to be a pretty big household name. It was a name synonymous with family nights, date nights, weekend movie marathons and even lazy hung over Sundays (for those who were so inclined). Droves of teenagers, families, seniors and anyone else who was old enough to go to their local Blockbuster would queue up any day of the week to rent the latest Adam Sandler/Drew rom-com Barrymore (yes, they were dark, dark days). Fast forward to current times however, and the Millennials of this age consider Blockbuster a relic of the “olden days” (if they even know it what it is at all). Much like Adam Sandler, Blockbuster has faded into obscurity.

“So what happened?!” I hear you hear scream in confused and awed surprise. From having $6 Billion in revenue in 2004, to going bankrupt in 2010 and then continually struggling with re-launch, Blockbuster’s decline was one of the most prolific (and surprising) business disaster stories of the era. Well my excitable friends, wait no longer, I will tell you what happened. Among other things, the simple answer is they failed to plot their customer’s wanderings.

In 2000 Blockbuster laughed out offers to purchase Netflix for $50 Million. You may have heard of this little company…? In 2015 it saw its customer base reach 57 million subscribers worldwide and its revenue just hit $1.48 Billion, so I’m guessing you may have heard of it at some point. Needless to say, with the advent of the internet and Netflix, consumers were using new and different ways to watch their movies/TV shows and our old friends at Blockbuster failed to track these changes in consumer behaviour. Netflix (among other streaming sites) offered a cheaper, more effortless channel of giving consumers what they wanted. This wouldn’t have been possible without the digital transformation and just goes to show the power of technology and the power of the consumer. By 2016 Netflix is aiming to be available all over the globe and is currently considering options for breaking into China.

The biggest issue for Blockbuster is that it’s just not convenient anymore. Thanks to technological advances, what used to be considered an intuitive and handy service is now troublesome and inconvenient. Why take 30-40 minutes to pop out to a local store and browse for recent releases when you can sit at home, use either your TV, Laptop, Tablet or phone, and take 2 minutes to decide what you want to watch (legally or illegally, we’re not here to open that can of morality worms). And much like the technological landscape surrounding it, the customer journey to purchase has completely changed as well. Now the only real pain-points are 1) being connected to the internet (not even an issue if you pre-download something) and 2) the cost of subscription to various services.

It took roughly 6 years for the demise of one of the largest brands in the world at the time. By being too ingrained and inflexible, (i.e. not tracking the consumer wanderings), Blockbuster died a horrible death. But from this death we can learn a valuable lesson. For any business in any market, it is crucial to keep your metaphorical ear to ground, discover and track your consumer’s wanderings and then react accordingly.

Written by Alex