This one picture tells the tale of a company that failed to adapt to a changing market. I actually have fond memories of Blockbuster as a child. Not many, but reting old NES games while SNES/Genesis were major players in the console market.
However, for all those memories, I also remember on very important thing about businesses, or just life in general: Adapt or Die. This is true in both a social context (Health Care Reform, DADT repeal, Racial Desegregation) as it is in business.
The above picture is a clear illustration of how NOT to do it. The moment Netfix or even RedBox came into being Blockbuster should have shit their collective pants. The RIAA certainly did when Napster came knocking at their doorsteps (and for what it's worth their reaction paved the way for much of the Bittorrent world of today).
But, back to Blockbuster now. This is a classic example of what happens when you fail to either anticipate or adapt to a change in the market. Netfix started in '99, plenty of time for Blockbuster to have changed their business to adapt. But in this case it wasn't aggressive enough, as they took a full 5 years to realize (2004) to bring a similar product, Blockbuster Online, to bear.
5 years, in this day in age, is an eternity. During that time Redbox came into being, meaning ol' Blocky had not a game of one-upmanship but a full fledged war (Two's company, three's competition). We've already seen the fall of Hollywood Video years ago. Slowly but surely the further fall of big name brick-and-motor video stores will follow. If there are any left.
There's a nice writeup at WSJ about the Blockbuster filing. Shows just how bad the company has gotten in the past few years.
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