![\"Blockbuster:](\"http:\/\/www.beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/CS_Blockbuster-450.jpg\")
<\/a>Blockbuster is shutting down their remaining US stores. This signals the end of the large chain video stores. If ever there was an example of a company that missed the mark on customer experience<\/a> and paying the consequences, Blockbuster is it.<\/p>\nIt used to be you couldn\u2019t find a strip mall in a suburban area that didn\u2019t have a large yellow and blue signed Blockbuster video store amongst its tenants. Now you can\u2019t find a large yellow and blue sign hardly anywhere. And by early January, you won\u2019t find any \u2013 unless of course it\u2019s one of 50 individual franchises<\/a>.<\/p>\n My regular readers know that I am a fan of Netflix. I haven\u2019t always agreed with all of their moves, and sometimes I have criticisms on how the handle changes, but generally I am a fan (and a subscriber).<\/p>\n Over the next five years, Netflix winnowed away at the market share. At first, the idea of having to wait for the mail for your movie was a challenge for new customers. But once they tried it, customers found they liked getting movies in their mailbox and sending them back whenever they were done watching them \u2013 with no late fees.<\/p>\n Now, I am a fairly organized bloke. I can get my travel documents and overnight bag packed in less than 15 minutes. I am a champion multi-tasker who can blog and watch a soccer match at the same time. But I was challenged by the deadline at my local Blockbuster. I am quite certain that I helped keep their ledgers in the black for years in the early 2000s.<\/p>\n While I understood their return\/late policy, it grated on me. Not only that, it was inconvenient with which to comply. Plus, Blockbuster made it worse by moving the deadline to return your movie from 9pm the next day to 5pm the next day. For working people, that doesn\u2019t \u201cwork\u201d does it?<\/p>\n But they weren\u2019t done. They then moved the deadline up to 2pm or some other ridiculously early time. I honestly don\u2019t remember\u2026it\u2019s been so long since I rented a movie there. My point is that their customer experience always left me feeling hassled.<\/p>\n So as soon as I had a better option, where I returned the movie when I was done with no \u201clate penalty\u201d, I took it. Plus I didn\u2019t even have to go to the store to do it but instead sealed it in the red envelope and dropped it in the outgoing mail. Now I don\u2019t even fool with envelopes, I stream movies and other programs directly.<\/p>\n Blockbuster suffered from hubris. Hubris is from ancient Greek and means extreme arrogance. Blockbuster exhibited hubris when Netflix announced their business model and they didn\u2019t respond. This is a lot like Nokia, which I discussed in more detail in my post, \u201cHow Hubris Killed Nokia<\/a>\u201d. Earlier this year Microsoft bought Nokia. Nokia was also a dying brand, languishing in their hubris that took the form of a poor decision not to compete with new phone technologies, including Apple\u2019s iPhone when it was launched in 2007. Now both companies are paying the price for their hubris and for not paying attention to what the customer wants or the experience they were providing.<\/p>\n Luckily, more and more companies understand the importance of what the customer wants and the experience they were providing. In our 2013 Global Leaders of Customer Experience Management (CEM) Survey<\/a>, we learned something very interesting this year. For the first time, our leaders identified as their biggest issue how to incorporate the CEM philosophy into the corporate culture. In previous years, the biggest issue has been to demonstrate how an investment in CEM will perform in an ROI analysis. To us, this shows that more organizations believe in the importance of Customer Experience and less are trying to convince themselves that it is worth the time and money.<\/p>\n![\"Blockbuster](\"http:\/\/www.beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/CS_Blockbuster-closing-down-240.jpg\")
<\/a>When Netflix announced a new way to handle the business of renting movies, Blockbuster didn\u2019t respond. Blockbuster believed that it wasn\u2019t necessary. They had the lion\u2019s share of the movie rental business and had no interest in making a change to their tried-and-true business model.<\/p>\n![\"Blockbuster:](\"http:\/\/www.beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/CS_Blockbusters-no-late-fees.jpg\")
<\/a>Blockbuster tried to respond to Netflix, but they were too late. After Netflix was crushing them, they came up with an online movie service. They also abandoned the confounding late fee policy. Blockbuster stores across the country all had huge banners that read simply \u201cNo More Late Fees.\u201d But it was too late, their customers had moved on. I remember thinking snidely one day as I read a banner while driving by my local Blockbuster where I had paid countless late fees, \u201cOf course there are not late fees\u2026I\u2019m with Netflix!\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Colin](\"http:\/\/www.beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/colin-smiling.jpg\" "\\"Colin-shaw-smiling.jpg\\"")
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