Marketing: Original Hmv Music Store Analysis

This sample essay on Hmv Marketing provides important aspects of the issue and arguments for and against as well as the needed facts. Read on this essay’s introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion.

For this report we will be analyzing the original HMV music store on 363 Oxford Street, London, and how integrating or enhancing their e-marketing strategies could benefit their store. As previously mentioned, this was the first HMV music store to open, and was set up in 1921. At that time, the store did not focus on the music and film genre, but rather on a variety of HMV branded goods.

It was conservative in the sense that business transactions were done on a one to one basis, and those residing outside of London could only purchase HMV products from exclusive appointed dealers [5]. Like today, many customers were able to open accounts within the store.

Purpose

Currently, HMV has the following marketing objectives [1]:

•  Generate store traffic and encourage the purchase of other products, other than CDs, along with increasing album purchases.

Hmv Tracking

•  Increase positive perception among its customers.
•  Predict and satisfy their customers’ needs.
•  Analyze market trends traditionally as well as on the net.

According to the 2003 Annual Report [4], their key strategies have been to:

•  Optimize store portfolio.
•  Achieve superior financial performance.
•  Exploit new product opportunities.
•  Secure leadership in chosen markets.

HMV has a website in which it is possible to buy CD’s, DVD’S or video games, also sold in-store. Unfortunately, this only satisfies some consumers’ needs. The advantages provided to customers by this are that they do not actually have to leave their home to make a purchase, and it is less tedious to search for desired items.

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On the other hand, the prices for CD’s and DVD’s on the current site are either the same price or sometimes even more expensive than in the store, on top of which additional fees are imposed for shipping. For this reason, online transactions may turn out more expensive to the buyer. This implies that their current method is only targeting certain audiences. With the increase of internet competition, and the ability to purchase used CD’s on an alternative site for cheaper prices (such as Ebay), or even download songs illegally for free, it is possible that many customers will refrain from paying full price for products offered on the HMV website or stores.

Proposition

Although HMV is already using e-marketing as part of their marketing activities, there is still room for new strategies to be implemented. With the adoption of new forms of e-marketing, HMV on Oxford Street would be more up to date with the changing market and therefore increase their sales and attract more customers.

The specific marketing objectives recommended for 363 Oxford Street are to:

• Target new customer audiences (ie. people who only buy items on promotion, people who cannot afford to buy CD’s or DVD’s at regular price, and people who are loyal to their artists and still want original CD’s rather than burned copies).
• Improve profitability brought by their video games.
• Encourage customer loyalty.
• Be the leading HMV store (in customer flow) by having the best communication with their customers.

The idea proposed is to develop a personalized website, directly linked to the Oxford store, rather than all HMV stores. The strategies recommended to be used within the new site to achieve each of the recommended objectives, respectively, are to:

•  Establish an infrastructure for customers to buy & sell second-hand products through the site.
•  Provide opportunities to try out new video games in the store & hold monthly tournaments between customers.
•  Offer coupons for in-store products on the site.
•  Distribute weekly newsletters to registered customers who wish to be notified of upcoming events, sales, etc.

Recommendation for Action

In order for these strategies to be carried out, a website should be specifically created for the Oxford Street store. The website should initially be advertised & promoted in the store, and by other means to notify people of its existence and getting them interested in visiting. Visitors of the site will then have the option to register onto the site, to become members and be able to take full advantage of all benefits provided by it. This site should carry the HMV brand name along with an extra word to differentiate it from other HMV sites, but continue to have the benefit of the well known brand that provides customers with a feeling of good quality and service. The website is to advertise promotions taking place in the Oxford Street store, in addition to the other incentives to visit the store.

The infrastructure created to buy and sell second hand products will allow consumers with used CD’s or DVD’s which they are bored of and want to get rid of, to either sell or exchange the product with other consumers in the same situation who wish to swap. In this way, customers who are loyal to their artists and still like to have original CD’s, but cannot afford to pay high prices, are able to obtain them at a low price. Although this will mostly be a customer to customer relationship, HMV could take part in each transaction by automatically adding a small amount to the price set by the seller, such as 50 pence, which would be paid to HMV for allowing the transaction on their site.

With that money, the buyer could also be benefiting indirectly by having a certain amount, such as 10 “HMV points” added to their account. After accumulating a certain amount, such as 50 or 100 points, the points will then have to be redeemed in-store (Oxford Street) for discounts on products or freebies. In this way, different types of customers will be targeted that were not targeted before, and more customers will be attracted into the store. This move towards cheap trading of music and films is very important since, through evolving technology, it is now so easy to “burn” music or films and distribute them between friends [6].

The site can also include special video game related features to attract even more customers and increase in-store sales of video games. This can be carried out by allowing site members to try out “new video game arrivals” and encourage people to buy them. Customers will only be allowed to play for 10 minutes at a time, establishing that it is only a trial and if they wish to pass to other levels or play longer they must go to the store and buy the game. The website can also allow members to play random video games (sold in-store) against each other, to promote the games, and perhaps even hold monthly tournaments online.

The finals can be held in-store and the winner may receive either a free game or a gift certificate for that particular store. The advantage to this is that by having promoted the games and getting people in the store, even those that do not win will probably end up buying something in the store, beginning with the game they played, if they liked it, and they will probably continue to go to that store. Therefore, profitability of video game sales may be increased, as well as customer loyalty.

Another strategy proposed is offering in-store coupons on the site. Customers are to print out the coupons and use them at the Oxford Street store only. This strategy will increase both the amount of people going to the store and visiting the site. People will visit the site more often to check out the new deals being promoted and those deals will encourage customers to visit the store. This will attract a new customer audience, those that will not purchase an item unless it is on promotion. It will also encourage customer loyalty, since the coupons may only be redeemed at the Oxford Street store, so customers will go to that particular store rather than other HMV stores.

The best way to be in touch with customers through e-marketing is by sending weekly newsletters. Upon registration on to the site, members will have the option of receiving a newsletter every week updating them on upcoming events. Customers may pick from a menu which events or promotions they would be interested in and be notified via email of the ones they chose. These events may include celebrity appearances in-store for autographs, final round of video-game tournaments to be carried out in-store, new releases of CD’s, DVD’s, video games, accessories, and hints on hot new coupons featured on the site, which they would have to enter the site to access and print. This would help promote both the store and the website and would further increase customer loyalty in the Oxford Street store, giving them a great advantage over other retailers, including other HMV stores.

Tracking

There are several ways in which progress can be tracked. One minor way would be by including a “number of hits” feature on the site to see how many people are visiting it. The number of people that register onto the site can also be counted. Members of the site could fill out a profile upon registration to keep a record of the type of audience that is being attracted by this strategy (such as demographics). In-store sales could be compared to previous years to see if the website has helped them through advertising their products and promotions.

A quantitative approach may be to track the number of coupon redemptions in the store to see how efficient that particular strategy is. A survey could also be conducted either within the store or online to find out if the website has had an impact on customers, and how it has affected their spending habits at HMV Oxford Street (whether they are spending more or less on average). Tracking progress will help the Oxford Street store conclude whether more customers have been attracted into their store through the website, and if this has affected their in-store sales.

Critical Success Factors

In order for this integration to succeed in reaching its objectives, the following CSF’s must be met by either the Oxford Street store, the new website, or both:

• Both the store and the website must always be up to date with new technologies & trends (such as creating personalized CD’s in-store).
•  The website must take up the HMV brand name to absorb the image of the company and therefore have an immediate customer base (as HMV already has brand awareness and loyalty).
•  The quality of the website must be good to live up to HMV standards and really keep customers happy. An example of a good quality the website should have is ease to search for a desired product, which may be achieved through potential sellers categorizing their products.
•  Stock levels must be met within the store. If the store has more stock than it can sell it will cut the company’s profit margins. If the company’s stock levels are too low, it will not meet customer demands, and their customers will go elsewhere.
•  Management & staff should be well trained and always aware of everything going on in the site. This way they will be prepared to answer any question(s) a customer might have regarding coupons, promotions, tournaments, appearances, etc.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is essential for companies to always stay in touch with customer’s needs. On the same level, it is also important for companies to constantly research and analyze the market to keep up to date with new technologies and innovations. Otherwise, it is quite unlikely for a company to succeed. Fortunately, HMV has always proved to be pretty good at this and this is no time to stop.

In the case of the music industry, with the new technology providing so much internet competition, it is imperative that all music companies take the “future of digital music seriously [10].” This is why HMV has begun to make the move in an attempt to retain market share and keep from internet delivery of music stealing their revenue. As a customer-focused company, HMV seeks to provide what consumers want, while keeping in view new technology.

Developing new ways to reach consumers is what has made HMV Group the powerful retailer it is today. To support this, David Cameron, e-commerce systems manager of HMV Group plc, says “If you’re going to be a successful e-business, integrating your back-end systems with your front-end database is essential”.