HMV Admits to Underestimating Potential in the Internet

It has been proven time and time again that just because a company is hugely successful, it doesn’t mean that the best decisions are being made all the time. Take HMV, for example, which is discovering this itself. Over the past week, the company mulled over the decline in sales it saw throughout the holiday season, and admitted that it underestimated what the Internet would become.

An HMV spokesperson said, “Clearly, we wouldn’t be where we are today without having made some mistakes and the seeds of many of the challenges we now face were actually sown a good 10 or more years ago.” The statement goes onto say that while the group of people who headed the direction of the company 10 years ago did an outstanding job getting the company to where it was, it was that same generation that overlooked the possibilities with the Internet.

I am not sure if HMV stores can be found in the US, but in Canada and the UK, they are very popular. Around here in east coast Canada, HMV is the last “real” music store, with its leading competition being Walmart and Futureshop – both of which are unimpressive unless mainstream music is your bag.

I do believe that HMV missed the Internet boat in a huge way, because until a couple of years ago, its website wouldn’t even ship directly to you. Rather, you’d have to order something and then pick it up in-store. Obviously, that’s less-than-ideal. But in 2009, the company purchased a huge stake in 7Digital, a digital music store, so it became obvious that the company was finally starting to get it.

To me though, HMV no doubt has other things to blame for its declining sales. I used to be able to walk into our local HMV and pick up the latest record from some band I like… maybe not super mainstream, but not an unknown either. Nowadays, if the store carries an album I want that just came out, it’s almost shocking. One album, for example, that came out a few months ago and debuted at #20 on the Billboard top 100, was not available at this store. Instead, I had to go to Amazon.com to purchase it.

To be fair, HMV isn’t just about music, as it covers movies and other entertainment also. But as one of the last remaining big music stores, it might want to start catering to those who are still interested in an actual music store to purchase their music at.

In related news, the company did state that it plans to ramp up its vinyl selection due to customer demand, so at least there’s some light at the end of the tunnel.