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Overhype

by Mike Masnick

Fri, Oct 15th 2004 5:03pm





Blockbuster Goes Into Price War Mode

from the dominoes-falling dept

Considering that part of both Blockbuster's and Wal-Mart's strategies against Netflix included providing service at a lower price, hearing that Netflix was dropping prices means that they need to do the same. Blockbuster has now said that they, too, will cut the price of their service to remain competitive with Netflix. Of course, this move might be targeted just as much at the entrance of Amazon as well. Of course, price wars, by themselves, may be good for customers, but can be disastrous for the companies involved. It should be interesting to see what kinds of more compelling services and applications the various companies come up with to convince people that their service is worth some sort of premium. We've already seen Netflix's plans to team up with TiVo. How long until Blockbuster counters? Relying on their brand name and the ability to drop off at a local store only gets them so far.

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  1.  
    identicon
    TJ, Oct 15th, 2004 @ 5:25pm

    Ah... competition

    All I care about is that after raising the price 10% earlier this year without much notice, NetFlix is now feeling the need to lower prices due to competitive pressures. Keep any one player from getting too big and powerful(cough Wal*Mart, Microsoft cough), and prevent/stop collusion (** gasoline industry **), and competition works quite well indeed.

     

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  2.  
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    poptix, Oct 15th, 2004 @ 5:30pm

    Re: Ah... competition

    Wal-Mart? I've seen my fair share of wal-mart bashing, but you're off the deep end if you think they're responsible for any kind of price gouging.

     

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  3.  
    identicon
    TJ, Oct 16th, 2004 @ 2:25pm

    Re: Ah... competition

    In no way did I say Wal-Mart was price gouging. I said they are too big and powerful. Quite different statements.

     

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  4.  
    identicon
    Greg, Oct 17th, 2004 @ 11:55am

    No Subject Given

    Blockbuster has already countered, announcing taht it will lower its monthly fee to $17.49 in a couple of weeks.

     

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  5.  
    icon
    Mike (profile), Oct 17th, 2004 @ 1:07pm

    Re: No Subject Given

    That was the point of the original post... The question I asked was how long until Blockbuster counters with additional services and features, rather than just price war thinking.

     

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  6.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Oct 17th, 2004 @ 6:10pm

    No Subject Given

    how come walmart / netflix isn't in Canada ?

    US citizens always get the best prices and still complain

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  7.  
    identicon
    MeAgain, Oct 19th, 2004 @ 12:55am

    Re: No Subject Given

    Just be glad, wal-mart sucks money out of communities and treats employees like crap.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


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