ISEdb.COM

When Blockbuster first came out with their online movie
rental service it was a joke compared to Netflix. I tried it out for several
weeks and was sorely disappointed and quickly switched back.

What was Blockbuster’s problem? Well, aside from the rental
site being technologically inferior, the movies not being updated when they are
released (on DVD, let alone in the theater) and poor customer service,
Blockbuster Online had no reason for being. Essentially, they had no Unique Value
Proposition. Blockbuster could not convince me, and many others, that their
service was worth using over their primary rival, Netflix.

A few weeks ago Blockbuster convinced me to switch back.
What changed? In short, Blockbuster Online found its UVP (Unique Value
Proposition).

By finding their UVP, now called as “Total
Access,” Blockbuster was able to completely revamp site and create a user
interface that is actually superior to Netflix’s. It also forced them to step
up their game in getting movies updated on time as well as provide better
customer service. But couldn’t all of these things have been done without the
new UVP? Yep, they could have, but the UVP gave them a reason to step up their
game. It helped them figure out how best to meet their customers needs.

But Blockbuster’s UVP has almost zero to do with all of that
stuff mentioned above. Those are just side effects of a business that knows how
to meet its audience’s needs.

Carve
out a new and compelling opportunity

Smartly, Blockbuster figured out how to leverage their
offline properties for their online rental service, namely the local
Blockbuster Video store. Instead of putting your movie back in the mail to be
shipped back, you can now take your movie, which you received in the mail,
directly to the local Blockbuster store. Who cares, right? Wrong. When you
return a movie you received in the mail to the local store, you can exchange it
for another movie immediately and free. In a few days, your next movie will be
shipped to you from the online service, despite the fact that you already have
another movie in your hand.

What does this mean for me, an avid movie watcher? I can
watch more movies via Blockbuster online than I can with Netflix for
essentially the same price. Or I can pay less with Blockbuster and watch the
same number of movies. With Netflix, they won’t ship the next movie until
they’ve received one back via the mail. That’s at least a two or three day
wait. A single trip to Blockbuster gets me another movie if I have my online
rental ready to return.

By doing this, Blockbuster is able to effectively compete
against Netflix on Netflix’s turf. And they’ve done it by using, what some
might have argued was a quickly-becoming-outdated way of renting movies (the
video store).Blockbuster’s Total Access
not only leverages an advantage where Netflix has none (no offline presence)
their UVP also creates a strategic advantage for Blockbuster where Netflix once
dominated.

And who knows, Blockbuster very well may have saved the
video rental store from becoming obsolete.