Sears/Kmart Movie Streaming Service Apparently Designed For Uninformed Suckers
from the target-marketing dept
The online movie streaming business is an interesting one, which Netflix currently dominates, though it's definitely still early. While Netflix's solution is far from perfect, there's just something about the way in which Netflix set up its online offering -- where people pay for access, rather than content that has been quite appealing to many people. However, with so much interest in online movie streaming, it's not surprising to see others entering the market, though it appears that many are taking a cargo cult approach to creating online movie streaming services: they just put together a service that offers movies for streaming, without taking the time to understand why they work or what people actually want from them.A few months back, we wrote about Best Buy's online movie service, called CinemaNow, which is just the branding slapped on a service from a company called Sonic Solutions (somewhat confusingly, Sonic had owned and used the CinemaNow brand, but then sold it to Best Buy, who used it to offer a service powered by Sonic). Rather than following the Netflix online model of paying for access, the Best Buy/Sonic solution followed the old Blockbuster model: pay $15 to "buy" (really license for the life of your account, or until the service shuts down) or $4 to "rent," which would allow you to watch the movie within 30 days -- but once you started it, you would need to finish it within 24 hours. Those "24 hour" windows have been tried before, and they serve no purpose other than to absolutely annoy and piss people off.
In talking to people who follow these services, we've heard that CinemaNow has had dreadful pick-up rates. People just really aren't that interested, and it's not hard to see that services like Netflix appear to be a hell of a lot more user-friendly. Best Buy recently tried to amp up its marketing of the service, and the best argument it can make against Netflix is: "We tell people to think of it like using Netflix, except you get to keep what you actually buy." Except, of course, that's not really accurate, nor compelling. First of all, you don't really get to "keep" what you "buy." In fact, you don't really get to "buy" anything. You just license it, and you lose it the second your account closes (or, again, the service goes out of business). And, of course, with the way the Netflix system works, you have unlimited access to every movie in its system anyway, so you basically get to "keep" all of the movies, anyway (if you define "keep" the same way Best Buy is defining it).
Anyway, the latest on this front is that Sears & Kmart have jumped into the fray with their own service, which appears to be little more than an identical clone to BestBuy's CinemaNow. The Sears/Kmart solution is called Alphaline Entertainment (huh?) and is also powered by Sonic -- but here the prices are actually higher. The faux-own option now costs $20, rather than $15.
So you have a solution that is not compelling, has serious limitations, significantly underperforms the competition and is more expensive than an identical solution from the same core provider. Are Sears & Kmart really saying that their target market is uninformed suckers?
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Filed Under: movies, streaming
Companies: bestbuy, kmart, netflix, sears, sonic solutions
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Except... most of the major studios have blocked Netflix from renting out new releases for 28 days, and the majority of movies availiable for instant streaming are older and/or flops. So Hollywood has not really done Netflix (and their millions of subscribers) any favors either. Basically we're all screwed, unless we download the movies via bittorrent.
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I can't shake the feeling that they're once again just playing scared of new technology. They fight torrent sites, yet fail to realize the potential behind them.
It baffles me, it really does.
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It baffles me, it really does."
Quarterly profits make you stupid to guy rolling the red bull machine up behind you in the gas station. Who promptly rolls over your foot, makes you hop around and fall into traffic.
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Of course, the real awesomeness is in the television shows and the documentaries. I love queuing up shows for my kids, knowing that they'll be commercial-free. Honestly, Netflix is worth it for that alone.
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Notice I said "the majority." You named one of the exceptions.
While some of the TV shows are nice, the "best" TV shows (i.e. Mad Men, Breaking Bad, etc.) are only availiable via DVD or BluRay.
Just because you like the crap they stream doesn't mean everyone does. :P
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Sears and Kmart have always had uninformed suckers as their target market. With that in mind, a streaming service aimed at their core market makes sense.
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Higher pricing isn't always an indication that they look at the customers as "uninformed suckers", just perhaps that their business model isn't working from the same base numbers as a Netflix might. There is a question of trust, of long term stability that perhaps these people feel towards a name like Sears.
Further, I would say that without the existing user base and the existing product line that Netflix had before entering into the on demand market, I suspect they wouldn't be doing it for the price point they are on. They are on a very low margin, very high volume business model that few other companies can afford to compete with, at least for now.
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Not even for returning a vacuum, which didn't suck either.
:>)
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The people who shop there may be uninformed suckers, or they may be people who value a long term relationship with a reliable source over "this week's new company". It is the same uninformed suckers who pay a couple of dollars more for something from a local store instead of driving out to Sam's Club to save some money.
They aren't suckers, they are people making an informed choice. I hope that your children get to learn the difference between Mom's opinion and fact. :)
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It's funny because it's true
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Re: It's funny because it's true
Do you know what is really appalling. Kmart goes bankrupt, comes out of bankruptcy and is then able to "buy" Sears!!!!! Someone was playing a financial game. To bad there was no smoking gun that I know of. I suspect this would make for a really good story for an investigative reporter. Hint Hint Hint.
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Re: You get the customers you deserve
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I have a theory...
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Re: I have a theory...
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The is the biggest lie of them all.
In this day and age anyone who says he bought a movie is either ignorant of the law or is trying to shag your sis.
There are some people out there that believes ownership only apply to them and not others(looking at you RIAA, MPAA, Bono, ASCAP and company).
When a bozo tells you that you buy some IP thingy ask him if you can copy freely or distribute it to your friends?
Either he call you a thief and freeloader or he will lie saying you can.
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Who buys from these services?
Then again, if more customers made educated decisions, a lot of people would be out of business, wouldn't they?
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Re: Who buys from these services?
I was about to say that. For $20, you could just buy a physical copy. One that wouldn't stop playing if you stopped paying Sears, and that you could re-sell if you were broke.
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Re: Who buys from these services?
It's not obvious to me that Netflix will necessarily prevail in it's model for online streaming. Personally I just think that CinemaNow has the pricing wrong. If anything, RedBox has demonstrated that the value of a movie rental is about a $1. So $4 is too high.
The success of RedBox should give the movie industry something to think about. Streaming is dramatically cheaper to operate. Which means that they could get much better profit margins due to the lower capital costs.
And IMHO, they could effectively use the same model as RedBox. I would almost certainly drop Netflix (which is also available on my TiVo) if I had access to any movie for $1 per rental rather than the limited selection at NetFlix. I don't watch 10 movies per month, so $1 per rental would be cheaper. Also, even if I were to exceed that $10 expense in a given month, the value of much greater selection would be worth it.
So I can see a market for the CinemaNow model. They just have to get the prices right.
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Never Underestimate
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Re: Never Underestimate
As it's currently worded it seems to say that it IS wise to assume the american public is smart and informed.
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Lawl
Why would I pay twice as much for a lower quality streamed version?
P.S. I haven't ripped any rented videos, but I could if I wanted and I have that option with rented.
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cimema-not!
Bit - torrent
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Sears
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