4 MCV 23/07/10 NEWS [LEADER] FANTASTIC MR FOX
LEADS HMV CHARGE WRITING ABOUT HMV is a welcome change to all the doom and gloom surrounding retail at the moment. Their profits? Up. Their store
count? Increasing. Whereas the rest of retail talks of consolidation
and decline, HMV is enjoying expansion and growth. And the reason for this success? Well, the loss of
competition has certainly helped. HMV has been one of the chief beneficiaries from the collapse of Woolworths, Zavvi and Silverscreen. But still, the entertainment retailer has had to ride the same wave of recession as everyone else. And it – as much as anyone – has had to withstand the aggressive market share grabbing of the supermarkets. Indeed, HMV’s success in the face of a tough market has been driven by the vision of its CEO, Simon Fox. In 2007 Fox drew up a three-year plan to turn a
struggling HMV around. And as we enter the final year of that plan, the transformation is nearly complete. It’s no wonder Fox has been headhunted by the likes of ITV. And the execs on stage at HMV’s entertainment
conference in Camden last week couldn’t look happier. Once a jack-of-all-trades entertainment retailer, HMV
is now a specialist in all that it does. But more than that, it’s now an entertainment brand in its own right.
“HMV used to be a jack-of-all-trades entertainment retailer, but now it’s a brand in its own right.”
In music, it’s not all about CDs anymore, it’s about
digital, tickets, t-shirts, gig venues and even festivals. For film, HMV doesn’t just sell DVDs and Blu-rays – it has its own in-store cinemas. And for games it’s all about playing the latest releases at Gamerbase. It is this exact sort of forward-thinking retailing
that won HMV best High Street Retailer at the MCV Awards in April. And rival retailers should take note. HMV still has some way to go. There’s still no sign
of a digital strategy for games or movies, and its online store is struggling in the face of stiff competition. But after attending its conference last week, you
can’t help but feel Simon Fox has something of the Midas touch, and that HMV will continue to be at the forefront of entertainment retail in the years to come.
BACK FOR GOOD WE AT MCV love a good comeback – and it looks like Robbie Williams is about to make one. He’s got a new best-of album, he’s back with Take
That and now he’ll star in his very own video game. But perhaps the most interesting thing about the
Robbie game is it’s a title designed to coincide with an album. DVDs often accompany new CDs, but a game? Last year it happened with The Beatles: Rock Band, so could we be looking at a new industry trend? If the Robbiegame sells I’m sure others will follow.
And it’s exactly the sort of entertainment cross-over that a retailer like HMV would love to capitalise on.
Christopher.Dring@intentmedia.co.uk
Games central to HMV’s
Gamerbase to feature in 100 sites, five superstores by September by James Batchelor
VIDEO GAMES will play a major part in HMV’s ambition to become an ‘entertainment superbrand.’
The firm wants to be seen as more than just a retailer, and already sells music tickets, owns music venues and cinemas. And during its entertainment conference last week, the retailer called upon the games industry to get involved. The company has major ambitions for its Gamerbase
outlets, which will play an ever-increasing role in the company’s games plan. “Gaming is a major part of our brand strategy,” HMV’s CEO Simon Fox told MCV. “We’re not new to games, we’ve been in this area for a long time. The idea of using games to bring interactivity to stores is important – that’s why we now have Gamerbase in
“
100 stores. It’s the best way of bringing our stores to life.” The retailer’s commercial manager for games Jonathan Hayes announced that there will be five Gamerbase superstores by September. These are joined by well over 100 Gamerbase pods in HMV stores nationwide. He also claimed that sales of titles demonstrated through Gamerbase generally increase by up to 30 per cent. In-store experiences have become a central point to
Gaming is a major part of our brand strategy. Using games is the best way of bringing our stores to life.
Simon Fox, HMV
WWW.MCVUK.COM
HMV’s new brand strategy, and Fox says that will become even more vital in the future. He added: “It’s incredibly important, particularly for upcoming devices like Move, Kinect and 3DS. We want to really showcase these products and bring them to life.” Games will also play a key role in HMV’s digital strategy. HMV Digital has just gone live
”
for music, and the retail giant hopes to develop an in-house offering for games, too. “We’ve thought about digital games a lot,” said Fox. “It’d be very easy for us to just add a white label service, which is what some of our competitors
FINALLY... STARCRAFT II HAS LANDED
IT’S BEEN 12 long years, but finally Blizzard will release the sequel to StarCraftnext week (Tuesday July 27th). The game is the first standalone Blizzard title to be released since the merger with Activision in 2007, and is set to be one of the biggest PC launches of the year. Once again a big launch party will take place at GAME in London’s Oxford Street on Monday July 26th.
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