Netflix vs Blockbuster

smoothmoniker · 03-28-2005, 12:39 PM

We've been using Netflix for about a year, and loving it. The site is well designed, the movies ship quickly, and their system of making recommendations has been surprisingly accurate - we've found a few movies we would have never thought to rent that have become favorites.

Thought I would try out Blockbuster's online service, which is trying to compete in the same market segment as netflix. They have a 2 week free trial, so I thought, what the hell.

What a disappointment. All the issues I have from the in-store blockbuster experience have carried over to their online store. First of all, the site has been down several times in the past few days. (hint: don't spend millions on a national ad campaign to point customers to a website that's down for repairs). Next, I just finished putting about 20 discs on my queue, covering the gambit from popular new releases, classics, cult films, foreign films, even TV series discs. Out of all of them, only 2 are available to ship! TWO!!!! The films that they DON'T have in stock are things like Garden State, Collateral, Kill Bill 1&2, Sopranos, Chariots of Fire, Ghandi, we're not talking obscure films that they only have one copy of. Also, the website design is just clunky. On netflix, you have one-click links back to your queue, your account, your recommendations, and the last big category you were looking at. At the blockbuster site, there were several times when I had to go all the way back to the start page before i could go to any of my personalized pages, or had to use my browsers "back" button to get back to the broad categories I was searching through.

I'd be willing to believe that maybe they're just fumbling the roll-out, and that they'll sort out the supply-demand as the service gains more traction, if it weren't so much like their in-store experience. I wonder how many people are going to be like me, and willing to give it a try, have an bad experience, and jump back over to Netflix?

Anyway, the lesson of the day - you only get one chance to make a good first impression. Also, I'm gonna go up the amount of netflix stock I own.

-ml

View Poll Results: I get my watch on via:
netflix	12	48.00%
sone other online mailorder service	3	12.00%
the local video store	6	24.00%
digital cable on-demand movies	1	4.00%
bit torrent p2p	3	12.00%
none. there's is no external narrative, so I self-construct	4	16.00%
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 25. You may not vote on this poll

03-28-2005, 12:39 PM	#1
smoothmoniker to live and die in LA Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 2,090	Netflix vs Blockbuster We've been using Netflix for about a year, and loving it. The site is well designed, the movies ship quickly, and their system of making recommendations has been surprisingly accurate - we've found a few movies we would have never thought to rent that have become favorites. Thought I would try out Blockbuster's online service, which is trying to compete in the same market segment as netflix. They have a 2 week free trial, so I thought, what the hell. What a disappointment. All the issues I have from the in-store blockbuster experience have carried over to their online store. First of all, the site has been down several times in the past few days. (hint: don't spend millions on a national ad campaign to point customers to a website that's down for repairs). Next, I just finished putting about 20 discs on my queue, covering the gambit from popular new releases, classics, cult films, foreign films, even TV series discs. Out of all of them, only 2 are available to ship! TWO!!!! The films that they DON'T have in stock are things like Garden State, Collateral, Kill Bill 1&2, Sopranos, Chariots of Fire, Ghandi, we're not talking obscure films that they only have one copy of. Also, the website design is just clunky. On netflix, you have one-click links back to your queue, your account, your recommendations, and the last big category you were looking at. At the blockbuster site, there were several times when I had to go all the way back to the start page before i could go to any of my personalized pages, or had to use my browsers "back" button to get back to the broad categories I was searching through. I'd be willing to believe that maybe they're just fumbling the roll-out, and that they'll sort out the supply-demand as the service gains more traction, if it weren't so much like their in-store experience. I wonder how many people are going to be like me, and willing to give it a try, have an bad experience, and jump back over to Netflix? Anyway, the lesson of the day - you only get one chance to make a good first impression. Also, I'm gonna go up the amount of netflix stock I own. -ml __________________ to live and die in LA

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