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Wal-Mart kills video download service

Posted Dec 28 2007, 02:15 PM by Kim Peterson
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Wal-Mart has canceled its online video download service, blaming HP for discontinuing the technology behind it. What a lame excuse. If the Wal-Mart video store was doing well, do you think HP would yank the engine powering it?

The reality is that few people used it. Those who did were not impressed. On paper, the service sounded great. All the major movie studios participated. New releases cost up to $20, and older films sold for as much as $10. TV shows were available the day after they aired for $2. Wal-Mart claimed it would only take 45 minutes to download a "near-DVD" video using a high-speed connection.

So why didn't it work? According to HP, the market for paid video downloads didn't perform as well as it had expected. I think Wal-Mart is having a tough time figuring out its online strategy. Does anyone remember "The Hub," the retailer's attempt at social networking? Shut down after 10 weeks, the site was supposed to be a place where teens could upload photos and videos and talk about Wal-Mart products.

Give the company kudos for at least trying to experiment. But Wal-Mart's brick-and-mortar brand simply overpowers its online identity. I think of Wal-Mart's site as the place to buy the same inexpensive items its stores sell. You go in, find what you need and get out -- just like you would in an actual Wal-Mart. It's not a place to linger, download videos or chat with your friends. 

As I look at the site today, I see that Wal-Mart is promoting price rollbacks, low-calorie water and products to help you quit smoking. That's the kind of stuff people visit the site for -- not near-DVD video downloading.

Comments

 

I agree Wal-Mart has no obligation to pay anymore wages than any other retailer, but their turnover is bad in most places, they are very demanding on schedules of their employees and such. Most jobs that expect more, pay more! Nothing wrong with expecting your workers to do their job. But above and beyond that, it's time to fork over a bit and then reap the rewards, but like most corporations, they "weed" you out after so many years so they don't have to keep paying into your benefits. It's all the same. If people want a job, there's plenty of them out there. From my experience as a small business owner, the employees there the longest and were the most experienced are  worth every extra penny I paid. THEY made my company prosper!

It all boils down to one thing...Logistics....seems wal-mart has the retail side geared...But neglected to tell the Customers about this service.

No wonder I never heard about it, nor will i be interested in using it...

u get what u pay for, crap!

I think WAL-MART is a great company to be employed by.  I feel that change is a wonderful thing. Wal-Mart offers all of there associates the opportunity to explore there skills in all aspects of there company. You decide which directions you take in life. The company offers a variety of benefits, it is totally up to the employee to explore those options. For one I believe that  WAL-MART stores are cost sufficent. The cost of living has grown over the decade. Nothing remains the same, no even every day low prices. I thank god for my  WAL-MART because they employ many people in my community.

Wal-mart's mission statement should be....."we offer low prices always at the expense of American factory workers and taxpayers who subsidize our stores in the name of economic development but not capitalism".  Wal-Mart couldn't exist if taxpayers weren't subsidizing their stores and their employees.

sometimes when you want to get ahead or to restart forward progress you need to go back to your roots.  wal-mart needs to go back to the beginning to what made them great. Sam Walton new this if he would have been alive today he would not have gone this dvd download route he would actually create a store in a store buy building a dvd store with a full line of dvd's and what they couldnt fit in the store they could offer it online like they do now except this would be like columbia house video but with an outlet in each super store and with wal-marts buying power they could corner the market in dvd sales.

wal mart is the scum of the earth, just watch the wal mart movie. they strong arm distributers, pay their workers poverty wages, and sell garbage products. if you shop there, you are a scum bag too, as for you idiots that say what walmart does for the community, check the before and after mom and pop stores that existed before wal mart arrived. i wish nothing for lee scott but terminal illness to him and anyone related to him, he is a devil deal maker, wal mart is rolling in cash but they pay their workers nothing you can live on, and on top of that if you want health benefits, you have to pay for them, scumbags, but you people living in the trailer parks, keep on shopping there as you can only see a price tag, and not everything else they do

Steamed, maybe you shouldn't have dogs if you can't afford them. :-)

Wal mart used to be the americans store,made in the usa ,was the motto,save jobs  and keep america working...now that Sam is gone the Wal Family has ruined the reason Sam Walton started the once great store.$$$ INSTEAD OF LOVE FOR AMERICA .SORRY SAM,I still respect you and your dream,your old friend from OKLA. Elbert

walmart sucks ,their standards for customer services is really low and where is a walmart ,there is poor living and shoplifting

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