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Question of the Day: How do you normally pay for purchases in stores?
Musica shuts down
- Thread starter Hanno Labuschagne
- Start date
I was at our local Musica earlier as I said. NO Pearl Jam (CD has been out for nearly a year; their previous CD I ended up importing as after 7 weeks, the lot here never got it); NO Sevendust (CD has been out for nearly a year); tons of local kwaito stuff. Nothing I like to listen too, and I have a broad range from 1950s all the way to some bands from the 1990s/2000s that are still around (none of the crap from the past 15 - 20 years though).
I always felt L&L (and there was one for about 18 months here which was awesome) always looked nicer, had more, and their prices were good.
Wysjoumuis
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How long will Incredible connection last?
randburgred
Well-Known Member
Not surprising PNA and CNA will follow and sometime in the future Exclusive Books will be gone.
randburgred
Well-Known Member
BT Games saw the light sometime ago not sure if they have any shops left I know Northgate went bye bye sometime ago They going for online but as I see it that will only be a temporary measure
Icemanbrfc
Honorary Master
Worked at the office for Musica. Few things stuck in my head seeing this. This is not new, because the Musica business was on the verge of being sold almost 10 years ago to some company which name slips my mind.. the business itself was probably less profitable than the Discom brand, which clicks sold to the Edcon group. (This was a huge mistake imo)
10 years ago, we suggested a digital pipe/platform, to move the business slowly from CD and DVD to an online digital type environment, where one could purchase individual songs or a full album. However, i dont think it was that easy due to certain royalties etc that would have had to be paid.
Business carried on. The lifestyle dept was brought in, which had tshirts, Speakers, docking stations, Headphones, even blank dvds and cds to try and recover losses on cds and dvds. Piracy played a huge role in the slow demise of Musica and even places like CD Warehouse
The whole business model were wrong, because more Musica stores were being opened, more expenses, and each store build became more and more extravegant aka The introductions of the Mega Stores.
There wasnt very much forward thinking at the top, and to realise that years down the line, like Vinyls and Lps etc, that those would start to fall away slowly. I wasnt a senior staff member, but i remember sitting there thinking that this isnt going to work at some point.
10 years ago, we suggested a digital pipe/platform, to move the business slowly from CD and DVD to an online digital type environment, where one could purchase individual songs or a full album. However, i dont think it was that easy due to certain royalties etc that would have had to be paid.
Business carried on. The lifestyle dept was brought in, which had tshirts, Speakers, docking stations, Headphones, even blank dvds and cds to try and recover losses on cds and dvds. Piracy played a huge role in the slow demise of Musica and even places like CD Warehouse
The whole business model were wrong, because more Musica stores were being opened, more expenses, and each store build became more and more extravegant aka The introductions of the Mega Stores.
There wasnt very much forward thinking at the top, and to realise that years down the line, like Vinyls and Lps etc, that those would start to fall away slowly. I wasnt a senior staff member, but i remember sitting there thinking that this isnt going to work at some point.
Mike Hoxbig
Honorary Master
There's nothing much they could have done really, and they're not in a position to compete with the likes of Netflix, Apple and Google. Even if they did have the foresight all those years ago, they didn't have the funds and market exposure (this being SA as opposed to the US) like those guys do.
Any type of physical media store will sadly inevitably go the way of the video store. Next on the chopping block is games stores like BT. They just can't compete with the likes of MS, Sony and Steam...
Icemanbrfc
Honorary Master
Correct, the business itself just ran its course. The streaming and digital age has taken over, and they were never going to be able to compete financially. We can see how Cell C failed with the Black Box, Vodacoms streaming platform isnt really that great. Even the likes of Showmax isnt a platform that most people would choose over Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and Apple Tv..
As long as ooms and tannies are willing to pay exorbitant prices.
There is. Look&Listen had the MP3 download model, they just never took it to the conclusion. Think it was their own service where they licensed the stuff. SA has a huge bandwidth problem. There's been suggestions that BT games should have a service that allows you to download games. They can even have their own local proxy to redirect downloads of what you own.
NightShift
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Man I think in the end these guys really missed the mark on the type of direction they wanted to head in once CD's and DVD's turned out to no longer be a good market. It was a mish mash of stuff - consoles and games, movie posters, some comic gimmick toys, weird sound devices (too niche for most people), headphones, toys etc. However the VAST majority of the space is still dominated by the crap nobody wants to buy anymore - CD's/DVD's. It occured to me the other day that if I bought a DVD, I actually wouldnt be able to watch it in my home because I don't have a DVD/Blu-ray player anymore! Not even on my PC!
And the fact that they never established a true online presence, for that kind of product, is absolutely criminal! Make me question who was running that show, and perhaps also highlights that the medicine and beauty people don't really know much about tech, and now I think they're just consolidating to focus on what they're good at. Pity.
And the fact that they never established a true online presence, for that kind of product, is absolutely criminal! Make me question who was running that show, and perhaps also highlights that the medicine and beauty people don't really know much about tech, and now I think they're just consolidating to focus on what they're good at. Pity.
KhoisanX
Expert Member
Sounds a lot like what Dion Wired , I.C. (remember their huge store in Canal Walk that replace the Science centre?), Edgars etc have done. The folks at the top are seemingly unable to change with the times.
Icemanbrfc
Honorary Master
Pretty much so. If you look at Edgars stores, how many stores have you gone to, and thought wow, this is quite a nice small store. No, pretty much all or most Edgars stores were massive, lacked the prescence to be inviting, and staff were pretty poor.
This is pretty much what Musica turned into, where eventually the staff knowledge went down drastically, because the staff were now just random people looking for a job. Back in the day, there were staff that knew their stuff, had the passion to do well, and ultimately that filtered through the business.
But like i said earlier, having worked at the Head Office about 11 years ago, what is happening now, is something that has been coming since that time. They tried to flog the business to another group, which never materialised. Instead, the Clicks group sold a pretty good Discom brand to Edcon, when in theory that was the wrong business to have sold.
I miss the MTN science center so much.
I grew up in it. And that store next to it that had all the LEDs and electronics and kits, just wow.
By far the best memories I have in life was made there.
I wonder what happened to the Apollo 11 demo unit and the Mars Rover unit (I would buy those from them).
L-Dog
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Musica and Cna were my favorurite stores as a kid, still pop in there every now and then but I geuss the end was inevitable.. Gona mis the days of getting a voucher from my gran and buying the latest Offspring ordered Blink cd
JuliusSeizure
Executive Member
Their shops used to at least you play on the Playstations. That was my last memory of them a few years back.
Matt91
Expert Member
A couple BT games still operating here in Durban malls.