Blockbuster: Hit and Miss.

Yesterday I visited our local blockbuster store in order to find a film which me and my girlfriend could enjoy on a saturday night in. I was interested to see the copious effort put into POS promotion for the newly introduced Blockbuster Cola. There were promotional messages around the snack session asking me to 'try the new cola from only 69p.' There were further signs around the whole store and even underneath the sales desk for those last minute impulse purchases. With all the efforts to get me to try the product, I felt obliged to give the cola a go, so I bit the bullet and selected a 69p bottle.

Obviously, blockbuster's decision to extend the brand into cola is an attempt to increase profit margins and enhance its level of control as an entertainment retailer but I feel that this piece of activity was a step too far. Going up against the giants of Coca-Cola, I feel Blockbusters have been rather nieve to believe that pushing the promotion onto consumers would work in the long term. Now, I know the POS worked on me but after trying the product and realising that it was nowhere near the quality of Coca-Cola, I doubt I'll be delving into my wallet again anytime soon. It's a mammoth task to try and compete with the likes of Coca-Cola, so the product has to be something worth challenging. In my opinion, the introduction of Blockbuster Cola may help boost profit margins in the short term through its lower value price positioning but will not dent the long term profits of the established Coca-Cola brand.