The rise of Netflix is an excellent case study underscoring the importance of identifying and capitalizing on fundamental shifts that are taking place in an industry.
How many of you have heard of Netflix? How many of you have heard of Blockbuster? At its peak, Blockbuster was a true titan in its industry. And today they are no more. Why is that? They chose to ignore the fundamental shift that was occurring in their industry. Consumers want to watch what they want, when they wanted it. Consumers do not want to have to put on their coats, get in our car, drive to the store and hope that the movie they want is still in stock. This trend is exactly what Netflix capitalized on and Blockbuster ignored until it was too late.
Blockbuster has no excuse. They were approached on multiple occasions by Netflix back in 2000 offering to buy them. Netflix laid everything on the table but Blockbuster being the titan they were decided to ignore this little start-up. So Netflix stayed on task for the next 11 years and gave consumers what they wanted: instant gratification. And now they are a big player doing 2+ billion in revenue…and Blockbuster has gone bankrupt.
The long and short of it is that Netflix recognized a shift was occurring in their industry and capitalized on it. We in the real estate industry are in a similar situation. We can see a shift is occurring in the way consumers communicate and we can either choose to capitalize on it like Netflix or ignore it like Blockbuster.
