HMV Social Media Cafe

Entertainment retailer HMV will open it’s first ‘social media cafe’ in Cambridge on Saturday with high hopes of bringing the ailing retailer into the new, social media savvy era. The move will allow shoppers to browse the internet while enjoying a coffee, and is in retaliation to customers favoring online over high street shopping.

The cafe will have WiFi and phone charging points (how we have all hoped for those when searching a crowded McDonalds/Starbucks for a free power socket), as well as a ‘high profile’ technology department and a ‘click and collect’ option. Other features include a community blackboard, where customers can post messages and flyers, signings by musicians (such as X Factor singer Aiden Grimshaw) and in my opinion, best of all, a dedicated area to host live music performances and local exhibitions.

Only time will tell if this is a move in the right direction, but I do think a music and technology retailer like HMV should be wholeheartedly embracing social media, I enjoy coffee shops in book stores, so why not in entertainment stores too? Creating an in store entertainment experience should entice customers from behind their computer screens. If anything, it should increase footfall to the store (even if only to emergency recharge your phone).

“As the company continues with the transformation of its retail offer in response to the changing way that people now discover and enjoy entertainment content, HMV is increasingly developing a fully-fledged multi-channel offer across its combined store, online and digital estate,” a HMV spokesman said to The Telegraph.

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