Communications Plan: Netflix

Netflix is in a fairly favorable position on the strategic group map. Where Added value is measured in terms of instant movies and recommendations, and market coverage is measured in number of stores, vending machines, and online presence.

Netflix was founded in 1997 with the intent to revolutionize the way in which consumers watch movies and television shows. Their accomplishments both in innovation and in customer base for their service indicate that the firm has been, and continues to be, successful in doing so. Currently, the

This is primarily because there is no product differentiation in the market. Additionally, Netflix would then lose its flagship brand essence the supportive roles played by these two integral competencies of the company. The well-developed IT management allowed Netflix to move from DVD only to DVD and streaming, allowing the tap into the streaming market and a chance for the company to expand business.

The downturn of the economy has taken away many peoples disposable income and Netflix’s limited online library may have caused customers to question if it was worth it or not.

These first set of changes, cost the company one million customers and a ton of negative press in social media; including 12,000 comments of dissatisfaction. However, at this point, Netflix’s stock prices still rose. Unfortunately, on September 18, 2011, Hastings posted a new announcement to the company blog, trying to separate and over-complicate the two services. He then reversed the changes, in yet another memo, on October 11, 2011. By this point, however, it was too late; more displeased customers had left and Netflix’s stock prices had plummeted. Personally, I believe this situation caused a short-term public relations nightmare; to the customers who were affected at that time. Netflix retained over thirteen million subscribers; given time, I believe the new generation of customers will still be interested in the services they provide.

Netflix was making decisions based on what they thought was best for the company, not the customer. Internationally known expert Scott McKain gave the following opinion, “[Netflix] increased prices…while simultaneously making it harder for customers? Seriously? There wasn’t a meeting where someone raised their hand and asked if that was the intended strategy?” (McKain). The company was too focused internally and not externally. In summary, Netflix chose to split to make internal structure better and raised prices because they were greedy.

Netflix needs to stay with the current trends of customers world-wide, keep creating Netflix original series, and keep updating their system when new devices are invented or entertainment improves. Netflix is a phenomenal way to stream the best content that is currently available to users and if they continue to provide excellent customer service at an affordable rate then I will continue to be a loyal customer for many years to

Entering and transforming the video rental industry was a large undertaking for the start-up company. The first marketing objective the company undertook was the process of building a brand. Netflix’s identity was crucial to future growth and success. Without a strong brand, competitors with deep pockets could have easily duplicated the company’s business model. Secondly, leveraging technology was critical to establishing the business and infrastructure growth. The consumer base was the final objective Netflix sought to achieve. Retaining and growing subscribers were fundamental to revenue and marketing goals.

Netflix has around 75 million subscribers today which suggests that it is a very popular organisation. Netflix at the moment serves many markets across the world whinch included the US and Europe. Netflix suffers from competition from companies such as Amazon prime. Both of these companies compete to gain customers in this compact market. Netflix's corporate strategy fits in with their business level strategy as they deal mainly with DVD rental via online streaming. The deal that is in place with Warner bros has a major impact on how Netflix conducts itself. If other online streaming companies don't face this deal of not being allowed to stream their contents untill 28 days after the public release date then other companies have a competitive advantage which would lower Netflix's revenue. This would cause customers to leave Netflix as they may be able to see films at an earlier date with rival

Netflix began in 1997 as a revolutionary idea by CEO Reed Hastings and software executive March Randolph. Before long, in 1999 Netflix launched its major line of business, the online subscription service, which radically changed the way consumers viewed movies and television. For a young company in an innovative and growing industry, Netflix has set itself up for a tremendous journey. The company has had much success due to its adaption of a modern business model and strength in operations management. Its continued reliance on and improvements of operation management principles is necessary to continue growing and bringing in profits.

In the first circle, the analysis includes what the Netflix team feels its customer base would consider to be the most important things that the Netflix product provides or offers. Netflix is able to offer its customers the ability to either rent DVD’s through a mail service or watch television episodes or movies through a streaming download on devices that can connect to the intranet. Examples of these devices are computers, newer televisions, x-box game set, PS-3 game set, I-pads, I-phones, Windows and Android cell phones or tablets (Pearce II et al, 2015).

Netflix began as a DVD subscription service, competing with the likes of Blockbuster and Hollywood Video. At the time, Blockbuster was an industry giant and virtually owned the video rental market. As technology progressed, Netflix was able to provide direct and instant entertainment through the streaming of movies and shows. In addition, Netflix now produces its own content (e.g., House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) to compete with other entertainment sources (See what’s next, n.d.). As Netflix moves towards additional exclusive content arrangements to differentiate themselves, they are faced with increasing costs.

The video rental industry began with brick and mortar store that rented VSH tape. Enhanced internet commerce and the advent of the DVD provided a opportunity for a new avenue for securing movie rentals. In 1998 Netflix headquartered in Los Gatos California began operations as a regional online movie rental company. While the firm demonstrated that a market for online rentals existed, it was not financially successfully. Netflix lost over $11 million in 1998 and as a result significantly changed the business model in 2000. The new strategy included focusing on becoming a nationally based subscription model and focusing on enhancing the subscribers experience on their website. The change in

Also Netflix needs to prepare a better plan to recover old customers, gain new customers and make sure that the people who still have Netflix keep it. Establishing a bundle price for both online streaming and DVD rental will allow The Netflix Company to recover some market shares and remain the leading overall digital film company. The recommendations are as follows:

Netflix exhibits dominant economic characteristics in the online movie rental business. They enjoy strong market size and growth rate when compared to rivalry competition. The number of rivalries are increasing, and the market remains dominated by only a few sizeable rivalries like Blockbuster Video, Wal-Mart, Walt Disney Movies and Movielink’s Downloadable Movies. Netflix is determined to offer new and innovative technology to sustain their competitive advantage.