If you can't beat them, join them. A number of large music retailers have taken that old adage to heart in a bid to win back customers. Droves of music buyers have turned away from conventional compact discs in favour of downloading - legally or otherwise - music from the internet.
The trend has negatively affected sales from CD stores, cutting into the profit margins of retailers that have had to carry large inventories.
HMV, the dominant music retail chain in Hong Kong, is betting it can entice both old and new customers to its shops with the introduction of digital-download kiosks, which function like automated teller machines.
For the past two months HMV has been trying out three of these music ATMs at its flagship store in Tsim Tsa Tsui. Another four kiosks started operating last week at the company's newest store - in the Elements shopping mall, above the Kowloon Airport Express station.
'Being able to offer our customers the choice to download music legally in a safe and comfortable environment is the first step in developing HMV stores' digital offering,' says Emily Butt, managing director of HMV Hong Kong and Singapore. 'We look forward to rolling out these kiosks to other HMV stores.'
She says consumers can download music from a database of more than 500,000 digital tracks covering all genres.
