Perhaps its the volume of business I do with Blockbuster, but once again I noticed that their aging retail system is at the crux of so many of their issues. For one, it limits their ability to roll out new programs as I described in an earlier posting. But, more importantly, it inflexibility causes issues that end up directly impacting the customer and the front-line store employees.

Again, my experience surrounds the rollout of their new online program and exchange benefits. As it turns out, the connection between Blockbuster retail and Blockbuster online is stove-piped. Hence, the retail stores support the program, but are not directly responsible for it's business unit.

How do I know this? What else is there to do but talk when you're waiting for the store manager to come override an issue at the register due to an inadequate IT support for a new business initiative.

What I saw as the result of this inability to deliver support for new business initiatives in a timely fashion was: A) my time was wasted, B) the people behind me time was wasted and C) the store employees grew more and more frustrated with these issues.

Retailers need to realize the cost of not having agile systems, will eventually be reflected on their employees and in front of customers. For me, it is to the point where I am re-evaluating NetFlix once again.