Filed Under 7:00-8:00 PM

I tried to buy a DVD today, the remastered edition of Gone With The Wind. As we were at the local shopping centre I thought I’d try the two department stores there, both part of the massive Coles empire. You’d think they’d know a thing or two about retailing and it would pretty simple to walk in, exchange my money for their DVD and everyone would be happy. Let’s just say we’re not watching Gone With The Wind tonight.

First off K-Mart. A fairly large DVD section, lots of categories such as Drama, Kids, Television. Okay, let’s try Drama. Hmmm. Lots of kids DVDs, some Teliv, that one looks like action. No rhyme nor reason, I scanned the covers of those facing outwards but it was like looking for a DVD in a haystack. Five minutes and I gave up.,

On to Target and it was the most bizarre thing I have ever seen – they arrange them by price bracket! So, assuming you know how much the DVD you want will cost you have a starting point. I wonder who on earth came up with that idea and how it was adopted. Five minutes more of looking at covers of movies in no coherent order and it was time to head home.

Here’s a hint Coles. People tend to know the name of the movie they want to buy AND most people know the letter it starts with. Call me crazy but maybe if you arranged your DVDs in the order of the letters (let’s call it ‘alphabetical order’ shall we?) people may be able to find the movie they are after and then be able to pay you money for it. Go on, if you want to try this revolutionary idea it’s all yours for free It’s just so crazy it may work.