Growing up with an older brother, I became familiar with video game retail at a very young age. I have vivid memories of pushing my way through the cramped, overcrowded aisles of EB Games during the holiday season in an attempt to get my hands on that year’s hottest game. The environment was always stressful and the employee-consumer engagement was minimal at best. In retrospect, I can appreciate that the store was lacking in those components, because they didn’t need to fulfill them in order to be successful. They had products that appealed to a specific niche of consumers who were going to shop there regardless of the atmosphere or the service that they received. Demand has been so high in the past that people have spent hours, even days, lined up outside of the stores in anticipation of the release of a new game. Here I will focus on GameStop whose value proposition was put to the test with the introduction and eventual growth of the interactive online market in which to purchase games.
A Brief History
GameStop began to recognize success and growth in the early 2000s. In 2002 they took their company public, and in 2004 they spun off from their parent company Barnes & Noble. In the five years following their liberty, GameStop would aquire EB Games and Micromania officially making it the world’s largest video game retailer. Although there was competition from stores such as WalMart and Best Buy, The GameStop family remained the only retail stores focused solely on gaming.
Maintaining Relevance
With the shift from buying games in stores to buying games online, it became evident that GameStop needed to make some radical changes to their business model. There initial strategy was to become more engaged with the customer. On their website now, the first core company principle listed is to “stay customer centered.” How are they doing this? In 2010 they launched a proprietary loyalty program called PowerUp Rewards, which attracted over ten million members in the first year alone. Another strategy that GameStop has implemented is to sell digital downloadable content themselves. This approach is meant to target adolescents and teenagers who don’t have access to a credit card as well as adults who are not comfortable giving out their personal information online, yet still prefer the digital content to the physical discs. This strategy was successful in increasing the traffic into the store. Perhaps the most successful strategy that GameStop has implemented, that gives the company an edge over the online world, is their trade-in program. Consumers are encouraged to return their video games and game consoles to the store in exchange for store credit or cash when they are no longer being used. This strategy is targeted at the individual who wants to play a game, beat it, and then move on to another game. This gives the consumer the incentive to continue purchasing the physical discs and also increases traffic into the stores. As the industry moves towards digital downloads, GameStop continues to have a competitive edge by offering benefits to the consumer that the online world simply cannot. They have proved to be a very adaptable and innovative corporation.
Sources
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar