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NEWS ANALYSIS: ASDA’S SECOND-HAND PLAN “


RETAIL’S DEFENCE of pre-owned is a simple one. Consumers trade in their games so they can buy new ones. It helps inflate sales of newly released titles, and the specialist retailers all have stats to back up this claim, too. But unfortunately that argument has broken down now the likes of Argos, Tesco, Best Buy and Asda have got involved. Because now gamers don’t have to trade in their old titles for a new one, they can swap it for money off a flatscreen TV, a bunch of flowers, or even a haddock. “I don’t mind pre-owned in principle,” one publishing exec told MCV.


PRE-OWNED PLAYERS


Alongside Asda, here are the other competitors in the second-hand games market HMV


CEX Complete Entertainment Exchange began life in 1992 and is now a chain of well over 100 UK stores. The firm only operates in the used market, buying and selling products such as phones, games, DVDs and CDs.


20 November 12th 2010


GAME AND GAMESTATION Used games are a key part of GAME and Gamestation’s offer. Second-hand represents 27.5 per cent of GAME Group’s revenue, and Gamestation has just launched a new pre-owned- focused points card.


The entertainment specialist began selling pre-owned in 2008. Set up by former Choices games boss Martin Baxter, HMV’s Re/play offer can be found in all of its stores and takes up a significant chunk of floor space.


BLOCKBUSTER


The rental giant focuses a lot on previously played games and DVDs, which includes the selling of ex-rental stock. Once again, second-hand is sold and traded in all of Blockbuster’s UK stores.


www.mcvuk.com


“But when supermarkets get involved there’s no money coming back into the industry. That’s where the real problem lies and it’s why we need to adopt measures to monetise or even discourage it.”


ENTER ASDA


When it comes to new entrants into the second-hand sector, Asda is making the boldest moves. Its ‘Buy, Play, Trade’ range is clearly labeled, extensive, well promoted and available in a whopping 234 shops. But this move into pre-owned shouldn’t come as a surprise. For starters, MCVreported in July 2009 that the retailer was considering it.


The number of Asda stores where you can trade and buy used games


234


With Best Buy, Argos and Tesco entering pre-owned, we had to make a move to protect our business. Andrew Thompson, Asda


IS ASDA RIGHT TO SELL PRE-OWNED GAMES?


Asda’s decision to stock second-hand titles has irked some publishers who aren’t happy about seeing games traded-in for a bottle of wine, a packet of Skittles and a ham sandwich. Christopher Dring speaks with head of games Andrew Thompson to see if he can alleviate these concerns


And when you have a team filled with former Gamestation execs – including current Asda head of games Andrew Thompson – it was surely just a matter of time. But what is the real motivation behind Asda’s move into the used games market? “We held customer listening groups last year, and they told us unprompted that they wanted to trade in with us,” answers Thompson. “In particular, parents warned us that they could not afford to purchase every new game for their kids, so they wanted an option that would allow them to buy more new titles. Furthermore, we were aware


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