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GAME: Trade-in drives 60% of new game sales


Group CEO Ian Shepherd says supermarket pre-owned offers have only strengthened GAME’s second-hand business by James Batchelor


MORE THAN half of GAME’s customers use trade-ins to fund purchases of new titles, the firm has told MCV.


CEO Ian Shepherd revealed the specialist retail giant’s pre-owned offer was a key driver in all sales over the competitive Christmas period. He highlighted trade-in as


a “real point of difference” between GAME and its biggest competitors. “Even in the run-up to Christmas, when you would think most of our customers are buying games new in order to give them as gifts, you still have a lot of trade- in happening,” Shepherd told MCV. “Around 50 to 60 per cent of the time, when we were selling a brand new game we were taking in a trade-in against it.” The GAME boss


dismissed the notion that new players in the pre- owned market, such as Tesco, Argos and Asda, were a threat.


Instead, he claimed the advent of rival trade-in schemes has actually benefited the Group’s own business. “We’ve got a very strong competitive advantage over companies that can’t do trade-in in the way that we can,” he said. “We’ve built up a real body of expertise and


‘WE’RE READY FOR THE TRANSITION’


GAME CEO Ian Shepherd has told MCVthe retailer is well prepared for the future of the video games market. Next month the company will be announcing plans to better address the increased prominence of digital games and content. The new agenda will put GAME in good stead for the next few years. “We’re already embracing the new elements of the


4 January 21st 2011


games market and we’ve got a lot of strategic changes to drive through our business,” said Shepherd.


“Multi-channel retailing and online is becoming more important, and I want to do more in that space. “We’re also getting into the middle of digital and downloadable content. They’re relatively small parts of the industry today but they


are growing and we want to be even more involved with them going forwards. “And there are 15 million


Reward Card holders around the world, which gives us a great opportunity to have a much deeper dialogue with our customers. “As the video games


market evolves, it means we can take customers on that journey with us.”


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“


We have the advantage – no one can do trade-in the way that we do.


Ian Shepherd, GAME


experience over the last 15 to 20 years. That makes our pre-owned offer hard to replicate.


“When you look on a store-by-store basis, at areas where our multi- outlet competitors have started doing trade-ins, if anything our own trade-in business has got bigger.


“Those companies have added credibility to the concept of pre-owned, making consumers more aware of the benefits. They’ve actually made the market bigger and we’ve taken a good chunk of that.” For the full interview with Shepherd, turn to page 24. GAME: 01256 784000


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