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NEWS


RETAIL INTELLIGENCE Head to www.mcvuk.com for daily market data and news. This week our Retail Biz section starts on p59


Retail must learn from Apple Stores, says new president of EA Sports


Specialists must focus on in-store experience, says Wilson l ’Relationship between shops and customers changing’


by Michael French


CHALLENGED retailers would do well to learn from one of the High Street’s success stories, Apple, says the new head of EA Sports. In an interview with MCV, Andrew Wilson – EA Sports former studios head, last week promoted to president of the label – said not enough games retailers are thinking of the customers’ experience, and are putting shoppers off. “There are games on a shelf, you talk to a guy behind the counter, you buy


Apple’s stores have become iconic for the in-store experience they offer, and EA has experimented with this via an EA Sports retail outlet


a game, you walk out. It’s a transaction experience, not a retail experience,” he said, pointing to Apple’s fashionable global stores. “Apple has created a great retail experience that people find exciting and fun – even though everything and more can be found on Apple’s site, people still choose to visit the store itself.


“I am not the Nostradamus of interactive entertainment but I have looked at what companies have been able to do with retail experiences


“ by Dave Roberts


BIG ELECTRONICS brands are keen to bundle OnLive in their products to help it find traction in UK living rooms. OnLive CEO Steve Perlman


told MCVthat manufacturers of Blu-ray players initially are keen to get involved. “They see OnLive in a similar way to LoveFilm, only without the physical media element,” he said. “It’s an extra service to offer.”


4 August 12th 2011


He expects consumer products with built in OnLive capability to be in UK stores pre-Christmas – and if not then very soon afterwards.





“Companies see OnLive as similar to LoveFilm, as an extra service. Steve Perlman, Online


Everything can be found on Apple’s site but people still visit the store. Andrew Wilson, EA Sports


and the type of feeling you get when you go there. I think [that Apple’s focus on experience] is what retail has to replicate in our industry.” Apple has 330 stores around the world. Although relatively small compared to the storecount of GAME or GameStop, the chain has become iconic thanks to its in-store presentation. But games retailers will have to evolve if they want to match that, said Wilson. “The challenge for retail in the entertainment industry


is ‘what is that experience?’ There are ways that they can do it. I think retail will still exist for many years to come but I think it will exist in a different format. “The relationship between


game maker, retailer and consumer will continue, but I think it is going to be different in future.” EA itself has already


experimented with new retail experiences, opening up a retail store dedicated to its Sports range in the US. EA: 01483 463000


This revolution will be televised


Perlman also revealed that next year some of OnLive’s publishing partners are planning to ship disc products that contain a code entitling consumers to play via OnLive at no extra cost. “They know that that means their customer can play wherever they are and have a new level of convenience.”


OnLive will launch in the UK on September 22nd. www.onlive.com


Big electronics brands will pump OnLive into UK living rooms www.mcvuk.com


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