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GameStop buys EB
Dram writes "Business Week, among others, is reporting that GameStop will buy Electronics Boutique for $1.4 billion. Hopefully this will allow both chains to better compete with Wal-Mart and Best Buy for our gaming dollars."
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Since I refuse to shop at walmart and theres no BB within an hour, my local EB is my first and usually only stop to buy games. There are actually 2 in my home town, one that sells mostly new games, one that sells mostly used. I can always find a copy of the game i want used (within a week or two of being released even! saw copies of halo2 used for $40 or so less than week after its debut). So, i hope this deal doesnt (negatively) impact the used games market. While i would love to support developers and buy everything new, i really dont have the cash for that.
"Something's wrong with you...and I hope we never do meet again." - Deftones When Girls Telephone Boys
So I wonder why it was Gamestop that took the initiative to issue a bunch of debt to buy EB?
Given the co-operation of the EB people in the vote, it seems more like a merger than an acquasition.
I really hope that EB doesn't get it's great service dilluted by GS's management.
It used to be that Funcoland and EB were both great. Then GameStop bought Funcoland and turned it to shit, and EB dropped their customer friendly return policy. Even more recently both stores have adopted a hostile policy of pushing pre-orders. Perhaps together they can propel the customer service level to lows previously unobtainable in a gaming store.
Somebody should remind these companies that they are value-added retailers. If they don't go out of their way to please every customer, then there's no reason not to buy your games at Wal-Mart. That means they shoud stock enough games and drop the pre-order shit, and they should have a return policy that doesn't violate the laws of most states.
I wish the guys that work at the local EB stay because GameStop employees are more annoying. GameStop employee never seem to shut up. No, I don't want hear about some Japanese import. That's great you finished the game - I don't care. Do I have to bring in my copy of Katamari Damacy so you don't make fun of me to the other employees like I am not here when I buy Madden 2005. Dammit stop yammering about some game to a soccer mom just trying to buy a game for her kid and get my damn game for me.
I'd like to address some of the concerns people are having with this merger.
;)
1) Their customer service is going to change.
- Not entirely true. I've worked at both EB and Gamestop, and EB has a strong and well-developed program in customer service and sales training while Gamestop has almost none (as of 2000). Once both companies sit down and analyze each other's practices it'd be logical to assume that EB's method of training will be incorporated. This is also backed by the fact that EB employees make more annually than Gamestop employees, and EB still turned a higher profit last year.
As for the matter of the return policy, it changed because of copyright laws, not some corporate mandate.
2) It's going to affect the used games market.
- It should affect it at all, honestly. Rather, it should help stabilize it. There is a huge glut on the market as far as used product goes. Trade in prices are dictated by the amount the company has already vs the rate at which it's selling. That's why sports games trade in at such a low rate: once the current version comes out, previous versions get traded in at a huge rate and it devalues. Both companies rely on trades, so if trades stifled they would definitely addresss it, therefore it's safe to assume the prices would drop too.
Btw, the $44.99 game likely had a trade in price of $25 to $35. This is how retailers like EB and Gamestop make profit. Average cost of a game is around $47. Companies like this can't keep their lights on just by selling hardware (which they sometimes lose money on) and new software. The profit margins from preowned is what keeps these companies afloat.
Plus, with discount programs available, a preowned version of a new release being priced at $40 is actually a good deal sometimes (especially with BOGO sales).
3) Gamestop is going to close stores in malls with multiple locations.
- Again, this is not entirely true. Right now, an EB is open because it's getting business. If Gamestop closes a store because it is too close to another, it's a perfect opportunity for a competitor, say... Gamecrazy to move right in because they know that store gets traffic. As it stands, there are actually malls in America that have three EB stores in them, and they all get good traffic. I know there will be closings, but there will be many more openings.
4) Prices will go up.
- But they may go down. Prices are dictated by cost vs profits. Right now, the bulk quantity that EB and Gamestop purchase at gets a resulting cost of about $47 a game, as I mentioned earlier. Now, with some 3000+ stores in the US (more in Europe and Asia) Gamestop can now purchase games in a higher quantity, meaning a higher bulk discount and more profit from the $49.99 price point. If anything, it'd be an incentive for prices to stay where they are and more incentive to have sales on games.
As an EB employee, I'm very optimistic about this merger. If nothing else, I at least made a quick 1k off of stock sales
(From the Laws of Japanese Animation) Law of Inherent Combustibility -- Everything explodes. Everything.
Perhaps it has something to do with the EULA you so quickly pass over and never read. If you ever bothered to read it, you might have noticed that it mentions things like: I will only use this on one computer; I agree to be the sole owner/user of this software license; I will not resell this; etc. etc. etc. That is the reason that Gamestop does not purchase used games. It is not for any political reasons. I have never figured out how EB got away with it because they could have been sited for it at any time.
Everytime I go into any of these little gaming specialty stores (GameStop, EB, GameCrazy), there's always the dude in there who has to bash my system. If I'm in there looking at Nintendo stuff, they'll tell me that Nintendo is dead. The other day I was in there just playing a demo and the two employees were talking loudly back and forth about how the Nintendo DS stood for "Nintendo Dead System". I kept thinking, "Wow, this really makes me want to buy my DS games here!".
Perhaps they need to be screen out the fanboy's in their hiring process.
Forget the whales - save the babies.
In this dream, the "Niche Store," rather than trying to compete with faceless juggernauts like Walmart and Best Buy, tries to respect gamers and offer a service that those places don't: knowledgeable attendants who make honest recommendations, good deals on used carts, gamer-community-oriented events (LAN parties, multiplayer tourneys) and more.
If I walked in to any EB or GS store in the country and said "Hey I'm looking for some backlog Treasure titles, what do you have?" and the employee said "Well we've got a near-mint Dynamite Headdy and a good Gunstar Heroes, plus an imported Silhouette Mirage," I would basically shit my pants on the spot.
Local record stores have been working on this model since the 70s: get stuff the big chains miss or can't carry for cost/margin reasons, employ people who love the products you carry, and provide a service to the community. Host the equivalent of events like open-mic nights, or acoustic performances by rising stars: showcase games made by people who live nearby, or have release parties for exciting new games.
I realize that it is a chain like many others, but they are going to be CRUSHED if they don't find a way to make themselves more valuable.
How many of you would pay an extra $2-$5 for a game if you really respected, trusted, and loved the people and store you bought it from? You'll get no complaints from me!
My only qualms with EB are the pushes to preorder something or buy an additional item. I have worked at Best Buy and now I currently work at EB. The reason EB does it (Best Buy as well) because helps increase items per transaction (IPT). We are tracked on that as well as Pre-Orders, Game Guarantees (1-year insurance) and other extras. "Pushing" these things is part of the job. I knew a few people that got fired from Best Buy for not "pushing" Magazines and PRPs (Product Replacement Plans). The other thing I have an issue with is how EB has a habit of opening a new copy of a game to be able to put it on the display shelf. We do this because we keep the boxes on the shelves so people who don't know about the game can see it on the shelf and see what it's about. If it's the last copy in stock...even though the goo from the 5 stickers that have been put on the case and the discs that have just been kept in a drawer somewhere... We put the stickers on the case because it is part of SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) that is set and required by the company. As for the games they are put in sleeves that are filed away with other games. We don't toss them bare into drawers. Why not use electronic security devices or some other method? Have you realized that most EB's are pretty tiny? Having to keep a plastic security case for each game and extra cases (for new games), plus whatever other inventory we have, would not leave us any space for the cardboard stands and other items we keep in back. Best Buy uses the plastic security cases and they take up a considerable amount of space, which most EB's don't have.
"The other thing I have an issue with is how EB has a habit of opening a new copy of a game to be able to put it on the display shelf. If it's the last copy in stock, they want to sell it to you at the price of a new game, even though the goo from the 5 stickers that have been put on the case and the discs that have just been kept in a drawer somewhere can put the game in a condition that can be worse than many used games."
Demand the 10% shop-worn discount. Managers have been told forever that they're not supposed to use it, but they will if you ask for it politely enough.
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Ivan256, the original poster, used this one incident to imply that Electronics Boutique has a corporate directive to break the law.
Many states disallow waiver of the implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose. When a game shop sells, for example, a PC game with system requirements listed on the side of the box, it's implied that the software contained in that box is fit to run on the specified hardware. In the past EB would accept returns of games. If you bought a game that was buggy and crashed frequently you could simply return the game to the store.
I live in Massachusetts. It's one of the states that disallows the waiver of implied warranties. Under EB's new return policy, you can't return software that has been open unless you're exchanging it for another copy of the same title. If the game doesn't work, then that policy is against the law.
What makes this worse is that they falsely claim that this policy exists to prevent piracy. If this were the case, they wouldn't let you sell the game back to them for trade-in credit... The policy change, illegally, in order to prop up their high margin used games business.