Spy Girl In Game Stores

1up.com has a great feature up detailing the exploits of a young woman they sent in to various game stores under the cover of a clueless girlfriend. The results are both informative and hilarious. From the article: "Spy: When are the new systems coming out? Clerk: Sony just came out with a new version of the PlayStation. It's smaller, more compact, that's about it. Xbox--they haven't mentioned anything about something new coming out."

Comments

This is neither funny nor informative

[Anonymous Coward]

... let alone interesting to anyone but the idiot poster.

Re:retail is minimum wage

[MBCook]

I have to start by saying I've seen this before, it is NOT new. It is at least a few months old. It may have just hit the web, but I remember reading the exact same thing in a magazine a while back.

That said, I agree. While the guys at my local GameStop are knowledgeable and do like games, I have seen people at my local Best Buy that are the same way. This comparison is pretty meaningless except to see just how rude some people are. Now if they went to 10 GameStops, 10 Best Buys, etc... then they could draw some conclusions.

Interesting, but just anecdotes. Not data.

Odd

[dk4]

I found this informative and humorous.

While not scientific, it does bring to light the issue that those of us with clueless girlfriends or wives, or clueless boyfriends or husbands, or siblings, parents, etc. need to be concerned with.

Your family knows you like games, but to surprise you they might not ask you but some knucklehead retail guy. Perhaps trolling around town for a good game shop, and letting your family know which one to go to, or even better using something like an Amazon wish list, is highly recommended.

Unfortunately we all have friends and family who don't game, and this is what the first line of defense for information will likely be for them.

Oh, and Iwata had best get some good info out to retail clerks if they'll ever change anyone's opinion on Nintendo...

Any biases?

[rohlfinator]

Did anyone else find it odd that none of the clerks had anything good (or factual) to say about Nintendo? Most of them stated blatant mistruths in favor of the PS2 and Xbox. The Toys 'R' Us guy made up a bunch of stuff about the PSP, the Best Buy clerk claimed that the GameCube is "for toddlers" and that Nintendo makes games for other systems, and the EBGames salesperson recommends the PSP hands down, no questions asked.

Is there a valid business reason for this, or is it just personal preference? I just find it odd that three out of four of them recommended anything but Nintendo. At my local game stores, most of the clerks at least try to figure out which console fits the customer's interest, rather than trying to sell them on one specific product. Maybe they get paid more commission for selling PS2s?

Re:Any biases?

[GrimSean]

I am a clerk in a game store in a small city in Canada. Our only competition in the city is an EB and several department stores, which means I occasionally have to phone them in order to check a price.

That said, almost every EB employee I have ever spoken to (you know, after that huge spiel when they answer the phone) is a complete idiot who wouldn't last a week in the store I work at. They lie to their customers about anything and everything in order to make a profit, they've completely bought into the "Nintendo is dying" BS that is being spread around, and they rarely know anything about the game they're selling if the title is something other than "Madden" or "GTA". They are casual gamers for the most part, with a small minority being hardcore FPS-freaks (usually Halo) who make minimum wage, don't care about their customers, and have little control over what is on their shelves (meaning if it's rare, it's not there).

Case in point, I had a mother come in the other day who had bought her 6 year old an Xbox at EB along with a Shrek game at the advice of the sales clerk. He neglected to mention that games aimed at 6 year olds make up a decimal-point percentage of the titles on the system, but he did tell her that since Nintendo was going out of business, the Xbox was the 'smarter' buy, and although the GC was cheaper, she believed him. She was rather shocked when I told her that Mario didn't come on anything other than Nintendo consoles, and that I usually recommend the GC for people with younger kids as there are a number of games that can be played together. I don't know why they do this, and although it's bad for the people who shop there, I don't want them to stop as most of those people tend to stop going there and come to my store instead.

Now, that doesn't mean that I view the GC as a system for kids - I just feel it's the best buy for people with kids, as there are games that will appeal to more age groups on it (the GC was the first console of this generation that I bought, being a broke student and all). RE4 and Eternal Darkness are great for older players, and the first-party games tend to work for everyone (I've gotten drunk playing Mario Kart with a bunch of my buddies). The number of games limits the GC, but those that are good on it are very, very good.

Re:Any biases?

[ajd1474]

I've stopped buying at my local EB (in Australia). They have a 7 day guarantee on ALL games. You dont like it? bring it back in 7 days for a refund or exchange. This means that the sales staff are now even less useful!! They just push any crap they can out the door and use the "just bring it back if you dont like it" sales pitch.

The last game i bought there was Colin McRae 2004 which had CLEARLY been bought and sold 2-3 times. It was effectively second hand. What did the sales guy tell me? If it doesnt work or you dont like it, just bring it back and get something else!!

Worse than that, I had the last guy I spoke to there try to pre-sell me an XBOX360... to put this within the correct timeframe, he called it the XBox 2! I asked if he had any specs on it (knowing none had been announced), and he proceeded to sprout all sorts of interesting "facts" which were really nothing more than rumours....most of which have since been found to be flat out false. Main example being the use of an HD-DVD drive! Surely there is some sort of law against MAKING SHIT UP!?!?

Thanks EB, but i'm only buying sealed games from now on and not from you.

Re:Bad questions, what did they expect?

[gcatullus]

I definitely agree that in reatil there is a huge swing in who gets help from the clek and who gets ignored. But I have not noticed this in tech retail as much as in places like Home Depot. But in Hom eDepot it is the reverse - the clueless customers get the most help. I usually know what I want in teh store, but if I need help, there is no one to even ask a question; if my wife goes there, almost every time a clerk will ask her if she needs help. Now, I can understand that the usually male clerk would prefer to talk to a female, but I think the clerks are instructed that if Suzy Housewife walks in to help her find whatever she needs because she is the member of the household who will decide to buy new wallpaper, etc. Being clueless has also helped for me at the pool store. I just bought a house with a pool, knew nothing about taking care of it, walked into the pool store, said I was clueless, they tested teh water, talked with me for about 10 minutes, and I bought about $50.00 in chemicals. maybe I was robbed, but I couldn't see how 10 minutes of time was made up for in $50 in sales

Holy bias, Batman!

[Inoshiro]

As I have been and continue to be an employee at EB, despite my better judgement, in a Canadian city, whose only competition are a single piss-ant local run video game store and the usual Wal-mart/Future Shop/Superstore trimunitive, I can say that we're the only place that does things like: Hey, I see you're buying a PS2/GC, I bet you'd like a memory card to save your progress. Or (and we had a 3 hour staff meeting about this one, so the new girl would learn this): if someone wants WoW, ensure they know it's on online only, pay-to-play game. Just because they hear it's shit hot, doesn't mean it's right for them.

Part of making "quality sales that last" is making sure you get as close to 0% returns as possible. That means you don't sell Shrek and an Xbox to someone's 6-y-o when they'd be better off with a GameCube. Perhaps the stores are mismanaged in your part of the world, but in Saskatchewan they are not, and our district is very strongly focusing itself on this.

Additionally, and unsatisfied customer is an unhappy, not returning customer. Anyone with sales experience knows this, and EB has a whole retail training program about it (not unlike Future Shop, or other places).

I worked at EB and I own over 400 video games. Ironically, I own no N-Gage games despite owning 2 N-Gage systems.

Re:Bad questions, what did they expect?

[iocat]

Two things I know for sure: 1) The author of the story is very cute. I know this because she is my girlfiend. 2) I also know she asked the exact same questions, the exact same way, in each store, because I listened to the tapes in the car.

Obviously it's just a short, anecdotal piece; I recognized most of the people she talked to (she went to stores in the neighborhood), and personality definitely played a factor. But the main thing is: if you want a game for a present, make sure you give uninformed consumers (non-gaming girlfriends, mothers, etc) a freaking *list* so they don't ask any half-baked questions and get you like a Genesis or something...

Re:clueless like a fox? :)

[Guppy06]

Ehhh... not really. The stores more or less break even on console sales, and barely see a return on the games themselves. The big money-making sales for the stores are the accessories, which is why they keep on trying to force these damnedable "value packs" down our throats when a new console comes out.

It's the skin-of-your-teeth profit margins that keep you from seeing many "mom-and-pop" video game stores any more.

Let's guess: You worked at Best Buy?

[ianscot]

I can sort of sympathize. I worked in book stores all through college, and there was one set of customers who wanted to seem "cultured" and talk about their reading, but whose idea of high culture was Ayn Rand or Stephen King. This company wasn't paying me minimum wage so I could pretend to wax enthusiastic over stuff I found pretty depressingly awful. There were also the Blockbuster shoppers: people who asked for a recommendation, but then expected you to read their minds or the minds of the people for whom they were buying a gift. Those people would say they liked a particular author, but then they wound up rejecting any suggestions you made, and eventually they left with something completely unlike that initial example they'd given. You wound up wondering if they had any idea what they were asking for, or whether they'd even read their "favorite" author at all.

But you know, they're people, and you were frustrated by the whole situation partly because you decided to write them off. That's what your "triage system" was. Spend your day learning to shut yourself off from idjits, and it'll drag you into a low place.

We had some pretty nuts regulars at one of the stores I worked in; one of whom was a squeaky-voiced little guy who prefaced every sentence with your name and the words "Could you please tell me...?" ("Ian, could you please tell me this? And Ian, could you please tell me...?") I actually kind of liked the guy after a while. Didn't wear my soul down any to do so, either.