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Advice on Running a Successful Videogame Store?
xlilacx asks: "The video game industry is worth $25 billion, and predicted to rival the global music industry in the next 10 years. Even Grandma is joining in on the fun. My husband and I bought three video game retail stores two months ago, and so far sales are dismal (down 25% from last year's sales), which seems to be an industry trend. I've noticed a few things that are contibuting to our lack of profits: the people who weren't able to get an XBox 360 have decided they will wait to get one (which most likely will be after Christmas), and they will not buy any games for their old systems in the meantime; people are automatically conditioned to go to the EB-Games and GameStop stores at the malls, even if they give less in trade-ins and have horrible customer servicr; lastly, kids come in with piles of junk games (Madden 2001, etc..), and get enough store credit to buy the latest greatest game that we only mark up like 5%-10%. I'd like to ask Slashdot readers if these observations are a good reflection of the mentality of video-game buyers everywhere, and what suggestions they have for a small ma-and-pa video game store. With all the huge retailers in the video-game market and the EB/GameStop merger, is there a place left for the local game store?"
What you need is time to get game buyers to use your store, and start telling their friends.
If you can have better customer service, and provide better monetary value (be it trade-ins, slightly lower price than the local chain store, etc) the numbers should increase over time.
Have a local staff that is knowledgable about games. They should be able to tell a prospective buyer the good and the bad about a particular game, and how it compares to other games in the genre.
Perhaps post ratings from various game sites, so buyers can see the ratings and the reviews about various games in your store.
One thing a local mom-pop shop does is have a little event when a huge game is released. They will have pop and some snacks leading up to when they are allowed to sell the game, may even have it playable on a few systems so people can get their fix before they can take it home. They did this for Halo2, and I am sure other games. They also let you return a game within the first week or so if you don't like it, or you finish it for a full store credit. You get a brand-new hot title back, and can put it back on the shelf at a slightly lower price (providing the condition is good), and make two customers happy in the process.
You can also run contests, etc to get people into the store. Buy X new games, get a free used title. My advice, don't pressure then to buy. Provide an environment that provides the service, but do perks, make it a good place to hang out.
Here's what I'd suggest. Note that this is purely from a customer's perspective, so it may not jibe with best business practices.
1. Have a clean, uncramped, well-ventilated store. Walk into a chain store in a mall these days and it's so overpacked that you can barely move when you're in there. This really shouldn't be happening when you can use mostly wall space and some sanely placed racks for your product. And ventilation is more important than you might think -- many mom & pop shops have sent me packing because they've consistently smelled like rotting B.O.
2. Have an engaged, knowledgeable, and non-disgusting work force. Hire people with an active interest in games across multiple systems who actually pay attention to what's out and what's coming up, and who can make meaningful recommendations to people. No hypemongers or rabid single-system fanboys, please. And no planetoids with poor hygiene, either. As I mentioned above, if visiting the store becomes an assault on the senses, people won't come back.
3. Don't give me the hard sell. No, I don't want the fucking strategy guide. And don't argue with me when I say I want a new copy instead of a used one. If I come up to the counter and ask for something, just sell it to me without the extra push.
4. Let me try before I buy. Have multiple kiosks for each system and let people try out any game in the store. Have the latest demo discs available too, so people can try out upcoming games.
5. Sell new releases as soon as possible. I don't know the mechanics of this, but occasionally the chain stores will let pre-orderers pick up their game a day early, or they'll sell a huge new release at midnight the night before it would usually be on sale. Most hardcore gamers like to get their new stuff as soon as they can, and whoever can get it in their hands first at a fair price will get their business.
6. Have review information available in-store. This could be as simple as having a public web kiosk that points to Metacritic.com or something similar. You might even be able to convince them to contribute some money toward the kiosk since you'd be driving traffic to their site. Anyway, I mention this because I'll often spot an obscure title in a store and have no way of knowing if it's any good or not. The store employees usually aren't much help (and even good employees can't be familiar with every game out there), so having on-site access to a range of reviews for every game could help close a sale that might not otherwise happen.
7. Have a frequent buyer program with real benefits. Reward loyalty with periodic unrestricted discounts and game-related goodies (e.g. that promotional Prince Of Persia soundtrack CD that came with preorders of POP:T2T at some stores). And give people a one-time discount when they refer a friend to your store.
8. Keep your prices reasonable. Most people understand that mom & pop shops need to bump up their margin a little compared to chain stores, but if you're more than about 5% above the competition you probably won't keep any customers. And even the people who are willing to pay a little extra are only going to do it if they're getting added value from shopping at your store instead of a chain.
You might also consider hosting and/or sponsoring gaming events to get your name out there and build up good will. Even hosting a little weekly Madden tournament in your store with a $20 store credit purse would draw in a decent number of younger customers.
Good luck...