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RETAIL PROFILE: SHOPTO
The second new service is the Release Date or Compensate scheme. We appreciate that the majority of people worry about getting their game on the day of release, and therefore decide to wait until it is available in store. We want to compete with the High Street on this, and so we hope our compensation concept will encourage more people to come to us instead of going down the shops. We are really putting ourselves under a lot of pressure with this idea but we believe it shows people how serious we are. To qualify for the offer, all the customer has to do is have the pre-order in their shopping basket by midday on the Wednesday before the game is released. If the game arrives after the release date, then the customer can claim £3 in store credit. All of the above services, as well as SellTo – where gamers can sell their old titles through us – are currently on the website. However, these are not selling tools but a service to our customers.
Many online independent websites have been cropping up over the past 12 months. Do you expect this trend to continue? I do see other independents trying to break into online retail as the High Street is a tough place at the moment and limits you to a certain demographic.
Are you concerned about the current economic climate? I feel we are in a strong position at the moment as we are a self-funded operation. We have not grown because of any funding from banks or Government schemes, but down to our cash flow decisions.
Online retail reaches a far wider audience than the High Street, which is the appeal, but you have to be prepared to satisfy demand with your service. Our knowledge of the games industry from previous organisations gives us a great advantage and one that we draw from a lot.
Whereas other companies within the industry are downsizing, we are only concerned with opportunities of growth. However, as a games industry, we need to re-think our strategy in the current economic climate. We don’t want the games industry to go the same way as the DVD market but we are not
far away. There’s a lot of lazy selling and not enough people looking at different ideas. It is easy to give large chains large volumes and think ‘job done’, instead of working with specialists and finding new ways of promoting products to the right audience. We pride ourselves on being one of the cheapest around, but we do this in response to our rivals. We are also looking for market share, which others don’t need to do. But still the devaluing of products continues to happen. Some publishers over the last year have changed their model and it has benefited. Certain others have stood still and paid the price. We need to keep strict pricing guidelines from publisher to retail and, as mentioned, find other routes to the market to make up the numbers. Even if 2009 looks bleak, I still feel the games industry, and more importantly ShopTo, can have a very successful year. Yes it will be tough but that only means we have to work harder to achieve results.
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