GAMES RETAIL BUYER’S GUIDE
SHOPTO Address: ShopTo.net, Unit 2 Western
GAMES CENTRE
Centre, Western Road Bracknell, UK Store count: 8
RG12 1RW Site: www.shopto.net Contact: 01344 451 507
Address: Unit 1, 2 Southhook Road, Kilmarnock, Ayrshire,
Igor Cipolletta CEO
KA1 2NN Site: www.gamescentre.co.uk Contact: suppliers@ gamescentre.co.uk
Alison Fraser Head of Commercial
ONLINE specialist retailer ShopTo turned over £22m in its last financial year, representing a 60 per cent increase year-on-year. If physical sales remain ShopTo’s core business, the retailer has also strengthened its digital offering and started selling PS4 download codes.
Robert Lindsay Head Of Procurement
EVERYONE’S favourite Scottish retailer had a pretty good year in 2015. Games Centre outperformed 2014 and launched a few initiatives to reinforce its offer, such as a part exchange service on phones and tablets, which can now be traded towards PS4s and Xbox Ones. The retailer is also growing its online
Sean Lincoln Senior Buyer
Bart Rozmiarek eCommerce Director
offering, via both its website and GAME Marketplace. Games Centre also recently held successful Pokémon Go events for charity, in support of The Trussell Trust’s BringATin campaign. The Scottish chain was named Independent Retailer of the Year at this year’s MCV Awards. Again.
GENERAL STORES ARGOS UK Store count: 850 Address: 489-499 Avebury Boulevard, Saxon Gate West, Central Milton Keynes, MK9 2NW Site: www.argos.co.uk Contact: 0845 603 6677
Katherine Parrott Buyer
James Cooke Buying Manager
Shannon Reed Buying Admin Assistant
Sophie Cardno Buyer
Laura Crabtree Lead Merchandiser
2016 was a game changer for Argos, as Sainsbury’s acquired its parent firm, Home Retail Group, last July. Together they now form the UK biggest seller of non-food products. Since then, new Argos stores have opened inside Sainsbury’s supermarkets, with the aim to open 30 new shops by the end of the year. With its 850 stores covering a range of over 60,000 products, Argos’ sales represented £4bn as of February 2016.
www.mcvuk.com
Jules Aldridge Merchandiser
Kayleigh McNulty Assistant Merchandiser
However, at the beginning of the year, Argos had announced that sales were down by 2.2 per cent following “falling demand for video games consoles,” amongst others. Nevertheless, within the entertainment retail sector, Argos has increased its market share by one percentage point to reach 4.2 per cent in 2015, according to data firm Kantar. Argos took the prize for Mainstream Retailer at the 2016 MCV Awards.
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September 16th 2016