GameStop

GameStop (the game, peripheral, toys/ collectibles) selling company seems to be facing an issue. It is mainly an offline store with an online presence mainly selling computer games which seem to be heading towards digital downloads.

It is a difficult task and one that some people think that it can't survive. Because at the end of the day, do you buy your games from GameStop online, GameStop offline, Amazon or another retailer? The marketplace for selling digital games is quite saturated. Offline how many people are buying physical games? According to Statista 83% of 2018 games were digitally bought, 17% physical copies. The trend is going downwards against physical products.

So what does a game selling company do?

What GameStop offers- and doesnt

It looks like GameStop has known this for a while so you see:

• peripheries
• like the idea of onsite events
  
• toys/ collectibles/ cards
  
• an online presence
• a social media network with 137k Youtube subscribers giving low tens thousands to low hundred thousand video views. 6 million Facebook fans, 101k TikTok followers, 2.1 million Insta followers
  
• a credit card
• trades
• exclusive bundles

There are a lot of social followers. So if that was the case why is GameStop struggling (i.e. not making as much as it probably should)?

When you look at the videos (10-100k views). Facebook likes per post (30-200 likes recently). Insta posts (500-1000 likes/ hearts)...the amount of love is not consistent with the amount of subscribers for each platform. There doesn't seem to be too much of an interaction.

Take the above video from GameStop. It was sent out 5 years ago when Fornite was in its prime. The first thing you see is an ad for thumb stick pads. The tips are generic. Theres only 5 of them and one of them is to use the pads to get better grip. The video is only 1.37 mins. Annnnd...3.6k views, 9 comments.

Lets take another one. eSports and how to get into the industry. Certainly a trend right? Google Trends!

This is from 2004 and we can see that the term eSports has increased greatly over time. Gamestop did a 12 part video series about it on Youtube in 2021:

Theres some interaction (19 comments which are all positive). 2k views only. The whole 12 part series is the same- hovering around 1-2k views. All comments positive.

So with super online competition, how can GameStop grow?

Remember this is not a slight upon GameStop but a thought of what could be achieved. Would it work? Who knows. It might spark some additional ideas.

The problem with GameStop is that it has a physical presence, physical goods to sell and very little in the digital world. There is also this disconnect between how many people like GameStop and their online presence and actually interacting with GameStop.

There isnt a vast amount to recommend because you are at the mercy of companies selling products. If they want to sell digital products then you are out. Many will sell through their own digital store and the vast majority know that money can be made on additions and mods. They are also creating communities so third party sellers have it tough.

When you move onto peripherals you are then chopping percentages off profit to secure the sale but this is a losing battle.

Kimberley-Clark (that obviously sells physical items) used its online presence to interact with customers to figure out what they wanted- what they didn't want and how they created new products to fill demands.

But.

• Is there any interaction with influencers/ content creators? When we have looked around online, checked with their videos or social channels there isnt a huge amount of influencer connections. Sure the videos above show an influencer- the comments are positive, its what people want. But then we have little more. The content that is created seems to be advertising something rather incorporating trust and value. Check out the following.

Its from their Facebook page. A post about Monopoly thrown in with celebrating the 40th birthday of GameStop. Sounds OK. This was...lets count, 5 posts on 1 day with exact same template. Promotion. Previous 1 day offered memes with remember the 80s and 6 posts with 3 promotions. So are they celebrating for a year or is it one day? If so, unsure of the promotions that are given, anything free? Why so much promotion? Sure a post has to do something. But how about interviews with store clients about what they remember about the 80s?

Where is GameStop with promoting, sponsoring, interviewing influencers. You need a face of GameStop. It just seems like it would work so well. Someone who has a good personality, fun and into games. At the moment GameStop seems to be just a corporation. Even the Facebook page states "GamesTop, Inc. is responsible for this page".

• A GameStop tournament? Thought of this the other day. Bit like Red Bull which is associated with extreme sports. Why don't you have an annual tournament with qualifying through the year for the different games that you have? The eSport business as we know is large and competitive. But it is still relatively young and needs guidance. Also where is your Twitch account? Anyway. This can send off hours of content from qualifying videos, interviews, rights to the actual tournament itself, merch, sponsorship...the list only increases the more you think about it.
• Audience. Got to interact with that audience and followers a bit more to make them feel special rather than throwing a percentage off here and there. Gifts, prizes...anything to show appreciation. If you are doing a Nintendo event then why not do a tour of the Nintendo facility? Have your name in a game? Signed stuff from the developers...again, the list could be endless.
  
• A side to tournaments, how about an eSports team? This could be of different games, following each player. Then we get Twitch up and going (again, unsure why there isnt a Twitch channel of yours, may be one, but cant find it). Again, this is a community. Are you taking or giving to the community? This is where places like Amazon or Walmart will find it difficult to be that specific and niche.
  
• Conference? Completely separate from the tournament but could this be the E3 style conference where you host, showcase, interview, promote, give out news....it seems to gel well with your brand. You are then leading the industry with other companies wanting to be part of you. You are moving yourself into a place of being wanted.
  
• Trading Site & Trading Company. Theres a market growing for used reputable items, trading between users of digital goods and whatever else is going to be traded. Now trading with GameStop is a drop in the ocean of the potential that could appear. The problem with any trading is the inherent concerns of fake, duped items. We were thinking this could be the Steam of Trading. Where instead of relying on companies you could plug yourself into company universe and allow people to trade with each other.
• Collectibles. This seems to be a cool way to again, become the professional collectors source of product. When we go into GameStop we check out the games (mainly we buy from Steam as our computer didnt come with a Disc drive. We have a PS but we go through the PStore). But what always catches our eyes are the awesome selection of gaming merch. Now you have to be careful and probably move away from fluffy stuff that you can find at any big box retailer but hone in on the cool stuff. Have an auction, certain amounts made, specific box sets...
• Education. An odd one, but wouldnt it be cool to get to be an intern at one of the companies that you sell for? How about a certificate of GameStop education to learn various techniques in certain games from a pro of that game. Similar to your eSports video above but changing the content into something that can be used and is being given out. They also receive abook of GameStop discounts, free mouse/ controller etc. Whatever the prize is but having groups of people being taught by a pro seems to gel with the brand. It also helps with the pro and cranks up their public image.

But as per always we wish GameStop all the best. Check out more online studies here. Updates? Check out our blog here.

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