I visited a Gamestop yesterday that had all the shift employees on the floor, talk about customer service! I didn't get the normal rundown on Preorder or Rewards Program; just genuine help in finding games. The employee saw how I was looking at Wii games and offered how I can order games online to be shipped in. I mention I only verify stock online and prefer to visit the store to get a game CIB.
Turned out the District and Regional and Managers were also in the store, the reason for all the shift employees. I figure it was a good opportunity to find out about things and voice concerns.
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CRTGAMER - "I heard that Gamestop will be selling older games."
Manager - "There is no firm date yet. All I can say is we have a stockpile of games ready to go and it will be online sales only. This is the best way since the stores already have many systems to support."
CRTGAMER - "One of my concerns with Gamestop is the way the PS2 games have been cannibalized and now DS games. There must be a way, maybe keep the cases and manuals in the back room?"
Manager - "There is a problem of available Store Space and with the new 720 coming out later it will be an even bigger issue."
CRTGAMER - (Pulls Wii Game with Generic case) "Part of the gaming experience is flipping thru the manual. At least the manual should be kept with the game disc if the cases have to be tossed. I know of only a couple of Gamestops that have done this."
Manager - "A good idea."
CRTGAMER - "This also brings the issue back to the older games that will be available online. As I mentioned to your employee a few minutes ago, I do not order used games at the Gamestop website. The only way I can be positive of getting a complete game is visiting the store.
I know older games such as NES games are pretty much going to be cart only, but there is a concern if the label is torn or not. Keep in mind most the cliental that buy the older games are in my age category and are collectors that prefer a pristine product when possible. I can see that there can be only one SKU per game to save on inventory logistics, but there must be some way on the web site to describe a condition of a Retro game sold."
Manager - "I agree that the NES games are going towards the collector crowd. We are looking at how best to approach this and still working on it."
CRTGAMER - "As a game collector I prefer older games that are in good condition, but also cringe of any games that might be destroyed because it did not meet a sale standard. Its just something to look at thru the description option. Thanks for taking the time"
Manager - "Thankyou." (Left the store right afterwards and all the off shift employees went home.)
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It was great to have that conversation, not sure if much impact? At least I gave what I hope is productive feedback. Obvious these managers were important since every employee of the store had to be present. Like it or hate it, online Gamestop Retro sales are going to happen. Some games can already be bought with Gamestop Rewards. Questionable on how pristine the cart will be.
Game Industry Wrote on Sept 10, 2012 wrote: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2 ... nline-only
GameStop CEO Paul Raines has clarified recent talk of the retailer selling "vintage" games, suggesting it will be an online only service.
"We've thought about this vintage thing as an online initiative, and that's where we're doing most of our work," Raines told Joystiq.
"Part of what we have to do is we have to go source a lot of this product, get customers to trade some of their old product with us, and go find some old consoles, but we also own a lot of old product."
He wouldn't go into detail on the range of vintage products it intended to stock.
"We're thinking about everything. Nothing we'd really want to call out yet. Our dotcom team is right now grinding through a lot of opportunities to see what's out there and see what we can get our hands on and what we can merchandise."
He also recognised the value of classic titles to the gaming community.
"If you go to eBay and some of the online marketplaces, some of these vintage gaming titles are very valuable," he added.
"We've got a lot of gamers here, and a lot of people who have a lot of older, vintage stuff in their collections, so we just thought it's an interesting time to start thinking about bringing this to our best PowerUp members and giving them a chance."
That one got me good
