Video games and selling, the combination is perfect for me. Some people love video games, but I believe video games were made especially for me. I was born December 11, 1986; only ten short months after the release of Nintendo’s Entertainment System- the NES. I can honestly remember my mother forcing my brother to teach me how to play Mario Brothers when I was only a few years old because my brother was “hogging” the system. From there it never really stopped, it only got better. I have never allowed video games to dictate my life, and so I have only had good experiences: the NES, the SNES, the N64, the GameCube, and now the Wii. My brother is twenty five years old and works for Boeing on the space shuttle. He also owns a Nintendo Wii with several games such as Super Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Brothers, and Mario Strikers. My brother and I will still play Xbox and play station products, but our allegiance remains with the Nintendo family. So when it was time to work on a shadowing assignment, it was not difficult for me to call my friend Bryan Martin and follow him around the GameStop store for a few hours.
After completing the work shift, I realized that GameStop can be explained in three words: customers, selling, and inventory. I will first talk about customers. How can I relate with someone who has taste in shooting games if I only enjoy sports games? Game Informer is a magazine that contains reviews and ratings for different games and peripherals, GameStop stores should be utilized to see what gamers have said, and online sites such as gamespot.com and ign.com offer unbiased video game information. With networking, technology, and an established customer base, any question can be answered quickly and efficiently. So let’s begin. Greeting potential customers is the first thing one should try. Say something like, just to let you know my name is Daniel Montz if you need help with anything. Working behind the register is important, but the salesperson must first get the customer to the register to buy. Bryan Martin says, “A key to my success is making customers laugh. If I can establish a small friendship with them, my chances of selling grow tremendously.” Simply talking about games with co-workers and buyers can spark an initial investment, which can grow into a commitment to buy. If you are selling to an individual, make sure to offer an incentive. GameStop is unique from Best Buy and Circuit City because customers can buy used games and reserve popular gaming titles. GameStop offers the reservation of a game for only five dollars, which means a down payment of five dollars today is put towards your game in exchange for a guaranteed copy of the game on the release date. I can offer that incentive to anyone who walks in the door and by doing so I differentiate GameStop from places such as Best Buy and Circuit City.
I quickly learned that talking to parents and kids is completely different when in GameStop. Parents want to know about the gore, violence, language, and sexual content. Basically, parents want you as the salesperson to be as open and honest as possible. The rating systems for games should be used to your advantage to make a parent feel comfortable buying a title. The E (Everyone) is equivalent to PG (Parent’s Guidance), the T (Teen) is equivalent to PG-13 (Parent’s Guidance under 13 years old), and the M (Mature) is equivalent to R (Parent’s Guidance under 17 years old). Parents will tend to be on the fence more about buying games, so personal selling is crucial. Make the parent laugh, be friendly, and really go over the pros and cons of the game or system. “Ask customers in unique ways, rather than directly asking if a customer wants a magazine. Sales pitches should be lively rather than robotastical,” says Bryan Martin. Speaking with kids is a different story. Establish rapport with kids because a regular conversation will lead to a sale. Often times, not even speaking about a product for the first couple minutes actually reels the customer in. Then, establish a common ground with the gamer to find what appeals to him/her. Try to make the buyer feel good about a purchase by talking about playing games in groups of friends, how great a game’s repeat playability is, and how the game is similar to other games. For example, consider a gamer that wants to buy Super Smash Brothers Brawl on Wii and has only played Super Smash Bros Melee on GameCube. A sales representative should talk about the access to new characters and stages but should also mention the fight simulation in Brawl feels more “floaty” than in Melee due to the larger levels and game play of the characters. The majority of the time, a buyer will be more pleased with the honesty than the game defect, and as long as the game has received good reviews the chances of buying are high. The sales associates to consumer ratio are high in GameStop which means there is more opportunity to relate directly with individuals.
Every GameStop store has computer systems that are used to their advantage. If a buyer reserves a game, the computer knows the release date of the game as well as the name, address, and phone number of the reserver. For popular games such as Halo 3, calls are made out to reservers several days in advance. “This practice creates new value through midnight releases with cookouts, beverages, and tournaments. If we can create an environment for consumers to stay, the chances of buying are inflated with the increased time spent in the store,” says GameStop management. Midnight releases allow gamers to receive new releases 8 hours before most people, and often prizes are given away after tournaments. So what happens to people who reserve a game for five dollars but never pick up the game? If an individual reserves a game for five dollars and never walks in the store again, the five dollars is lost. If the individual comes back and does not want the game he/she reserved, the five dollar down payment acts as a store credit for future purchases. The computer network also tracks inventory, so if one GameStop store does not carry a game you want, calls can be made to other GameStop stores in Lubbock to find a copy.
Now it’s time to talk about selling. I always found up-selling as a waiter at Pappas Seafood House so easy. I would start by offering a non-alcoholic drink such as tea and an alcoholic drink such as beer or wine. Even if I only get one guest to bite on the tea, the bill inflates by over two dollars. Furthermore, most people who enjoy steaks, lobster tails, and mahi-mahi also appreciate a fine glass of wine to top off the experience. But how on earth can I up-sell video games? I was surprised to find the recipe was the same but the ingredients were different. If someone buys a system with four controller outputs, make sure to showcase the controller section of the store. Even if a newcomer is skeptical and wants to enjoy the system alone at first, buying more controllers comes with time. Many Microsoft and Nintendo brand peripherals can be expensive which is why brands such as Logitech, Pelican, and GameStop offer peripherals at a discounted price. I have always liked peripherals to be the same brand as the system but people are different. For example, most people love IPods but few swear by the headphones produced by Apple. It should be easy to see where people stand on the issue, and price can be a major factor for this category. The idea is to start high, and work your way down. So in our particular situation the following order should be followed: sell name-brand controllers, sell controllers with other brands, sell used name-brand controllers, and finally sell used controllers with other brand names.
The internet plays a crucial role in selling at GameStop. Their website is http://www.gamestop.com. You can order anything off the website, and your purchase will be shipped to your address. Gamers cannot reserve titles online; however gift cards and used merchandise redemption values are available online. To further assist customers, gaming websites are made available to GameStop employees within the store, although other websites are not. A customer may rely on a website such as http://www.ign.com, and by viewing his/her trusted source right away the potential to buy turns into a commitment to buy. Other ways to publicize merchandise include television ads and public trade shows. The most common public trade show is named E3, and the main purpose of the expo is to give the latest news and media from inside gaming and upcoming technology. GameStop makes sure to be a part of the new trailers, game debuts, featured content, raves, reviews, and critics of new developments. Also, every year GameStop pays an all-inclusive trip to Las Vegas for sales training and positioning. “The trip to Las Vegas gives upper-management the qualifications for using their skill sets within the local level. Our goal is to have knowledge from our managers’ trickle down to all employees of the store,” says GameStop management. As a temporary employee at the store, I noticed the responsibilities of management and salespeople are very similar. As a GameStop manager, you are still constantly selling. If you have taken the management position to get away from selling, you are simply in the wrong industry.
Point-of-sale or POS scenarios are extremely important to selling at GameStop. Point-of-sale is where game reservations, discount cards, magazine subscriptions, and warranties through GameStop are sold. Discount cards are sold for 15 dollars each, and provide a 10% discount on all used products. Often times if a person comes in to buy a significant amount of used merchandise, the card will pay for itself in the first transaction. The best idea is to ask your customer if he/she buys used games, and if the answer is yes make sure to try and sell the discount card. For most people who buy used merchandise, the card will pay for itself in two or three visits. Another option is to offer the idea of buying a magazine subscription through Game Informer. Game Informer is sent directly to your home and provides reviews and opinions on games that will soon come out. Personal selling will often depend on your style such as whether you are assertive or passive, aggressive or timid, and analytical or intuitive. My aggressive, assertive friend said to, “Tell the customer what they want, even if they are unsure if they want it. Say something like which one of these games can we reserve for you today.” However, I explained this approach to my shy friend and he hated the sales pitch. The most important factor is to read your customers well and figure out the best way to approach them. Warranties are unique and vary in price from 20-100 dollars depending on the system. Most systems include manufacturer warranties already but a GameStop warranty allows you to bring the system in to the store and have it immediately switched out. The warranty is normally set for an amount of time such as two years, and all new and used purchases at GameStop already include a 30 day warranty. As a video game purchaser, I can honestly say video game reservations are the best deal. Next in line are discount cards, which work great for used-game buyers, and magazine subscriptions, which sell to parents and critics very well. I would have difficulty selling GameStop warranties because I have heard pleasant experiences with manufacturer warranties.
Knowledge of inventory is crucial. Often times when people walk into movie rental stores such as Blockbuster and Hastings, customers ask employees if he/she has seen a movie and how they would rate the movie. Blockbuster offers its employees an incentive program that allows them to rent a certain number of movies per week and see movies before their release date. Similarly, GameStop lets their employees rent a certain number of games per week, although playing games before the release date is not available. So what is the goal of corporate and management by offering these incentive programs? You must know your inventory. Even if an employee is certain they will not like a newly released game, he/she may rent the game anyway to provide more insight and details to its playability. Although Halo 3 may not appeal to you personally, you must realize that the popularity of the game title may be crucial for meeting your monthly quotas. The idea is similar to restaurants who offer instant discounts off entrée items for employees. Chili’s, for example, will give employees a 50% discount off all menu items at any time of the day. It seems like Chili’s would lose money eventually, however employee’s increased knowledge of food items allows them to sell to guests who walk in. In fact, many employees watch their food being cooked while on break which gives them an even bigger edge. Let’s examine two contrasting examples, one who has tasted the entrée being sold and another who has not. The one who has not tasted the entrée will say my friends have enjoyed the dish, the entrée is a popular menu item, or our guest’s remarks have been positive after finishing the dish. The one who has tried the dish will be able to describe unique features of the entrée. Such as, our seafood platter is a 10-12 ounce steak cut of our salmon topped off with mushrooms, shrimp, and crab meat sautéed in a lemon-butter sauce with your choice of our world famous jambalaya rice or vegetable of the day. The principles work the same with GameStop, because employees who have played the games being sold will be able to provide customers with more details which increase the likelihood of a sale.
In conclusion, GameStop requires 3 crucial factors: customers, selling, and inventory. Without one of these factors, the rest would not exist. Customers walk into the store, employees sell and promote the items, and customers leave with GameStop inventory. GameStop is a great example of establishing a niche market. Some people may buy games and accessories from other stores but many people find it necessary to buy their gaming equipment from GameStop. Even as a gaming enthusiast my knowledge of Nintendo was tested. The big three in our decade includes Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft but who knows what the future holds. Perhaps ten different game systems and brands will exist in the future requiring an expert on each gaming device. Although we do not know what the future holds, two things are clear: gaming and selling will be around for a long time.
Works Cited
Martin, Bryan. Research, work, and interviews conducted by Daniel Montz. Lubbock, Texas. 5th
of October 2008.