Game maps out ‘bricks and clicks’ retail future
Game Digital is reeingeering the way it deploys digital technology in-stores to unearth more data capture opportunities capable of spurring its customer-targeted marketing across all channels.
By uniting real-time streams of data from mobile devices, online customer activity and in-store systems the retailer is looking to create a single repository of customer activity. It is no longer enough to know “who the customer is” or “where they shop”, according to Game, which is distilling its customer view through data such as “what’s on promotion” and “what’s in stock”.
An eBay-style “Game Marketplace” sits at the heart of the retailer’s charge for channel convergence, fuelling efforts to nurture what it has described as a “single customer view”.
It will launch early next year giving gamers the chance to purchase “tens of thousands” of gaming products directly from third-party vendors both in-store and from its site.
Peer-to-peer trading between customers will be introduced eventually with all payments handled through Game similarly to how other marketplaces are run.
The storefront will open up a new revenue stream for the business, creating opportunities to sell products it cannot stock at its shops in different ways whether it is through reward points, on mobile or by potentially offering customer credit.
James Staveley, director of investor relations at Game Digital, said balancing efforts to blend the physical and virtual worlds with carving out new revenue streams was key to avoiding “previous troubles”. The business is at the end of a “transformational” 2014 that saw it float on the stock exchange just two years after it was rescued from bankruptcy.
Game’s turnaround has been “challenged” by proliferating channels, admitted Staveley but customers are responding to its fledgling omnichannel offering. Around 63 per cent of customers use their smarpthones in stores, according to the retailer while those who shop across multiple channels spend 2.5 times more on average than single-channel shoppers.
Nearly half (45 per cent) of visits to the Game website were through mobile phones in the 52 weeks to 26 July, a shift the retailer plans to accelerate by expanding its mWallet and Game app over the next 12 months.
The mobile wallet, an electronic account that lets customers store all their Game cash and credit, is to be expanded online so that customers can pay for goods on its site and marketplace instead of only in-store.
More than 200,000 users have registered for the account since it launched in the summer and the company hopes an upcoming feature that lets players pay for virtual goods in games will drive further sign-ups.
“More people are purchasing products in-stores with either cash or by trading in goods instead of purchasing products with credit cards,” said Staveley. “We don’t split out [sales] for store and online channels because we see them as the same. All our stores have smart offers so that when someone is at the point-of-sale, depending on what they’re about to purchase and their previous history, we can offer relevant products and offers at that moment.”
Improvements to Game’s CRM promotional programme will quicken the retail drive alongside an expansion of its in-store and community events programme. The retailer plans to set up a Facebook page for each of its 350 stores in the UK, complimenting the Twitter accounts its store managers have as well as allowing it to drive more footfall into stores through localised promotions.
Additionally, the business is to launch a mobile gaming store for Android titles and is exploring the introduction of beacons technology into shops.
Staveley said Game customers need to be led along a path to purchase that results in more than just a product purchase, but also advocacy for the retail brand if it is to lift equity in a market where shoppers see everything as “connected”.
“Community is a key part of the proposition we’re building around creating value for gamers. The innovations we’re planning through technology, whether that’s on mobile, geo-locations or through real-time promotions, it’s an opportunity for us to differentiate from the competition.”
The wider business strategy underpinning Game's flurry of marketing is mapped out in Game’s first annual report since its IPO. The document was created by branding consultants Gather.