What can staff do to make a visit to GAME better for you? - The Bear and Badger

Elmlea

Diluted Dante wrote:

I'm 99% sure that they flat out lied to you there.

.... so where does that come from, presumably the store manager? Â I think weeding out shit like that should be a priority.

Skondo

Make offers and promotions as clear as possible, so that people don't go up to the till with a game that has Â£25.00 in large text and then underneath in tiny text, 'when you buy Black Ops 2 for Â£44.99,' or similar. Also, there was an offer on last week where you received an additional Â£10.00 credit when you traded in any four games. There was no way to tell from the receipt that I had in fact received the Â£10.00.

Diluted Dante

I'd guess so yes. I suspect that it was a desperate attempt to get better figures. Unless the only consoles available come in pre packaged boxes with all that shit then there is no reason to have to take it. There hasn't really been anything like that with the 360.

At the end of the day someone buying a console on it's own only gives you a very slim profit margin but something is better than nothing. Refusing to sell a console on it's own is dumb.

Diluted Dante

Skondo wrote:

Make offers and promotions as clear as possible, so that people don't go up to the till with a game that has Â£25.00 in large text and then underneath in tiny text, 'when you buy Black Ops 2 for Â£44.99,' or similar. Also, there was an offer on last week where you received an additional Â£10.00 credit when you traded in any four games. There was no way to tell from the receipt that I had in fact received the Â£10.00.

That's a quirk of the way the promotion is applied. It adds Â£2.50 to each game. Out of interest, does it say below each game a different price? I can't remember if it displays something like the difference added, or the original price or something, but it might do.

Â This comes back to staff explaining it though. "Normally you'd get Â£20, but you'll get Â£30 today because of this offer."

davyK

wonderbanana wrote:

Oh and stop trying to stick bloody labels that tear cardboard boxes when removed on my limited edition games/consoles etc! Â Had this only a few weeks back with Dishonoured. Â Â It's almost as bad as when games used to deface every per-owned game with marker pen! Thankfully that lesson was learnt, I dread to think ow many games game ruined with that practice.

THIS.

Mod74

Reaming someone on a bundle just because there isn't 'enough' profit in the machine isn't going to encourage them back through the door. How many tasty second hand transactions have been lost because of short sighted launch gouging?

Given a free hand I bet most people would pick up a game or two anyway. There's no need to stiff them with FIFA or some Sonic shit you can't shift.

Ultimately people will buy their games from wherever is cheapest and most convenient. But there's no need to actively give them a hatred for your store.

True story, I was stood in the queue at HMV on Xbox launch weekend. Desperately trying to decide which 2 of the 5 shitty games I was being forced to buy I hated least.

As the queue very very slowly wound down I decided not to bother. Walked out an haven't bought a single game in HMV since.

[Deleted User]

Yeah what skondo said really bugs me too.
Huge banner saying xxx game Â£20 then fine print
when trading selected game

It sounds dishonest and cheap. At the very least make it clear what bloody game!

Also give GAME milton keynes a chalk board for their offers, that white board looks fucking shit. I dont know if the white board is standard practice but it looks ropey.

JonB

There's nothing they could really change for me. I'm not going to buy new stuff there, so it's really just a matter of keeping a decent stock of older games at decent prices, and to be fair the pre-owned section does a reasonable job of that. Still, that's probably only worth about Â£30 a year from me.

n0face

Ban children, drug addicts and old people.

darkglobe

Reading some of these great posts Dante, I would hope you'reÂ rattlingÂ off a CV as quick as you can. Don't put anymore of your effort into saving what seems to be a lost cause.

Individual stores can't reallyÂ achieveÂ much in a group such as Game, stop kidding yourself that you can. Â Whatever idea you come up with won't be understood/appreciated/cared about by people who simply want you to upsell upsell and upsell.

Personally, I've no need for a GAME anymore, I do all my shopping on Amazon/Download (interestingly I'm willing to pay RRP for downloads, but then I am anÂ idiot). GAME can't much the price, it's all I really care about these days. Â Once you have to figure in car parks/hassle/time, it makes the town centre very unattractive.

If I was still 15 though.... Â I would have loved demo areas, high score comps and all that good shit. Â But it won't happen for GAME, it would ruin too many figures and numbers and Excel spreadsheets.

Sasukekun

Less Game branded stuff. I hate buying cheap third party rubbish, and more so if it's not even a company that has a long history of it's own gaming products. It frustrates me going into Game for a particular accessory only to find that they barely stock anything official.

If you're going to reduce games in the sale, reduce the pre-owned copies of the same game too. It makes the company look like idiots to have a pre-owned copy for more money than a new one.

An import service, or if the item isn't in, we'll order it for you. I'd like to see more niche titles stocked. If you can't stock them, give me a way to order them. I understand they cost money to buy in, but even 1 or 2 copies will sell in the short run.

Mod74

darkglobe wrote:

Reading some of these great posts Dante, I would hope you'reÂ rattlingÂ off a CV as quick as you can. Don't put anymore of your effort into saving what seems to be a lost cause. Individual stores can't reallyÂ achieveÂ much in a group such as Game, stop kidding yourself that you can.

I don't wish to be cruel but I think Dante, to this credit, harbours ambitions of making his branch into the videogame version of Empire Records or Hi Fidelity.

My gut feeling is similar to darkglobes. They lost the 'hardcore' long ago and now are mostly catering to the drongs that are happy to pre-order FIFA six months in advance then pay Â£50 for it and yes they will be taking a points card and a strategy guide and a massive bar of chocolate with it.

I dunno, am I wrong D? How far would 'have you seen the latest Bioshock Infinite trailer?' get you with most customers? You said FIFA Vita bundles were flying off the shelf so I don't think I'm that far off.

adored

Unfortunately, Dante's Game seems like a one-off. The bundle only thing has been standard practice at console launches as long as I can remember.

I'm fairly sure when the Wii was still going mental in its 2nd xmas, Game wouln't sell you a standalone console.

mistercrayon

I really liked the retro selection in old gamestation. In the game in Cardiff they have a selection of special preowned stuff separated from the regular stuff (e.g. Zelda 3ds). I liked that.

mistercrayon

To be fair to game re: Wii when I got mine from toys R us I had to buy three games (Zelda or red steel and some shit racing game and madden).

mistercrayon

Also while im here: I totally understand the pricing at game. Yes its more expensive than Tesco or online but there are good reasons why this is TRUE.

hylian_elf

Stop employing people who don't play, or don't know about, games.

Stop trying to sell whole bunch of shit to someone who clearly doesn't want anything they didn't take to the till or ask about.

Stop pushing bundles with consoles and just sell the fucking console. Â Unless that practice has already stopped? Â I don't know, I bought almost all consoles at HMV as a result.

Give more space to previous releases and stock more of them. Â Not all of us want to buy just CoD and FIFA.

THAT'S ABOUT IT FROM ME.

adored

Get rid of most of your games and sell speaker docks and headphones instead.

Get some shitty gadget shop franchise to sell tat in your stores.

Spock

What can't you get down an Internet pipe? HMV and game need to address this before moving forward. The only real answer is human/gibbon contact.Perhaps both should rejig as a more cafe/ arcade / pretentious coffee house type venue. I.e. local bands and indie film on late at HMV and more Internet gaming cafe space for game; local network CoD pay tournaments, 3ds Pokemon sheet pass stuff.

hylian_elf

Internet is no good for browsing old games and picking up something on impulse while you popped in on your way home from work.

New game coming out that you know you want? Â Internet,

Not sure what my point is, if anything.

Skondo

Diluted Dante wrote:

Skondo wrote:

Make offers and promotions as clear as possible, so that people don't go up to the till with a game that has Â£25.00 in large text and then underneath in tiny text, 'when you buy Black Ops 2 for Â£44.99,' or similar. Also, there was an offer on last week where you received an additional Â£10.00 credit when you traded in any four games. There was no way to tell from the receipt that I had in fact received the Â£10.00.

That's a quirk of the way the promotion is applied. It adds Â£2.50 to each game. Out of interest, does it say below each game a different price? I can't remember if it displays something like the difference added, or the original price or something, but it might do.

Â This comes back to staff explaining it though. "Normally you'd get Â£20, but you'll get Â£30 today because of this offer."

There is just the trade in price. The customer has no way to know that they have received Â£2.50 extra per game. Surely all you'd need is one line that reads 'store offer' Â£10.00 and the standard trade in value against each of their trade ins. The staff can by all means explain it, but if it's clearly shown on the receipt then there wouldn't be any doubt.

Something else with the price match, which I unfortunately didn't notice until I got home. I showed the CEX prices on my mobile which Game matched. What I hadn't realised was that for a couple of games, Game offered a higher trade in value, but reduced the value to match the CEX value. Surely that's not in the spirit of the offer? Certainly not how Gamestation used to do it.

Mod74

Really?

Oh dear oh dear.

adored

Skondo wrote:

What I hadn't realised was that for a couple of games, Game offered a higher trade in value, but reduced the value to match the CEX value. Surely that's not in the spirit of the offer? Certainly not how Gamestation used to do it.

That's despicable.

Also, my local Game refused to accept the CEX price off my mobile and insisted I go there and get a print-out.

That was several months ago and the last time I'll ever set foot in Game. Much like HMV, they've used up any residual goodwill and as a business deserve to die.

Billy

The best store i've been to is the Game or Gamestation (can't remember which) on Birmingham New Street. Â Upstairs was light, clean and spacious with life size models and big displays. Â Downstairs was full of gaming areas but again light and spacious. You'd find teens, 30/40 yr olds and parents with their kids all down there. Â Moderately loud music but not annoying. Â Clean and slick seated areas around various consoles with several members of staff helping and enjoying themselves created a great atmosphere. Â Must have cost a fortune to run and it was really nicely designed, but people really enjoyed it. Â Wii, 360 and Ps3 were all playable with lots of multiplayer and single payer games.

Clearly that's not how the Game board of directors want all their shops run which is a shame. Â Game should be about Gaming! Â It's sociable and fun!

Dante's shoppe is clearly one of the best because Dante obviously cares, he's on here asking for suggestions! Â I never would have worked out the 360 offer you mentioned, I'd shop at my local Game if the staff were that helpful and up for a round of Tekken while I'm out with my family doing the shopping!!!

Diluted Dante

Mod74 wrote:

darkglobe wrote:

Reading some of these great posts Dante, I would hope you'reÂ rattlingÂ off a CV as quick as you can. Don't put anymore of your effort into saving what seems to be a lost cause. Individual stores can't reallyÂ achieveÂ much in a group such as Game, stop kidding yourself that you can.

I don't wish to be cruel but I think Dante, to this credit, harbours ambitions of making his branch into the videogame version of Empire Records or Hi Fidelity.

Whilst I'm here, I want to make the best of it. We used to have a deputy who was the guy they moved around to make shit stores better. If I'm in Game for now I'd quite like to be that guy. There is little reason for a store to be shit.

Mod74 wrote:

My gut feeling is similar to darkglobes. They lost the 'hardcore' long ago and now are mostly catering to the drongs that are happy to pre-order FIFA six months in advance then pay Â£50 for it and yes they will be taking a points card and a strategy guide and a massive bar of chocolate with it. I dunno, am I wrong D? How far would 'have you seen the latest Bioshock Infinite trailer?' get you with most customers? You said FIFA Vita bundles were flying off the shelf so I don't think I'm that far off.

There is still an element of 'hardcore' to our customer base, but I suspect this isn't replicated nationwide. I guess it depends how you define 'hardcore'. We have the sort of people who will come in repeatedly asking for a Tales Of game. Tales of Graces F did a roaring trade after I hassled the Namco PR to get it for us. Naruto games as well do amazing for us. We only get them because one of our staff is obsessed with it and pre-orders a million copies. Without that we'd be turning people away.

adored wrote:

Skondo wrote:

What I hadn't realised was that for a couple of games, Game offered a higher trade in value, but reduced the value to match the CEX value. Surely that's not in the spirit of the offer? Certainly not how Gamestation used to do it.

That's despicable. Also, my local Game refused to accept the CEX price off my mobile and insisted I go there and get a print-out. That was several months ago and the last time I'll ever set foot in Game. Much like HMV, they've used up any residual goodwill and as a business deserve to die.

That's insane. They've gone out of their way to do that.

I mentioned this previously, but all you need is proof for price matches. A print out isn't needed. Showing the price on your phone is 100% fine. They are actively going against policy for no benefit that I can see.

Sasukekun wrote:

Less Game branded stuff. I hate buying cheap third party rubbish, and more so if it's not even a company that has a long history of it's own gaming products. It frustrates me going into Game for a particular accessory only to find that they barely stock anything official.

I hate Gameware. Although I will say that the PC pad I bought years ago still works, but that was pre-360. Wasn't forking out silly money for a Sidewinder. Although besides 360 Quick Charge kits, I'm not sure what you're after. We do pretty much everything else.

Sasukekun wrote:

An import service, or if the item isn't in, we'll order it for you. I'd like to see more niche titles stocked. If you can't stock them, give me a way to order them. I understand they cost money to buy in, but even 1 or 2 copies will sell in the short run.

We do this. If it's in stock in the warehouse, you can order it, either sent in to the store, or more usually to you.

[Deleted User]

id like to have a cup of tea while i browse and/or make my purchases.

Â

staff at game in blackburn are really friendly and helpfull.
they were having a closing down sale just before christmas and closed but are open again.

new release prices are a bit too high, who do they price match against? (asda, morrisons, hmv?)
buying pre owned has been great for me just last week i got rage,tiger woods10 and dj hero2 for 12 quid and 6 quid knocked of for reward points.

Â

there were a deal on to get a free 5 quid pre order for gtv but it were only for buying certain games (fifa, halo etc) or trading them or something ........i were annoyed at that as the games were on the side of the leaflets you couldnt see!

despite not having any info on NI NO KUNI, they took my pre order anyway and gave me a recipte but they had no idea of price or even if they would get the (wizards) edition that i want.

im hapy with the service overall though.

Sasukekun

Diluted Dante wrote:

Sasukekun wrote:

An import service, or if the item isn't in, we'll order it for you. I'd like to see more niche titles stocked. If you can't stock them, give me a way to order them. I understand they cost money to buy in, but even 1 or 2 copies will sell in the short run.

We do this. If it's in stock in the warehouse, you can order it, either sent in to the store, or more usually to you.

Â

Not quite what I'm suggesting, as some of the titles that you can get through Play Asia aren't available on the Game website, so I doubt they'd be in the warehouse.

Maybe if they buy some of the larger HMV stores then Game can sign a deal with Costa or Cafe Nero and open up a Game/Coffee shop. Free Wifi, demo units, comfy seats and games.

Olimite

Pretty much nothing, sorry. You can't match Shop.to for speed or price - coupled with the fact that I'm more knowledgable about games than anyone at any of the Game stores I've ever been in.

hylian_elf

Not sure how a high street store, where you can walk in buy and leave with game in hand, can't match an online store that would take at least a day to deliver game to you.

pantyfire

I have never really had a problem with Game.Â
My local one was staffed with decent employees and the Watford one I have ad to go to a couple times is likewise decently staffed. They applied a discount at the til,l to Dishonered and Xcom, that I didn't even realise I could have.Â

I am afraid I am one of those shoppers who doesn't browse. I know exactly what's out, when and how good it is. So I really don't need any cajoling or encouragement to buy...other than price.Â

I am your older gamer so I still like to physically buy something rather than buy it on the Internet.Â
IF Game matched shopto. Etc... On new releases then I would buy every new release at Game.Â
Which leads me to...Preowned. Game absolutely, unequivocally HAVE to take a look at CeX (pronounced 'sex') and their trade in / second hand pricing. It's considerably more realistic. I never buy pre-owned from Game because their is a CeX in the area and it always has hands down better trade in and better buying prices.Â

and dare I say it...Game need to start looking at opening shops again, but obviously be a bit more sensible about where they do it and what size. Currently I have a cost of Â£7 to get to Watford or Â£8 (I could it a fair bit cheaper by bus elsewhere but it would take several hours round trip, something I am not prepared to do) Â to get into London to get to a Game, couple that with the higher prices for new releases and going to shopto instead is a no brainier.

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories