Gamedeals Wii Promotion - UPDATE -

GameDeals.ca

CAGiversary!
With the Wii a mere 2 days away... it's time to let you guys in on our trade-in promotion.

We will beat EB's trade-in value (varies per game), as well as offer $10 bonus credit if the credit is all spent on old-school games (NES/SNES/N64/Genesis/etc.). On top of that, every game traded in gives you 1 entry into a draw for a fully-paid pre-order on your choice of "Warioware: Smooth Moves", "Super Smash Bros. Brawl", or "Mario Galaxy".

We're also implementing the "game rental" system where you can buy a game, then trade it back to us for $1/day less. Conditions are: The game must be in the same condition as it was purchased, it only applies to used games, and some titles may be exempt.

We will have the system set up and will be playing it Sunday (and probably every day after), and you are all welcome to join us (bring a controller & any games you have in case we don't have them already).


OLD POST:

As most of the Canada CAG forum users know, I own a video game store in New Westminster BC. I'm not trying to spam or "hype" anything, but I'm looking for advice. As you know, we specialize in old-school stuff and our selection of new titles is quite lacking. I'm not worried about having many 360/PS3 games, but now that the Wii is upon us (and my customers are excited about it) I plan to carry a lot of Wii games... BUT... the wholesale cost on these games is so high that I can't possibly sell them for cheap & have it still be worthwhile. So my question is this... what kind of promotion would you recommend that I run that would encourage people to trade their new/used Wii games to me instead of EB games? I know some people will end up with bundled games they don't want, and launch titles that they don't quite like, and I want to build a library of Wii titles asap, but without losing money in the process. Any suggestions?
 
You could offer a cash buyback, at a rate of 50% a game, then sell them used for 75%. Any extras could probably be sold on ebay.
 
I'd say do a "trade 3 Wii, get one free" or something like that. I wouldn't give too much for launch titles, ESPECIALLY Wii Sports. That's obviously going to be the Duck Hunt of the Wii and you'll get stuck with them.

Do like the guy above said. Keep 3 or 5 of each title. When you get more than that, sell them FAST on Ebay while you can still get a nice profit from them. By keeping 3 to 5, you can keep a good selection for your customers while making profit off the rest on Ebay.

Man...I hate recommending Ebay to a B&M store...still, probably the best way for you to go early.
 
Or...

Match watever EB/GS is offering - PLUS something. Give the same value they're giving PLUS 20% or something like that - or PLUS you get a free used game valued $9.99 or below...something like that.
 
Just give more than EB and I'm sure people will come to you instead of them. As long as they know your store exists =P It's a nice place and very convenient to get to after all.

As a side note, will you have Wiis for sale on November 19th?
 
Thanks for the suggestions... keep them coming. I will most likely not have Wii systems on launch as they will be in plentiful supply at most other stores. Offering more than EB should be easy, but is it enough knowing that my selection won't be as good? As for the cash buying, as per the local bylaws I can't pay cash in the store, but I can buy from the forums, eBay, etc. which will probably happen soon after launch.
 
Don't know how much it will hurt your bottom line, but this one game store use to sell games at a certain price so it would come out to be $50 even with tax.

I hate going into a game store to buy a supposedly $50 game for $57-60 because of the tax.

or do what Home Depot or Orchard Supply do every year - they pay the sales tax. You could chip in the sales tax for games (not consoles cause that'd be rediculous)
 
offer 10% more then EB trade-ins.

Specialize, maybe? Focus on one company and only have the essentials for the others. Preferably the company with the most prosperous following. Have contests, go the extra mile for your customers, all that.

Just throwing a few things out there, feel free to ignore. :D
 
3 for 1s on certain titles,
increased trade values.

2 for 1s on rarer titles

1 for 1s on games you can't move for rarer ones.


Given how harsh the seccondary market is with EB, I see lots of room for improvement. While you might not be able to make a boat load off the start, you could do alot better than EB, and still come out even. The wii is suppose to bring a new market into gaming, and it would really be great to make them your clientelle.

Oh and imports if you can get away with it.

I personally paid $80 for phoenix wright from a local store, but don't regret it (althought I could get it much cheaper now....)
 
What about a contest? Every game traded in (for equal to EB amount, or slightly higher) gets you one entry into a draw to win Wii stuff (like fully paid pre-orders on Mario Galaxy/Smash Bros Brawl/Metroid, or Virtual console controllers & VC money cards)?
 
Well depends who your target market is. Are you aiming for people just in your neighborhood or a wider area. For example: if you want people to come from farther away (like surrey for example) the deal would have to be worthwhile for people to be motivated enough to travel to your store as opposed to visiting the local EB. Put yourself into a customers position, would you take the time to travel X amount of distance/time to get a Y amount greater value for your game trade in?

Are you offering cash or store credit? It's worthwhile having both while giving extra if the customer choses store credit (like 10% for example). This gives the customer another reason to trade in and hooks them into your store for future purchases. Try having a membership card (free) which gives people extras for buying/selling. Another hook.

Overall tho, u may wanna look at it from another perspective, other than just price. Having tournaments with prizes and such would increase traffic and get people more "attached" to ur store (if u can get some kind of a community going). People aren't always looking for the best price on trade ins (i know a lot of friends that just dump their games when their done with em regardless of price), you could always work on the atmosphere (catering to the gamer crowd) to get people into your store. Go visit other video game stores, what are they doing right? What (as a gamer) would you like that store to do for you (other than just buying/selling things)?
 
[quote name='GameDeals.ca']What about a contest? Every game traded in (for equal to EB amount, or slightly higher) gets you one entry into a draw to win Wii stuff (like fully paid pre-orders on Mario Galaxy/Smash Bros Brawl/Metroid, or Virtual console controllers & VC money cards)?[/quote]

It better be alot higher than eb, your selection is horrible compared to eb. And, yeah i have been to your store before.

P.S Two stores Mostly music and Game Stop both give out cash for trades...
PPS heres a third one: Ground ZERO
And you can HAGGLE at the three stores...
 
Game Stop in Surrey Central? My friends and I laughed at how they named it Game Stop XD Meh, that place has a few gamse I wanted but way overpriced.
 
gamer602 - My selection is "horrible"? While I agree that my small selection of new titles can't compare to the behemoth corporate monster that is EB, or even some of the other local game stores that seem to have bottomless pockets, my store specializes in old-school and our selection of old games is huge (as well as cheaper than our competitors). Part of the reason for this is the current console generation change... all of these stores are losing money on PS2/Xbox/GC games, and will continue to do so this fall (with the exception of a few hot titles). Part of my wanting to do a Wii promotion is to rectify this as Wii games (and to a lesser extent PS3/360) will retain their value longer and minimise the losses. Once the new consoles are out in full force, the selection of "current gen" stuff will increase as their value will have dropped enough to make it worthwhile. Buying a $58 (wholesale) game to sell for $60 (same as everyone else) is just bad business when you can't move thousands a day and they will de-value to $20 in a month or so.

P.S. While it's true that I can't pay cash for games in the store (stupid bylaws), I am willing to haggle and my prices are lower on what I do have in stock.

Back on topic though, what about a promotion similar to EB's "dollar a day" thing where the games are purchased at a good price, then can be traded in for full value less $1 for each day since the purchase. Effectively it becomes a $1/day rental without the hassle of rental paperwork/contracts/credit cards/etc.
 
Back on topic though, what about a promotion similar to EB's "dollar a day" thing where the games are purchased at a good price, then can be traded in for full value less $1 for each day since the purchase. Effectively it becomes a $1/day rental without the hassle of rental paperwork/contracts/credit cards/etc.

I like that idea

If I lived close enough, and you had a decent selection, I would use it.

It's smart
 
2 days until the Wii, and I wanted to let you guys know what promotion we've ended up with. Thanks for all of the advise, hopefully we'll see some of you this week.
 
Suggestion for you:

Don't get caught up in matching EB's promos. Just always give more credit than normal trade values and sell your used games cheaper than they do. The gap between what EB pays and then sells a game for is way too big. The thing is they make nothing or even lose money on a lot of new stuff, so they need to make big profits on the used stuff. It sounds like you haven't fallen into that trap.

The reason I said not to worry about matching their promos, is because some of their promos are a great deal for the customer and you may get burned. An Example: I never trade with EB 3 - 8 dollars for a game is ridiculous, however, I have done 2 trade ins with them this week because they are giving any wii launch title free when you trade in 3 games. Which is a great deal for me, because I did research found a few games they were overpaying for and picked them up really cheap.

If you did this, you will lose big because you will get 3 games that you might get $40 - $45 total for.

If a wii game sells for 59.99 new, you know EB will be selling it for 49.99 - 54.99 used and may only give 17-18 in trade. For the life of me I cant understand why more independent stores don't charge 39.99 for a used game and give $30 in trade. A nice 10 profit, people would trade in more games more often. This example is for a fairly new game, but you should use the same idea as the game goes down in value.
 
It won't be easy selling wii sports, when the console package already includes it ... Good luck with your business gamedeals, hopefully wii will help boost sales!
 
Hm... will you be running the $1 per day thing for a long time or just at launch? It'll be a great way to play some multiplayer games when my friends and I meet =) $3 rental basically (I'd be too lazy to return it the next day and would wait 'til the next school day when I go by your store >_>).
 
I don't plan to sell any copies of Wii Sports for a while, but I will down the road as people lose/break them and/or the system starts to be not bundled with it. In the meantime, I can buy it cheap and it will look nice on display.

The $1/day thing is permanent... I'm working on the signage today.
 
"Buying a $58 (wholesale) game to sell for $60 (same as everyone else) is just bad busines"

OMG is it like that for the other systems too? How does anyone make any money? How do people sell piles of new games on ebay for less then retail+pay the fees do it? Does a store really work selling just old stuff?
 
Man, I wish I lived in vancouver. I'd be all over your store. Edmonton has *shit* for used game stores - the only oldware stores like Nexwave are even more expensive than eBay, so I can't afford to shop there often.

Feedback wise - the $1 / day buyback thing is a great idea. I'd definitely take advantage of that. The only suggestion I'd have is to print off an unambiguously clear flyer that describes the deal so even a 99 year old grandmother can understand, and toss that in with every game you sell. People will actually read it then, and bring games to you instead of EB.
 
[quote name='greedyebayer']"Buying a $58 (wholesale) game to sell for $60 (same as everyone else) is just bad busines"

OMG is it like that for the other systems too? How does anyone make any money? How do people sell piles of new games on ebay for less then retail+pay the fees do it? Does a store really work selling just old stuff?[/quote]

yes.
 
[quote name='greedyebayer']"Buying a $58 (wholesale) game to sell for $60 (same as everyone else) is just bad busines"

OMG is it like that for the other systems too? How does anyone make any money? How do people sell piles of new games on ebay for less then retail+pay the fees do it? Does a store really work selling just old stuff?[/quote]

For the big chains, the profit margin is a bit better (by a few dollars) and they sell thousands of copies of the games along with other products, so for them it's worth it, just not for small independent stores. Most of the eBay games are "hot".

Also... we've got about 5-6 games left, looking for Red Steel & one of the driving games (Excite Truck or Monster Truck).
 
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