Game plans aggressive Aussie rollout
Game to launch online retail, 25 new stores before the end of 2007; conducting a national recruitment drive for staff.
When UK retailer The Game Group bought Aussie chain Gameswizards in September last year, its first move was to rebadge all of the local stores to the Game retail brand. Company executives also promised an "aggressive rollout" of new stores in Australia. That expansion seems to be on the verge of occurring, with Game Australia managing director Robert Lukic saying the company now plans to open "in excess" of 25 new stores before the end of 2007.
Lukic said Game would be opening new stores in Western Australia, South Australia, and Queensland, as well as more locations in New South Wales and Victoria. The majority of existing Gameswizards stores have also now been transformed into Game-branded locations. There are currently 26 Game/Gameswizards stores in Australia.
"We plan to expand rapidly over the next three years. We'll open in excess of another 25 stores prior to Christmas this year. We'll really become a national retailer to support our current New South Wales, ACT, and Victorian stores. There will be a heavy lean towards the States where we don't have a lot of openings, particularly in Western Australia, South Australia, and Victoria," Lukic said. "Queensland is probably the toughest market for us to open stores this year because of property availability. Some new stores will be opening in Sydney as well--Chatswood is under construction, Bondi Junction also, and a few others in Sydney as well."
"Given that property is opportunity-led, quite often you don't get the opportunity to open stores at, let's say, three a month. We have some months coming up where we will open 10 stores at a time, and we'll have other months where we'll only have one or two stores opening."
As well as bricks and mortar stores, Game plans to launch a comprehensive online retail offering. The new Game online store in Australia will launch "in the next two months," Lukic said.
"It's [online retail] another opportunity for consumers to get access to a large selection of games, knowing it's backed up by a competent delivery system and competent stock levels so we can ensure timely deliveries," he said.
"We plan to build a robust Web site that incorporates an intelligent gift selector linked to customer sales data, so people can log in and use their membership information to allow them to have a customisable entry page. We'd also like to incorporate a pay-per-month downloadable game content service, and we're working on that currently. And we're working on how we would link some of our preowned offerings on our Web site."
Despite the plans for rapid expansion, Lukic says Game Australia still has some ways to go before matching the scope of its main competitor down under, EB Games. "EB is clearly the dominant retailer in the marketplace in terms of their geographic locations. And I think EB's leading market position will be here for some time. We certainly plan to deliver, on a location by location basis, the best possible consumer experience," he said.
With 25 new stores in the pipeline, Lukic said one of the major challenges for Game was to find new staff. Lukic said the company is on the lookout nationally for sales staff, store managers, and area managers. The company has set up a special e-mail address--careers@game.com.au--for enquiries.
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