Best Buy Gradually Shifts Focus to Video Game Retail

Whether you like the low-ball offers on your used games and the pushy sales pitches to join their loyalty program at a yearly fee, GameStop is usually the store you visit for your video game needs. Now media entertainment retailer Best Buy hopes to cut in on that action by swapping out their CD and DVD sections for video game platforms and used video games.

It is a sign of the times. CDs and DVDs are no longer in as much demand as they used to be. The iPod and MP3 players pretty much make CDs obsolete while Netflix, streaming online movies, and digital downloads are reducing the need for DVD shelf space. Video games, meanwhile, continue to bloom in comparison to its entertainment brethren as long as there are games that cannot be be downloaded due to storage space requirements. Best Buy already subtly swapped out some of its DVD and CD floorspace for Guitar Hero and Rock Band peripherals when those games were top sellers.

One advantage that Best Buy intends to have over GameStop with this shifting priorities to video games is that its stores will have more space to demonstrate motion based games like the PlayStation Move and highly anticipated launch of the Microsoft Kinect. I recall times of trying out the Nintendo Wii at the GameStops located in malls and whacking an innocent bystander with my arm flailing. Provided that the motion control becomes a trend instead of a technological fad, Best Buy is apt to quickly move plenty of Moves, Kinects, and Wiis through hands on demonstrations. And those game consoles will go great with the latest televisions and sound systems already sold at Best Buy stores.

Given the cynicism with selling used video games to GameStop for only pennies on the dollar and as long as the Internet makes it possible for people to sell their used goods online at their own prices, Best Buy will have some hurdles entering this side of the video game retail business. Perhaps the company will offer higher store credit or even a higher cash price that will not jangle in my pocket if I accept it.

Time will tell whether Best Buy will put a dent in the GameStop's hold on the video game retail business. But it is nice to see a corporate business like Best Buy work to adapt to the changing times and consumer demands to prevent going the way of the defunct Circuit City.

Source:

http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/company-news/best-buy-cut-cds-dvds-as-google-apple-prep-for-mus/19635476/

http://www.associatedcontent.com/video/710112/handson_xbox_360_kinect_preview.html?cat=19