Argos enters pre-owned games market
Retailer begins trial offering store vouchers in exchange for games
Catalogue retailer Argos has entered the pre-owned games market, offering its customers vouchers to spend in-store in exchange for their games.
The move is currently just a trial, with 27 of the chain's 735 stores taking part. Argos said today that there were no firm plans regarding the length of the trial or whether it would be rolled out to further stores.
Only a very select number of titles on Xbox 360, PS3, Wii and DS will be accepted for trade-in - a full list of the games it will take appears on the Argos website, along with the amount customers will be given for them.
£22 will currently be paid for Assassin's Creed II, £15 for Zelda: Spirit Tracks and £11 for GTAIV. Instead of cash, Argos is exchanging games for gift vouchers which can be spent on any of the products it sells and in any of its stores.
"Argos can confirm it is trialling a trade-in service for video games in a few stores in the North East region commencing in March 2010," an Argos spokesperson told GamesIndustry.biz.
"Customers participating in the trial will receive the trade-in value in Argos gift vouchers giving the customers the choice to purchase any of the 18,000-plus products we sell.
"We have no firm plans regarding the length of the trial and no future roll out decision will be taken until the trial is concluded."
Wal-Mart and Best Buy recently made the decision to stop trading pre-owned games following a trial of in-store kiosks.
However retailers such as Gamestop and GAME continue generate significant revenues from pre-owned sales. Second hand games proved a highlight of GAME's recent six month financials, pulling in £177.3 million in revenue between July and the year end, which accounted for over a quarter of sales.