GAME: Pre-owned generates a fifth of our sales

The GAME Group, which today reported record sales and profits for the fiscal year ending January 2009, has revealed that almost a fifth of its total sales came from the pre-owned market - a market which is increasingly contentious for developers and publishers.

The company hasn't traditionally revealed the exact split between new and pre-owned sales, but according to Lisa Morgan, CEO, it's a key factor in the company's business model.

"Pre-owned has been a key component of our consumer offering now for over 12 years, and it's a vital part of our business," she said. "It represents nearly 18 per cent of our total sales and this is growing as more and more customers see what great value it is.

"Given its importance we felt it was only appropriate to disclose more details in order to help everyone understand our business model better."

She also revealed that while the Group is cutting back on capital expenditure overall, it still plans to open an additional 70-80 new stores this year, as well as investing more in the online business.

Meanwhile she noted that the acquisition process with Gamestation was proceeding well, and delivering benefits to the company.

"Our integration is going really well and we're very pleased with the results so far. We exceeded our target for last year and delivered GBP 10 million of synergies. This year, we feel that we can deliver another GBP 6 million to give an annual run rate of around GBP 16 million."