Simply Put
SimplyGames.com director Neil Muspratt discusses retail strategy and explains why price slashing by supermarkets is a problem
Founded in 1998 as an online-only videogame retailer, SimplyGames.com has grown to become a major independent player. Taking the helm in late 2006 Neil Muspratt, company director, set about re-establishing the site's authority by further improving its online reputation and focusing on converting site traffic in to paying customers. The site was redesigned earlier this year to aid in this goal by ensuring as clean and uncluttered an aesthetic as possible.
GamesIndustry.biz recently caught up with Neil to discuss the site's progress, 'intelligent retailing', how Modern Warfare 2 could herald the introduction of 'sensible Q4 release schedules' and the confusing effect that FIFA 10's launch day price-slashing could have on consumers.
When I took over the site my main aim was to try to re-establish the authority that SimplyGames.com had in its early days. The online arena is a fairly tough place to trade, it's tough because it's competitive, mostly when you're dealing with price but it's also an environment that has a number of very, very good operators. In addition to the big boys there are a lot of sites that do the job very well. I hope and I believe that we are now considered to be what I'd describe as the best of the rest of those operating just underneath the Goliaths.
[The aesthetic of the site] is something that we've invested a lot of money and a lot of time in. In the early part of this year we identified our site traffic conversion rate as a key part of our strategy and so we had the site re-designed with the key objective to ensure that our site was absolutely clear, clean and easy to navigate - and we use this as very deliberate differentiator from other sites selling games.
A lot of our traffic arrives from other sites such as price comparison sites or stock-finding sites, and when that traffic arrives we have a tiny chance to convert it in to a sale. In my mind clarity is key in keeping those customers and when they arrive we need their experience to be an easy one; we try not to make our customers think too much!
The price reduction of hardware is excellent news and so far it's certainly had a profound effect on our sales. I see this as being one of the key Christmases in the lifecycle of the consoles - especially Xbox and PlayStation as, arguably, Nintendo's installed user base is already further on than those guys, so the price reductions of hardware is excellent news for the industry.
With regards to software pricing it's early days as we're only just in to Q4 but do I see higher RRP prices in terms of software a sign of things to come? Yes I do. As a retailer I have some concerns though because I don't know that those higher trade prices will be properly reflected in the ultimate selling price. The stupidity with [the aggressive price slashing of] FIFA 10 is perhaps also a sign of things to come and shows that retailers still believe that this particular entertainment format is ripe for crazy discounting.
I don't think that there are many independents that do that on a massive scale. I think those quoted as saying that have really been making the point that it is quite ridiculous that they could go out to supermarket and buy this title far cheaper than they can from the official distributor.
There's absolutely nothing anybody can do to control that. Nobody can set prices as that's illegal, and no publisher is going to limit the planned day one numbers in order to control price. We just have to have to hope that the big players can recognise and respect the importance of what they do regarding price and also recognise that it is important that we send out fairly consistent messages to consumers.
Selling this title for GBP 25 or less when in a few weeks the year's biggest game [Modern Warfare 2] is coming out at double that price cannot, in anybody's mind, be seen to be a consistent message to consumers.