Best Buy Price Matches Gamestop Used Games

[The 1 2 P]

Yes friends, this is BIG news in the world of video games. Best Buy will start selling their new games at the same price as Gamestop's(and Game Crazy's) used games in an effort to steal some of Gamestop's monopolizing used game market share. So a used copy of say, UFC Unleashed for $49 at Gamestop will equal a new copy at Best Buy for the same price.

Now before everyone starts heading out to their local Best Buy, keep in mind that this program has just gotten started at a single store in Utah. This is the first test store to study the results in order to determine how fast they will expand the program. Hopefully it expands to more stores in time for the busy holiday season. Further more, I hope other retail stores take an interest in this as well. Of course, that will all depend on how successful the program is for Best Buy.

Finally, if you live in Utah and can get to the test store please tell us about your experience.

[heybtbm]

New releases for $54.99 (Gamestop's used price) is a good start. Combined with BB's excellent Reward Zone Gamers Club, I know where I'll be buying most of my new titles. With the constant stream of $10 RZ coupons, it even beats Amazon.

[unwinddesign]

This won't last long. They'll be bleeding money if this takes off. They're basically giving away the games in an attempt to increase market share. Losing it with the cost of the floor space.

Sure, they're Best Buy and they have money, but Circuit City was on top at one point...until they started doing dumb shit and branching off into business areas outside their core competencies.

Good for the consumer, obviously, but I don't see this expanding outside that store, and if it does, I don't see it benefiting Best Buy in any fashion in the long run.

It would be hilarious if Gamestop responded by dropping all their new release used games like Halo 3 ODST to $35. Best Buy would be bleeding money so badly trying to fulfill orders and Gamestop would still be making like a 40% gross profit margin.

[PapaStu]

Won't make me shop there more. I was in my local BB a few days ago. Their DS section looked worse (and smaller) than it did the day after Xmas the last 2 years. They had a horrible selection of Xbox 360 games and the only thing they had plenty of was PS3 games, games which i'm not buying (heck, i've yet to use my PS3 to play any release other than the Pain PSN title and i've got a dozen PS3 games). I'd rather go to GameStop and have a selection of games to choose from.

[Dangerboy]

This would work on games you want. The used return policy at GS is still better. Plus it's still cheaper with the discount card (though the rewards zone points balance that).

[Lostdwarf]

working at best buy, in the video game dept this is news to me, but i will look into it.

mike

[j_factor]

Pretty cool, but obviously a temporary thing, if it even gets expanded at all. It's obviously not sustainable.

Also, Best Buy's selection tends to be kind of poopy.

[Dangerboy]

Also an important factor that I didn't think of until just now:

Best Buy is chasing ghosts of Circuit City's past. CC had a discount card program that was essentially the "New" to GameStop's "Used". For $20 you got 10% off new games, rather than the $15 for 10% off used.

Look where that got Circuit City.

The biggest problem with Best Buy's strategy is two fold: you will have customer's argue over the Edge based discount used to price match ($54.99 vs $49.49) as well as the overhead on the games. 5 to 10 off of a new game is a LOT of lost profit.

Considering how fast all their "sales games" last (read: they don't), all I see is an even shittier selection at BB while all the eBay'ers ramp up the discounts and try to make the $10 profit online. (Which oddly enough, would be more lost sales for the game companies).

Without the "didn't like it" return policy GS has, other retailers / publishers have to think of something else.

[crom]

how in hell does this even work?

I understand price matching... you bring in a flyer from a competitor and say "look heres the price now you beat it"

used game prices vary from store to store, their never the same at each store...

how do I go into best buy and say "hey I saw a used copy of halo 3 at a gamestop for $5 beat it"

huh?

[Therealqtip]

I hope it works, I hate gamestop and their corruptness.

[heybtbm]

There's no hate like Best Buy hate. Keep fighting the good fight. Um, yeah.

[Ro-J]

So this seems to be good for game developers. If people buy their games new, instead of used, then they get a piece of the action. I wonder if publishers will be striking a deal with BB to allow them to keep a higher percent than normal of the profits.....seems like the best way to deal with the used game threat they keep whining about.

[j_factor]

So this seems to be good for game developers. If people buy their games new, instead of used, then they get a piece of the action. I wonder if publishers will be striking a deal with BB to allow them to keep a higher percent than normal of the profits.....seems like the best way to deal with the used game threat they keep whining about.

It doesn't work that way. If this takes away droves of customers who would otherwise have bought the games used at GS, GS will lower their prices. At which point Best Buy's matching would become completely untenable. In fact, even without much change in business, GS could easily nip them in the bud right off with a general price drop, and then bring their prices back up when Best Buy gives up on the program, which would happen quickly if every item in their videogame department was being sold at a loss.

[Lostdwarf]

had someone at work check this and apparently its in a test market and that happens to be in utah (go figure). so if you live in Utah check it out.

dwarf

[Bojay1997]

This won't last long. They'll be bleeding money if this takes off. They're basically giving away the games in an attempt to increase market share. Losing it with the cost of the floor space.

Sure, they're Best Buy and they have money, but Circuit City was on top at one point...until they started doing dumb shit and branching off into business areas outside their core competencies.

Good for the consumer, obviously, but I don't see this expanding outside that store, and if it does, I don't see it benefiting Best Buy in any fashion in the long run.

It would be hilarious if Gamestop responded by dropping all their new release used games like Halo 3 ODST to $35. Best Buy would be bleeding money so badly trying to fulfill orders and Gamestop would still be making like a 40% gross profit margin.

Just a point here. Best Buy enjoys a 30% margin on new game sales. They also sell lots of other items, so they don't depend on just game sales. So, selling at a discount of less than 10% is not a huge problem, especially when they are selling to people who would otherwise not buy from Best Buy. Heck, at most stores, if you haggle with the manager they can give you 10% off anyway. GameStop cannot afford to reduce their margin on used game sales since they don't have healthy new game sales to fall back on and with their massive expansion in the number of stores, they have incredible pressure to deliver increasing revenue every single quarter. As far as I'm concerned, this has the potential to be a win-win for Best Buy.

[The 1 2 P]

New releases for $54.99 (Gamestop's used price) is a good start. Combined with BB's excellent Reward Zone Gamers Club, I know where I'll be buying most of my new titles. With the constant stream of $10 RZ coupons, it even beats Amazon.

Although they are pretty much the same thing, Best Buy's Reward Zone program rewards you for ALL Best Buy purchases where the Gamers Club just rewards you for game purchases. But it still means that everytime you buy games at Best Buy you get points towards a RZ certificate and points towards a GC certificate. And like you said, just a few new game purchases will add up to a couple free certificates in no time.

[studvicious]

Let me be clear. Best Buy is so financially strong right now it's crazy. Also, like it has been mentioned before this is just a test program at ONE store. If they find that this is something that will bring value to the customer and also maintain a small profit for them, they will more than likely roll it out company wide. I'm sure that the game publishers realize that selling the games to Best Buy for a cheaper price than normal will make more sense than losing out on a sale ENTIRELY from a used game sale at Gamestop days after the game has been released.

[RPG_Fanatic]

I live in Utah and West Jordan (the test store) is just 10 minutes away so I'll go there and see if it's true today.

[Ro-J]

It doesn't work that way. If this takes away droves of customers who would otherwise have bought the games used at GS, GS will lower their prices. At which point Best Buy's matching would become completely untenable. In fact, even without much change in business, GS could easily nip them in the bud right off with a general price drop, and then bring their prices back up when Best Buy gives up on the program, which would happen quickly if every item in their videogame department was being sold at a loss.

I'm just thinking out loud but......It's been a long time (years) since I've traded in a game at GS, but from what I remember they offered very little for a trade-in. If they lower their prices then they will have to offer even less for a trade-in, so little maybe that the every day super casual gamer may begin to think to look elsewhere (Ebay? Amazon?) to sell their used games. Once they find an alternate, and potentially more lucrative, means of getting rid of old games then GS will lose their business forever, hurting them in the long run. I'm sure places like Amazon or Walmart, which are starting into the used game business, will consciously keep their trade-in prices a little bit higher than what GS lowers to.

[heybtbm]

Although they are pretty much the same thing, Best Buy's Reward Zone program rewards you for ALL Best Buy purchases where the Gamers Club just rewards you for game purchases. But it still means that everytime you buy games at Best Buy you get points towards a RZ certificate and points towards a GC certificate. And like you said, just a few new game purchases will add up to a couple free certificates in no time.

You have to be a RZ member to be a Gamers Club member. It's the same thing, same card, etc.