Gamestop “Overbooking” Pre-sales?
April 30th, 2008Via Kotaku comes the sad (perhaps already suspected) news that Gamestop will take your money to reserve a game, and not only will they not necessarily keep it reserved for you, but they actually are actively ENCOURAGING stores to break a calculated amount of pre-orders for “walk-in” customers:
“Your walk-in goals are calculated by multiplying your anticipated reservations by your historical Reservation Pick-up % on like titles. This amount is subtracted from your launch allocation to yield the amount of product that you can have set aside for walk-in customers. See below for the walk-in goals that have been set for your market. The number one district manager in each region in actual walk-in sales vs. goal will receive a $500 cash prize. The number one store in each region in walk-in sales vs. goal will be rewarded with a free copy of GTA IV regular edition for every associate on that store team.”
To give a specific example, if 75% of pre-orders for “like” titles (titles in the same genre?) are normally picked up, then 25% of those pre-allocated titles are free to sell to “walk-ins” in your store. Not only that, if you’re a district manager and you sell through the most of these in your region, you get a $500 bonus. And if you’re the number one store in each region, your whole store gets a free copy of the game (perhaps coming out of those silly pre-orders that may or may not have had an attempted pickup… Who really cares… It’s a free game!)
Essentially, it’s similar to what airlines do when they “overbook” flights knowing that most flights are going to have a certain number of no-shows. Except, at least in that case, if an airline does actually “bump” you, they’ll give you a free ticket to use later. As far as I can tell, there’s no such reparation for someone who might not get their game that they reserved (with money down) in good faith.
It’s funny… every time I’ve gone to a Gamestop I’m asked not only if I want to “reserve” a copy for the next 3000 games that are coming down the pipeline, but rather, if I want to “GUARANTEE” my copy. This is actually the same language I’ve heard in several Gamestops, so clearly that’s the way that corporate has been teaching its employees to sell these pre-orders. If you ask them specifically about the policy, they say that you have a full 72 hours to pick up your pre-order before they can sell it openly. Apparently, this isn’t actually true, and this “guarantee” is actually a lie.
Now, while the fact that this is Gamestop policy does frustrate me, I suppose I should point out that I’ve never had a problem with reserving a game there before. I’ve been able to pick up my own pre-orders there within the 72 hour window with no problems. With that said, since that’s what they’re saying is their policy for pre-orders, they should actually have the patience to stick with it for ALL pre-orders. If their actual policy is different, they should say so rather than continuing to lie about what a “reservation” means. If they, for some reason, fail to produce a copy of a game despite a pre-order “guarantee”, then they better have some sort of consolation for the fact that they failed to uphold their “guarantee”.
Posted in Business, Idiocy, Jeff, WTF |
April 30th, 2008 at 5:57 am
That sucks, but like everything else about Gamestop, you can avoid it by regularly patronizing a good store. I can’t imagine my store ever doing that to me.
April 30th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
the problem is that people choose to NOT avoid regularly patronizing the aforementioned shit store. Let alone, allowing monopoly and destroying competition.
Ahh…the laissez-faire free marketz. So idealistic. So romantic. So clean. So youthful.
April 30th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
Laesp-
While I don’t like the policy, I’ll admit that there is some sense to it. I just wish they would actually disclose that this was their policy rather than feed you bullshit about how pre-ordering “guarantees” you a copy, since it clearly doesn’t.
April 30th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
My friends,
Badgering the customers for pre-orders make good business sense.
Turning away customers, especially for high profile/high sellthrough games, is not good business sense.
These two seem to appear irrevocably complementary, that is, you hype up pre-orders AND turn away customers without them, or downplay the importance of pre-orders AND let customers the chance to do business as they simply enter the store.
But there is a third option. It is the option that Gamestop, as a rational entity with a cunning business sense, is choosing. That option is badgering the customer for pre-orders, AND when the big Day comes, give at least some priority to the walk-in customer, while simultaneously informing the pre-order customer that, unfortunately, regrettably, sadly, Take 2 failed to provide enough stock.
You know that some ISPs are overselling their bandwidth to customers, then blaming the customers for “flooding” the internet tubes and causing the doomsday “exaflood” which therefore justifies violating net neutrality?
Yeah, it’s something like that.
May 4th, 2008 at 1:31 am
“The manager who’s the best at guessing how to lie too and mess with customers gets a cash bonus!”
This is so backward. I. Hate. Gamestop.
I’d like to pre-order a copy of “Punch The Annoying Gamestop Employee in the Face!” Oh, and let me sell you this copy of “The Gamestop Business Model.” That game sucked.