A gaming destination

Games The Shop is a specialist retailer related to electronic gaming. In a conversation, Amit Khemani, Director, of this retail chain highlighted their customer ‘engagement’ strategy to carve their niche in this emerging retail category.

Kindly throw more light on Games The Shop?

We began our operations in ‘09, and at that time, the computer-related gaming industry was still at a nascent stage, and the products in this category were mainly sold at book stores and music stores.

Our first outlet was opened at R-City Mall, Mumbai and the encouraging response made us expand our retail network to nine stores across the country.

We are a one-stop-shop for ‘gamers’ and offer software for various ‘platforms’ including PCs, PlayStation switch and Xbox, as well as consoles and accessories.

Who is your target audience?

Our customers are typically aged between 12 and 30 years, and have access to computers and allied gadgets. We reach our target audience via social media as well as via youth-centric events.

How do you differentiate yourself from peers?

We accept pre-orders for games that are global bestsellers, and ensure that our customers also get their favourite game on the day of the launch. In addition, we also ‘engage’ with our target audience via activities like midnight launches of games along with complementary merchandise with purchases at our outlets.

The Indian PC and console gaming industry has annual retail sales of Rs 500 crore, and our market share is nearly five per cent.

Are you looking to expand via franchising?

All our existing outlets are company owned, but we are considering the franchising model for growth. And, an entrepreneur would need a store of atleast 250 sq ft along with the ability to invest a minimum of Rs 40 lakh.

We plan to add 20 more stores to our network by the end of 2016.

Which is your bestseller?

Consoles like PlayStation roms and Xbox are en vogue. However, as the user base of PC-based games is still large in the country, there is strong demand for First Person Shooter (FPS) in the sports category.