Business Analysis: Gamestop

Back in 1984, GameStop was not initially a video game retailer. The original name was called Babbage Inc. from Dallas, Texas. With the rise of video games becoming a popular past time hobby for Americans, the company grew financially well. The name GameStop did not appear until 1996, where they expanded across the United States and even have a few stores in Buffalo, New York. However, due to the rise of competitors and advancements in technology, GameStop has steadily gone down from both a revenue perspective and customer retention.

GameStop primarily sells video games, video game consoles, and accessories that relate to a video game franchise. Although they primarily sell video games, GameStop has grown multiple locations throughout the United States. Even in Buffalo, New York they have eight locations scattered throughout the city. Due to this, they have a strong retail presence within both the city of Buffalo and in the United States as well. In the past, GameStop was the superior option of purchasing video games as they had a positive engagement with their customers along with selling video games that would be exclusive to their stores

The threat of substitution is high. With physical retailers like Walmart and Target to online retailers like Amazon are giving GameStop a run for their money. Video games are hard to differentiate so this forces GameStop to try and reinvent their services to compete against other retailers. The company should look at other retailers such as Best Buy and Amazon to see how they are retaining and attracting new customers to their platform. One of the few advantages that GameStop has is offering an exclusive limited edition of video game merchandise that can only be sold at their participating stores. However, limited editions are not enough for GameStop to depend upon as Amazon and Best Buy can offer their versions of limited editions as