Are you an inveterate gamer? Video games are a real passion and you are now planning to live it? Not as a professional player, nor as a specialized critic, but by launching your own video game store. If so, you are in the right place. In this guide you will find the main steps to take to launch a video game shop. From the market research to the search for financing and the development of the business plan, we detail for you all the necessary steps of the creation of a store dedicated to gaming.
Perform market research of a video game store
The first step in creating your video game store is to conduct a market research to assess the commercial potential of your intended location. To do this, you will need to start by gathering information about the video game industry in general and consumer practices in this area. This will allow you to fully understand the consumption habits, purchasing methods, and the issues facing the actors in the sector. In a second step, you will have to carry out a detailed analysis of the video game stores:
How have sales of these products evolved in recent years?
How are stores facing increased competition from the Internet (e-commerce sites, peer-to-peer sites) and publisher distribution platforms (battle.net, Steam)?
Who are the typical customers of the stores (age, socio-professional category, etc.)?
What are the key products (consoles, games, accessories, new vs. used)?
What is the average basket? What is the frequency of purchase?
Etc.
Finally, you will need to make a study of video game stores near the place where you want to implement. Which ones are doing best and why? Which are the most difficult and why? Examine the prices charged, the offer of sale, the ancillary services, the positioning. Be inspired by the practices that work and flee those that you think penalize the development of the activity.
The excellent health of the video game industry
The video game market continues to grow in our country. In 2018, one in two French people declared playing video games regularly. The practice affects more and more age groups even if the under-44s remain the most active: 80% of them are players.
Video game sales market: the big trends
Difficult then for video game stores to prevail in this context that gives pride to dematerialization and competition. More and more online video games are being played on more and more varied media. Heavyweights in video production and multimedia are launching their online video game buying platform just like Twitch. As a result, today there is a concentration of the market.
The competition being very strong, small independent traders already few in number should still are rare-fier. Large Micro-mania brands that also invest in the derivatives universe capture most of the market share (Les Echoes).
Alternatives exist however: the second-hand video game store, but this is a niche that also tends to be franchised as evidenced by the success of games, or the traditional independent video game store with a strong dominant advice and support that do not necessarily offer the giants of the sector.
Open a video game store: freelance or franchise?
When you have done your market research, you will be better able to choose between the two options available to you and will inevitably influence the concept and commercial positioning of your company: open a video game store or open franchise an independent video game store.
