Monday 7 June 2010

Tesco re-defining the used-game market?

According to Thisismoney in the Daily Mail, Tesco is to offer customers second hand goods for the first time with shoppers able to sell their old computer games to the supermarket, which will then offer them for sale at a bargain price.


In what appears to be an attempt to attract customers from Game and HMV, Tesco will pay a good price ( i.e. better than the games competition) for pre-used games in good condition and resell at a discount to the new version price.

Given that any price above zero represents a gain for the owner of a 'redundant' game, and the games shops appear to offer little for second hand purchases, then Tesco simply has to offer £10-£20 for a game retailing new at £40, and apply a 50% markup to resell at a worthwhile discount to normal new prices. Offering much less will do more harm than good...

Applied to best-sellers only, this has to be a new business model for the games industry, and a no-brainer for Tesco.

Only issue in setting up a new renewal market-model will be copyright owners wanting to share the resale gains, as per moves in 're-selling' pre-owned books….

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