As a former Gamestop employee of 3 years I can confirm this is pretty much how it is
[QUOTE=Diet Kane;51795089]As a former Gamestop employee of 3 years I can confirm this is pretty much how it is[/QUOTE]
Do they really not want to sell new games? I understand this was exaggerated but to what extent
[QUOTE=ShimTaco;51795681]Do they really not want to sell new games? I understand this was exaggerated but to what extent[/QUOTE]
There's a much larger profit margin from pre-owned sales. It's what makes the company money.
Normally everyone understood that and we tried to do what was the best deal for the customer, but towards the end of my time there goals were ramping up to insane degrees. The company tried to steer us towards what they called "the assumptive approach". This was a sales technique where you automatically assume for the customer that whatever they want, they want pre-owned. So if they're looking for a PS4 or Xbox One, you automatically start pitching the pre-owned stuff.
An example our district manager told us was if a customer asked for the price of a console or game, to immediately respond with the pre-owned price.
Also my favorite aspect of the "assumptive approach" (and one I really wish media would pick up on) was adapting it to disc warranties, or Game Play Guarantees (GPGs). GPGs were always important, but usually they paled in comparison to pre-orders and pro memberships, which are pretty easy to get if you know the benefits and can pitch them well. But as the company started to bleed money and desperately looked for any profit margin to push, they started pushing the FUCK out of GPGs. Our district manager instructed us to do what they called the "alaskan method", which was adding the GPG into a transaction without informing the customer until the end when you read them their full total before they hand you cash or swipe their card.
Yes, this was an actual thing our higher-ups instructed us to do.
By the way, the title is a reference to a pair of recent Kotaku articles about GameStop's practices:
[QUOTE]For a decade now, GameStop has subscribed to a company strategy that they call “Circle of Life.” The idea is that customers should buy games, trade them back into GameStop, and use the proceeds of those trades to buy more games. GameStop’s profit margin for used games is way higher than it is for new games, so it’s always been in the company’s best interest to push used products.
Last fall, however, the company ramped up their goals with a far more aggressive policy that assigns each employee (and each store) a Circle of Life score based on several quotas, including pre-owned sales. Because the pre-owned quota is based on a percentage of the employee’s total dollar transactions, this policy has punished GameStop staff for selling new games and systems.[/QUOTE]
[url]http://kotaku.com/new-gamestop-program-leads-employees-to-lie-to-customer-1791874332[/url]
[url]http://kotaku.com/we-are-all-scared-for-our-jobs-gamestop-employees-talk-1791963185[/url]
I managed to get out JUST before they introduced the Circle of Life metrics, but I still keep tabs on the company via the employee subreddit and talking to my old co-workers.
It's the biggest load of horseshit. I've read countless threads about associates who would have to keep their holiday hires off of the registers and essentially never fully train them because it would hurt their store's COL score.
Gamestop corporate is notorious for constantly shifting gears on what policy they want to implement. During the last few weeks of my tenure there they introduced the "10/20" guarantee, which was some bullshit where pro members were guaranteed to save 20% buying used when compared to new. They swept that under the rug as soon as they realized it wasn't working and sacked some 1,000 price changes on whatever poor soul had to open that Wednesday morning. Before this it was the "MyGamestop" bullshit, where they wanted employees to feel "empowered" by changing the names of their positions and telling them the only goal was to hit sales and profit plan. Of course, that went immediately out the window.
I remember years ago I thought it would be fun to work at a game store like GameStop or EBGames. Glad I went to Walmart overnight for my shitty first time job instead.
EBGames here in Australia doesn't really push Used Products, if anything they just do Sales 24/7, I mean I buy Used cause it's cheaper but when I buy New, they don't do anything behind my back that I don't know of.
Heck they don't even really make it cheaper to buy Used Games, I mean they are cheap but not "Get 20% off a Used Game" like Diet Kane said. The only thing kinda like that is how you can get more for your Trade In depending on what level you are.
I hope this shit gains more media attention. I stopped going to GameStop after I learned what they do to their employees. It feels shitty knowing that I'm actively hurting someone else's job situation just because I'm buying something that won't help the arbitrary corporate numbers. It's so bizarre to think that the store you're shopping at doesn't actually want your business even though you're just buying products that they sell. Why do they even carry new games if they don't want people buying them? This company's gone mad.
It's also led to a lot of GS employees being unpleasant or shady. There have been multiple occasions where I've been met with snarky attitudes when they realize I'm not going to take the bait on any offers, and I've had GS employees try to silently slip me used copies when I asked for new. Some people would call that inexcusable, but I honestly feel for the workers that have to put up with this awful company.
[QUOTE=Xonax;51797232]EBGames here in Australia doesn't really push Used Products, if anything they just do Sales 24/7, I mean I buy Used cause it's cheaper but when I buy New, they don't do anything behind my back that I don't know of.
Heck they don't even really make it cheaper to buy Used Games, I mean they are cheap but not "Get 20% off a Used Game" like Diet Kane said. The only thing kinda like that is how you can get more for your Trade In depending on what level you are.[/QUOTE]
The EBGames I used to go to would always recommend a used unit first but at least they understand that no means no so they don't push you into buying used and I'm guessing EB treats their workers better than GS so their jobs are not in jeopardy.
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