Big-box retailers such as Wal-Mart gained market share against specialty retail GameStop over the holiday season due to highly-competitive pricing, Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey said in a research note Tuesday.
"We expect GameStop may have lost intended foot traffic this holiday to big-box retailers offering highly promotional pricing on numerous consumer products," he stated. "We think low price retailers like Wal-Mart, arguably the largest domestic videogame retailer, likely took market share this holiday."
What places like Wal-Mart do not offer, however, are used games, a business that makes up around half of GameStop's total gross profits. That could be GameStop's savior when the company reports its holiday period sales on Thursday.
"...We expect GameStop’s reported holiday sales performance will benefit from strength in their trade-in business, the relative strength of videogame products and recently reduced guidance from management," Hickey added.
This is just a no win situation for consumers either way. Both companies are about as reprehensible as you can get.
yeah but if Walmart did start a used business strategy, some % of their sales would revert to the developers & publishers.
Really? Cos that's not how they run it anywhere else.
Sort of like Hitler stealing from Stalin...?
The used business that the article mentions Wal-mart lacking is probably the only thing that makes it better for the industry.