Breaking Through the Retail Glass Wall

The typical method of keeping games in glass cases works like a charm when it comes to reducing theft, but stymies impulse buys — something the game industry is working to change as companies attempt to appeal to ever broader markets. The San Jose Mercury News has a reasonably interesting short piece on what companies are doing in an attempt to broaden their appeal, get games out from behind glass and locks, and encourage people outside the target 'gamer' audience to pick up games on a whim. Of course, there's the problem of dealing with retailers' wants and needs:

"If a customer has a hard time getting an item and putting it in a shopping cart, it's going to reduce sales of it," said Craig Johnson, president of Customer Growth Partners, a retail industry consulting and research firm.

That's what Hasbro and EA are trying to get around with the upcoming "N-Strike" game. Johnson said he expects retailers to make similar arrangements this holiday season with related products from other game and toy companies.

If it were up to game makers, such arrangements would be the rule. Ubisoft, for instance, makes a line of personal improvement and education games under its "Coach" brand that it would like to sell in related areas of retail stores, rather than in the games department.

But few analysts expect retailers to make wide-scale changes anytime soon. One reason is fear of theft. Games, particularly in the first four weeks after they are released, are frequently stolen, said Joel Alden, a principal at A.T. Kearney, a management and consulting firm.

I'm lazy and have Amazon Prime, so I can't remember the last time I was in a brick and mortar store to purchase things like books and games, but I have a hard time seeing big box retailers moving gaming inventory from glass boxes — though I suspect real concern is over big, popular titles that would be magnets for sticky fingers. Will gaming break through the glass window on a large scale anytime soon?

Link to the article:  http://www.playnoevil.com/serendipity/index.php?/archives/2191-Retail-Break-Out-for-Games-Pricing-and-Technical-Measures.html

It's a really good piece on how impulse buys are stifled because of the fact that you can't carry games in a shopping cart or the like.  I can see how that'd be a problem at a Gamestop, but at at too many stores, games are locked up, and impulse buying can almost never happen.

Thats ridiculous. In England we have empty cases on shelves. That means no theft, and customers can still put the 'game' in their basket

I've only seen Walmart do this. Most stores I see have either the empty box or have the game in a big plastic case that only the cashier can remove.

What... so you don't have empty cases on the shelves...

EXACTLY

The only store(s) I know that have games under glass would be major retail outlets such as Wal-Mart and Target. Gamestop doesn't do it.

I've only ever seen the glass case at Wal-Mart, and I don't buy my games from there.  I ususally buy form Best Buy, or Circuit City, and both paces leave games on the shelf, with hotter ones encased in antitheft things that trip the magnetic sensors at the doors.

Ya Iv' only seen the glass case at Wal-marts, everywhere else u can just put an empty box in your basket.

I don't think I've ever seen a game behind a glass case, ever.

They just seem to be empty cases on the shelf.

I always see that in my wal mart and target... sometimes they were broken before