Asda eyes pre-owned games invasion

Watch out GAME: Asda has revealed a dramatic new plan to capture significant market share in games, including a move into pre-owned sales.

The revelation came during Asda’s Music, Video and Games Conference 2009 last week, where the firm announced plans to extend shelf space, sell gift cards, and roll-out another 45 special game store concepts before the end of the year.

The move would mean Asda would become the first supermarket to accept trade-ins – challenging a market segment currently bossed by GAME, Gamestation, Blockbuster and HMV.

If we want to be a serious player in this market, pre-owned is definitely an area we have to watch,” Asda’s category director Fergal Gara told MCV.

It’s not top of our agenda, but we’re aware that pre-owned is a huge part of the business for the specialist, and not one we can ignore.”
Asda also announced it had secured some key staff from the recently disbanded Gamestation York office.

As previously revealed by MCV, former Gamestation product director Andrew Thompson has accepted a position as head of new business, while ex-senior product manager Jenny Leach has signed up as a senior buyer. Elsewhere, Neil Tomlinson has joined Asda’s merchandising planning team, having worked as head of supply chain at Gamestation.

Asda also committed to stocking Sony’s digital-only PSPgo later this year.