Shopping experience thanks to electronic shelf labels
A unique customer experience at new danish gaming store
At the end of August 2020, Denmark's new gaming universe Games N 'Gadgets opened its doors to gamers and game-loving people in the center of Horsens city.
Games N 'Gadgets offers everything within gaming, gadgets and computer accessories. To create synergy between the online universe and the physical customer experience, the store has installed electronic shelf labels.
A massive increase in e-commerce in gaming and gaming accessories had a consequence for the well-known gaming chain GameStop in 2019, which had to make the decision to close all its 34 stores on the Danish market. It also meant that the local GameStop store in the heart of Horsens had to close.
Recently, the local owner of Kids Coolshop in Horsens, Søren Westenholtz Nielsen, chose to go against the flow of store closures when he saw the opportunity to offer customers an alternative to online shopping. He got the opportunity for new premises close to his existing store. Søren Westenholtz Nielsen seized this opportunity to be able to concentrate even more on this segment and be able to offer a larger product range. The idea was to create a link between online shopping and physical shopping in the form of a completely new gaming store.
Synergy between online mshopping and physical store
Together with Torben Schnoor, former Store Manager at GameStop in Horsens, Søren Westenholtz Nielsen, therefore launched the gaming store Games N 'Gadgets at the end of August 2020. The new store offers customers a special experience and advice when they choose to visit the physical store instead of, or as an addition to, their online purchases.
- We saw a unique opportunity to test the market and its location in relation to creating synergy between a physical presence and an online universe for gamers and gaming people. We want to offer a special experience for those customers who prefer to come down and visit us instead of shopping online, or simply as a supplement to their current shopping pattern, says Søren Westenholtz Nielsen.
Prices are linked to e-commerce
Games N 'Gadgets abound with games and accessories from the best vendors on the market with the very latest products for gamers and playful people. At the same time, you can also find lots of special board games and gadgets as well as popular characters from famous movies, series, games and much more.
With electronic price tags on all the items in the store, all prices are linked to online, where selected products, with particularly high demand and competition, are also linked directly to the competitive prices on Coolshop.com - a powerful e-commerce engine which Kids Coolshop also is a part of.
- It made great sense to add electronic price tags on all the items, as we had to start from scratch and build up the store. Therefore, we might as well do it right from the start. There is such a large link to online shopping in this world, so it is obvious to be able to link the two worlds together, Søren Westenholtz Nielsen explains.
Offers customers something different
According to the former Store Manager at GameStop, there is a big difference in how you do business at Games N' Gadgets compared to the more centrally controlled chain operation in the former GameStop store.
- At Games N' Gadgets, we have a 100% influence on the entire purchasing aspect concerning the range, and the items we order for the store. This means that we see a completely different ownership at the employees, as we are specialists in each of our areas. We believe in the products and that we can offer something different so that customers get a unique customer experience, says Torben Schnoor, Store Manager at Games N 'Gadgets and former Store Manager at GameStop in Horsens.
The electronic price tags must also contribute to offer a good experience for customers. For the customers, it gives the peace of mind that the prices are always updated, and if they have seen a price online, then it is also the price they will find in the store. For the store, it also makes it possible to react much faster to the ever-increasing competition, as you can quickly and easily update the prices across the entire store.
- Another advantage of the electronic price tags is that we do not have to put stickers on the goods. Some of our gadgets are collectibles, where the customer prefers that there is no price tag, as in some cases, for example, they never take a special figure out of the packaging, says Torben Schnoor.
Benefits
As Games N' Gadgets has the same owner as Kids Coolshop in Horsens, a solid setup is also included in the form of sales, warehousing, logistics, and online customer service through Kids Coolshop's purchasing and marketing collaboration with Coolshop.com. It also brings the best of both worlds in terms of both online and offline presence.
The existing setup also meant that Games N' Gadgets could benefit from the collaboration with Delfi Technologies, which has supplied the system with electronic price tags to Kids Coolshop. Delfi Technologies is a European supplier with more than 30 years of experience within barcode solutions for, among other things, retail, warehousing/logistics and the healthcare sector.
