With combined revenue far exceeding that of the music and film industries, video games are one of the biggest and fastest expanding sectors in the global economy. At the same time, this business is far from being saturated, as seen by the experience of numerous companies. Marketplaces can yet be added as one more new project among many others. So, in this essay, we’ll go into great detail on how to build an online video game store similar to Steam, what you need for it, what considerations you should make, and how much development typically costs.
A video game retail store can be a fantastic start-up if you’re an enthusiastic player with a love for having your own business. Many target audiences, including children and adults, have a significant demand for video games and gaming consoles. Create a strong business plan, maintain a range of merchandise, and obtain all required licenses before you begin selling.
Create a Business Plan
Create a business plan for your online video game store. Find out how each local rival differs from the competition by conducting research on them. Look at the goods and services they provide and develop a list of those that aren’t currently available, including used video game sales, rentals, trading, buying and selling of old gaming systems, or other specialized goods and services.
Choose how you can differentiate yourself from competing establishments, such as by lowering the price of old equipment, providing currently unavailable goods or services, or luring clients in with a mini-arcade of classic games. If you want to take advantage of national advertising and marketing efforts as well as corporate backing and direction, look into franchising alternatives.
Choose a Platform and Niche
Choosing what and to whom you will sell is the first step in creating your own online video game store, just like with other e-commerce firms. This choice will depend on the gaming platform or the kind of device that customers will use to play games, in the case of a video game store. Large and portable consoles, laptops, smartphones, tablets, and browsers are a few examples of such platforms. Recently, VR gadgets have also become more and more popular, but this growth is happening gradually.
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Selecting games based on genre, such as shooter, arcade, role-playing, simulator, strategy, tactics, or MMOG, would be incorrect given that games may be downloaded from the market and installed straight onto the gaming console. There is just no motivation for players to search elsewhere for the game because it is more difficult, prolonged, and frequently more expensive there. As a result, you must find new ways to entice visitors to your website.
For instance, practically all mobile video game downloads come from the App Store and Google Play, whereas console game downloads come from the Playstation Store and Xbox Store. Only computer games have a tiny selection, but the Steam marketplace rules this industry with a share of roughly 70%. The rest of the market is divided between the stores of major distributors and developers (Electronic Arts, Ubisoft and others).
Besides choosing a gaming platform, you also need to decide:
- Will you sell digital and/or physical copies? Implementation of digital distributions is easier from a technical point of view, but more difficult from a marketing point of view: you need to somehow get people to buy games not in the store built into the game console, but on your online platform. And the solution with discounts is not applicable here (this will be discussed below in the text).
- If you sell physical copies, will it be new or used video games? The last option seems more tempting, since here you can make discounts by reducing your profits. However, this market is rapidly decreasing due to the fact that people are buying less and less games on physical media, preferring to download them directly to the console.
- Which country (region) are you targeting? This will affect the interface language, business registration and customer preferences. The latter is very important as players in different regions prefer different games and platforms. For example, in the US, both Playstation and Xbox are in demand, while shooters, arcades, sports simulations and MMOGs are popular. In Japan and other East Asian countries, most people play Playstation and love shooters, MMOGs and JRPGs. In Eastern Europe, people prefer computer games, in terms of games – MMOGs, shooters and old-school RPGs.
Get a Business License and Insurance
To find out what licenses you’ll need to launch your firm, visit the business website of your state government. Visit the city hall in your area, apply for a license, and then wait for it to arrive before starting a business. Purchase liability insurance to cover customers’ accidents sustained while visiting your store, as well as insurance to guard your inventory against damage and theft.
Acquire the Needed Items
If possible, consider locating your store in a mall or other busy shopping area. Select a place that will allow you to display all of your goods there. When starting off, think about leasing a space at a nearby flea market. If renting prices are too high, create an online store or a virtual store on an online auction platform.
To find discount wholesalers for purchasing popular new systems and games in large quantities, search online. If you know the game or system will sell, only purchase in quantity. Look for used games on regional classifieds websites like Craigslist. To find excellent bargains on used games and consoles, check out flea markets, thrift shops, garage sales, and online auction sites. Make sure to get a credit card machines, cash registers and other necessary office supplies.
Market your Video Game Store
Advertise in regional print and online media, including gaming websites and local newspapers and magazines. Hold a big opening for your shop and provide a mailing list sign-up form. To entice new customers to visit your store, often email customers about new inventory and specials and provide email coupons. Publish a website and start a fan page on social media.