Retail Games

[the boy wonder uk]

FUUCCKK!!!!

My store is grade 1 retail games and a top 5 in the compnay for games sales.

So yesterday the biggest game on the XB360 so far , Saints Row , comes out and how many do I get?

Fucking 7 copies.

Sold out at 11am yesterday.

I worked Friday night and Saturday open and personally have turned away 19 customers. The TNR for this was £950.

How hard is it for someone to pick up the phone ask SMs what games people are asking for and then place a bigger order for said games?

And none for rent? What the fuck is that all about.

Dead Rising out next week whats gonna happen then?

Another fucking joke on release day thats what!!

[Air]

You didn't get any in to rent? I'm not sure how many retail Saints Row we received, but we got a ton to rent (about 30 copies or so from what I've seen).

[coldie]

We scored 8 copies of Saints Row for rent (US store, 2000 actives).

[the boy wonder uk]

Sorry UK store and about £3000 per week on retail games.

[the boy wonder uk]

You didn't get any in to rent? I'm not sure how many retail Saints Row we received, but we got a ton to rent (about 30 copies or so from what I've seen).

You UK or US?

[zooworker]

You didn't get any in to rent? I'm not sure how many retail Saints Row we received, but we got a ton to rent (about 30 copies or so from what I've seen).We got 7 copies to rent last tuesday and have rented only one so far. Of course most of my customers don't have credit cards. but still haven't had pepole asking about it.

[SavageUK]

That's one of the fundamental things with all Blockbuster stores in the UK is that we don't decide what stock we get, except Ice Cream. There are some things I'd like to order in for rental, or things I know will sell really well, but we simply can't do that. Big shame.

[the boy wonder uk]

The only company I know where we dont use our biggest assets (staff) to judge what sells.

[SavageUK]

The only company I know where we dont use our biggest assets (staff) to judge what sells.
Aye, except with Ice Cream, and I have to admit that is one of my most enjoyed tasks at Blockbuster, making a decision on how much to order :o

[the boy wonder uk]

If I leave my store is gonna get a 300 case delivery just for kicks!!!!!

[c:nt]

I got nine and I'm a grade 3 store :p :p

No one got any into rent, although I note that two stores in the country suddenly had rental copies on Saturday from doing a search on the PC.

[the boy wonder uk]

I got nine and I'm a grade 3 store :p :p

No one got any into rent, although I note that two stores in the country suddenly had rental copies on Saturday from doing a search on the PC.

Dont fucking wind me up 9 copies you Bastard!!!!:D

Shit total lost sales now 29 gross rev of £1450 that I have turned away.

[Aphrodite]

That's one of the fundamental things with all Blockbuster stores in the UK is that we don't decide what stock we get, except Ice Cream. There are some things I'd like to order in for rental, or things I know will sell really well, but we simply can't do that. Big shame.

We used to be able to order soft drinks too. That was much better, since we actually HAD some back then :rolleyes:

[SavageUK]

We used to be able to order soft drinks too. That was much better, since we actually HAD some back then :rolleyes:
I wish we could order stock for consoles, but I think the company is oblieged to focus on PSP. We've had SOOOOO many people ask us if we have any DSes, but we don't have any, and NEVER had had any.

[MissHailstorm]

FUUCCKK!!!!

My store is grade 1 retail games and a top 5 in the compnay for games sales.

So yesterday the biggest game on the XB360 so far , Saints Row , comes out and how many do I get?

Fucking 7 copies.

Sold out at 11am yesterday.

I worked Friday night and Saturday open and personally have turned away 19 customers. The TNR for this was £950.

How hard is it for someone to pick up the phone ask SMs what games people are asking for and then place a bigger order for said games?

And none for rent? What the fuck is that all about.

Dead Rising out next week whats gonna happen then?

Another fucking joke on release day thats what!!
Fucked us, too. Delivery came in about 11:30. We got 3 copies to buy and none to rent, and we were sold out by 1ish.

We were meant to get 11 to rent. Any word on why not, or if they'll show up?


I got nine and I'm a grade 3 store :p :p

No one got any into rent, although I note that two stores in the country suddenly had rental copies on Saturday from doing a search on the PC.

So someone said, "fuck this shit" and transferred what little retail they had? Have to say "idiots", in this case. They'd have sold and made a lot more a lot quicker.

[the boy wonder uk]

We were meant to get 11 to rent. Any word on why not, or if they'll show up?.

Hopefully this week. Along with Dead Rising or I will fucking scream!!!!!!

[MissHailstorm]

Hopefully this week. Along with Dead Rising or I will fucking scream!!!!!!

I'm getting used to the shoddy treatment of games. Someone told me it wasn't this way before GameStation, but I only ever remember being it poor... :(

[the boy wonder uk]

No as it stands now GS order for both companies, then take whatever allocation they want , then filter the rest down to us. roll on Jan when we get rid of them. We will appoint a head of games software and we will get some decent copy depth again.

[MissHailstorm]

Just so long as we won't be offering the promise on the games again! :eek:

[the boy wonder uk]

Just so long as we won't be offering the promise on the games again! :eek:

Please God noooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[SavageUK]

No as it stands now GS order for both companies, then take whatever allocation they want , then filter the rest down to us. roll on Jan when we get rid of them. We will appoint a head of games software and we will get some decent copy depth again.
Are we definitely losing them in January? I like them because I can get 25% discount on all new, 30% on all trade (so long as they have more than one copy :mad:, that's the only bit that pisses me off). Certainly better than the 20% we get at Blockbuster.

[the boy wonder uk]

Yes but at least we can start selling games like a retailer again.

[Beer_Monkey]

BB was poor for games before GS.

When I first started about 7 years ago they were OK, it was around the launch of the XBOX came out it went downhill

[MissHailstorm]

BB was poor for games before GS.

When I first started about 7 years ago they were OK, it was around the launch of the XBOX came out it went downhill

That's what I thought.:confused:

I remember a bunch of SMs standing around talking about games through rose-tinted glasses, how, before GameStation, they apparently arrived before their release date.

Well, that's bollocks, from whenever I started BBV, they always arrived Thursday and Friday. Thursday if you were lucky. And the copy-depth was always shite, though we were usually guaranteed to get at least 20-odd copies of Fifa, or the latest GTA. But that was also back when the PS2 heavily dominated the market.

Doesn't seem to me BBV ever much cared about games, but the new MD seems to, so I have faith. :)

[Beer_Monkey]

If memory serves me you would get the bigger games a few days before release but smaller titles would come in on the friday

[the boy wonder uk]

But at least we would get them!!!

Fifa 07 is the first title BB is buying for itself so we shall see.

[c:nt]

Fifa is exclusive the the XBOX - as is Pro Evo.

One up for Microsoft, as if the fact the PS3 is not due out in Europe until March'07. Another clear XMAS for the 360box!!


Anyway, dont think any BB store is stocking Dead Rising for the XBOX360!!

[the boy wonder uk]

Better be man just fucking better be!!!!!!!!111

[the boy wonder uk]

Just called my store.

NO DEAD RISING IN STOCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Aphrodite]

Looks like youre going to have to treat yourself :p


congratulations btw :D

[the boy wonder uk]

on??????????????????

[MissHailstorm]

Hey, it may still turn up tomorrow. It may not. Whatever. :p

[the boy wonder uk]

dont get me started Miss H.

[Aphrodite]

on??????????????????


Your paternity leave :cool:

[SavageUK]

Just called my store.

NO DEAD RISING IN STOCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you read your Retail Games Chart email :rolleyes: you would see that there is no mention of Dead Rising. At least, from a glance over it I couldn't see it (I don't read it either, considering the only game we got this week was one retail copy of lego star wars 2, and one copy for rental). If they don't mention it I think it means we not going to get it in a hurry. Still, I just picked up one from Gamestation this morning. Apparently they were authorised to sell it yesterday... news to me at least.

[the boy wonder uk]

Your paternity leave :cool:

check out ranting and raving for a great new thread Aph!!!!!!!!!:D

[MissHailstorm]

So that's 'Saint's Row', 'Dead Rising' and now 'Just Cause' to add to the games we never received for rental. And add 'Tiger Woods 07' to the list of games not received for retail.

May I just ask...

WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON? :mad:

[Adornedatom]

Is anyone else finding that all this crap is also having a negative impact on their displays too? I do the game walls every Friday morning, and it wasn't more than a few months ago that I could get this wall looking pretty damn good. Now though the company seems to be cutting back on the number of dummy sleeves they've sent out. By the time I've made up the cases to use in the games charts I generally don't have enough sleeves left for a single shelf on the "New Release" bay, whereas I generally like to use up 2 shelves on the biggest selling/most highly anticipated games. Once upon a time it was the first 2 shelves split halfway for Xbox and PS2, until we stopped stocking most xbox games and it became 2 shelves for the PS2 release. Now it's half a shelf for the newest release game followed by 7 and half shelves of randomly selected games that I have enough dummy sleeves/available copies of. Of course I have an abundance of dummy sleeves for some huge new releases such as Dead Rising, NHL, ect... but I absolutely refuse to make a big display for games we wont even be stocking for another 6 months since you can't encourage sales of stock you don't have in. My damn bay is starting to look pants!!!:mad:

I generally like to use the dummy boxes since I hate to see the gaps appearing, but with some games (for instance the new Broken Sword game) they absolutely deserve a better display than being stuffed in the corner with our other CDrom games, even though I know this means I'll be reshuffling the wall a few days later when we sell a few copies. BBI of course don't care since their email instructs me every week to fill the bay out with the 'biggest new release' Disney Pixar's Cars!!! Does it make me a bad employee that I completely ignore this part of the email every single week?

[MissHailstorm]

Is anyone else finding that all this crap is also having a negative impact on their displays too? I do the game walls every Friday morning, and it wasn't more than a few months ago that I could get this wall looking pretty damn good. Now though the company seems to be cutting back on the number of dummy sleeves they've sent out. By the time I've made up the cases to use in the games charts I generally don't have enough sleeves left for a single shelf on the "New Release" bay, whereas I generally like to use up 2 shelves on the biggest selling/most highly anticipated games. Once upon a time it was the first 2 shelves split halfway for Xbox and PS2, until we stopped stocking most xbox games and it became 2 shelves for the PS2 release. Now it's half a shelf for the newest release game followed by 7 and half shelves of randomly selected games that I have enough dummy sleeves/available copies of. Of course I have an abundance of dummy sleeves for some huge new releases such as Dead Rising, NHL, ect... but I absolutely refuse to make a big display for games we wont even be stocking for another 6 months since you can't encourage sales of stock you don't have in. My damn bay is starting to look pants!!!:mad:

I generally like to use the dummy boxes since I hate to see the gaps appearing, but with some games (for instance the new Broken Sword game) they absolutely deserve a better display than being stuffed in the corner with our other CDrom games, even though I know this means I'll be reshuffling the wall a few days later when we sell a few copies. BBI of course don't care since their email instructs me every week to fill the bay out with the 'biggest new release' Disney Pixar's Cars!!! Does it make me a bad employee that I completely ignore this part of the email every single week?

Oh yes, every single retail games chart looks shite, with the possible exception of PSP, since we hardly sell any of those.

We've hardly got anything in stock that's meant to be in the chart, which means we have to keep putting crap like 'Spyhunter' and that golf game in. For weeks, I blamed it on the lack of releases, but since we now know several games that have been released that we didn't get, that excuse is wearing thin.

We also have a coming soon end cap for games. For all three of the aforementioned games, they sat on the end cap for a number of weeks, until the release date, where they disappeared forever. I almost accepted a pre-order for 'Just Cause' a couple of weeks ago. I'm glad I didn't now. It's also in the magazine.

I went through the e-mails, and couldn't see anything about the fact we didn't receive any. I don't know if we're going to get it at all, which is a problem when customers ask about it, I can't even say we'll get it this week, or not. We're losing shitloads on this.

I didn't even mention Tiger Woods before. 1 to rent on the PS2, and zero to buy. It's a fucking joke, and I'm getting tired of the same old shit, "Due to a supplier issue" , fuck blah bollocks.

I'm also getting sick and tired of making spaces for games in the rental chart, and then the fuckers don't turn up, meaning you have to back track. First and foremost... send us the fucking games! But if that's no possible, for the love of God, warn us! :mad:

[c:nt]

I heard that the new MD has bought in a games buyer just for Blockbuster, brought in from Xtra-vision.


Hopefully thats true!! This new MD is very much into retail, aparantly thinks its pathetic how express stores only get 3 copies of a new relesase to buy - which is true. I have an endcap full of not in stock titles by Tuesday. I would make more profit filling it with popcorn ffs.

[Adornedatom]

I listened to the district voicemail last night and the DM actually mentioned the lack of this weeks games being down to the swap over from Gamestation to whoever the hell our new supplier is. I'm kind of skeptical, but time will tell how many of these issues will be rectified within the next few weeks.

[c:nt]

I think the new company is Technicolor

[MissHailstorm]

I heard that the new MD has bought in a games buyer just for Blockbuster, brought in from Xtra-vision.


Hopefully thats true!! This new MD is very much into retail, aparantly thinks its pathetic how express stores only get 3 copies of a new relesase to buy - which is true. I have an endcap full of not in stock titles by Tuesday. I would make more profit filling it with popcorn ffs.

Well, it couldn't get any worse! :eek:

I like the sound of the new MD, actually. He does seem interested in games, which is good news for us, as we go shitloads of them. We're also very high on retail. If a Virgin/HMV opened in our town, we'd get absolutely boned. :( So thanks God, they haven't! :D

[c:nt]

Snap!


I hate the way they just label you 'Grade 3' and thats it.
There is a mint to be made in my town, Woolworths have a good dvd section, but no games section to speak of, even if they do trade-in now.

We have filtered this through many a time, but we are just told that we have to stick to the grade we have got. I have people begging for games, DS games etc etc, it just seems stupid I cant supply.

Took them long enough to get 360 into the store, I keep selling out of games and accessories on the Friday. Seems stupid when there is at least £15 profit on 360 games at the momment.

[MissHailstorm]

Snap!


I hate the way they just label you 'Grade 3' and thats it.
There is a mint to be made in my town, Woolworths have a good dvd section, but no games section to speak of, even if they do trade-in now.

We have filtered this through many a time, but we are just told that we have to stick to the grade we have got. I have people begging for games, DS games etc etc, it just seems stupid I cant supply.

Took them long enough to get 360 into the store, I keep selling out of games and accessories on the Friday. Seems stupid when there is at least £15 profit on 360 games at the momment.

Don't feel bad. We're Grade 2, and we don't get anything either.

I was chatting to the DM the other day, and apparently grading actually "means very little". Oh, okay then... :rolleyes:

I was saying back when we actually got 6-8 copies, that it wasn't enough. Now we're getting 0, I'm quite concern that it's not enough!!!!

[the boy wonder uk]

I think the new company is Technicolor

Nah whats happeningn is BB is now buying its own games again and not Gamestation so the scaleout should improve.

Fifa is the 1st title for this.

[MissHailstorm]

Nah whats happeningn is BB is now buying its own games again and not Gamestation so the scaleout should improve.

Fifa is the 1st title for this.

But they have been shit at this in the past. Or was it just another "supplier issue" I'm thinking of? ;)

[the boy wonder uk]

It has been said that we are to start having a SM focus group with the buying dept. over retial games.

Now that would sort it all out straight away.

[SavageUK]

We've got one copy of Tiger Wood 07, and that is on the retail wall. After hearing what you've said Hailey I'm thinking maybe this has been received wrong and it should have been for rental - I'll have to check some time, unless it gets sold before then.

The scaleout at the moment is terrible, and we are certainly losing a lot of money. Many people in my town never expect us to get any of this stuff in, as they know we won't :o. Despite this, we had two requests for "Just Cause" this evening (obv no copies for rental or retail), so yeah.... Blockbuster + Video Games = Joke (just for the moment, I hope).

My SM is going to talk to the DM soon so that we can change grade and get some 360 games in. Our competitor in town does 360 games so we need to compete.

[OzMan]

It has been said that we are to start having a SM focus group with the buying dept. over retial games.

Now that would sort it all out straight away.

But that would entail someone actually LISTENING to what the focus group had to say.

What are the odds of that??

[MissHailstorm]

We've got one copy of Tiger Wood 07, and that is on the retail wall. After hearing what you've said Hailey I'm thinking maybe this has been received wrong and it should have been for rental - I'll have to check some time, unless it gets sold before then.

The scaleout at the moment is terrible, and we are certainly losing a lot of money. Many people in my town never expect us to get any of this stuff in, as they know we won't :o. Despite this, we had two requests for "Just Cause" this evening (obv no copies for rental or retail), so yeah.... Blockbuster + Video Games = Joke (just for the moment, I hope).

My SM is going to talk to the DM soon so that we can change grade and get some 360 games in. Our competitor in town does 360 games so we need to compete.

I dunno, sometimes it's random, so it wouldn't surprise me if yours is retail. But I doubt you'll still have it by tomorrow. The the new Ace Combat game, we got 8 rental, and 3 retail. :confused: It wasn't exactly a big release. Hardly any of them rented! :rolleyes:

[zooworker]

Just curious, Question for US regular company stores.
Has your retail game section supply dried up. We are down to about 8 games for Xbox, and 9 for ps2. We are no longer getting refill on these, is this happening to you?

[OzMan]

Just curious, Question for US regular company stores.
Has your retail game section supply dried up. We are down to about 8 games for Xbox, and 9 for ps2. We are no longer getting refill on these, is this happening to you?

I haven't noticed a good selection of games at ANY video store (corp or indy) in quite some time.

[zooworker]

I haven't noticed a good selection of games at ANY video store (corp or indy) in quite some time.
Mostly what we would get were greatest hits at low prices, and they sold well. I guess money is getting even tighter.

[Woodstock]

Just curious, Question for US regular company stores.
Has your retail game section supply dried up. We are down to about 8 games for Xbox, and 9 for ps2. We are no longer getting refill on these, is this happening to you?

My store was told to transfer them to another store, and what we didn't transfer out - we had to transfer to rental. Needless to say, we don't have any brand new ones to sell. But that is okay, they were just collecting dust.

[coldie]

Just curious, Question for US regular company stores.
Has your retail game section supply dried up. We are down to about 8 games for Xbox, and 9 for ps2. We are no longer getting refill on these, is this happening to you?

Yeah, that's our case also, we're down to less than 17 retail games, mostly for Xbox and a couple for PS2, maybe 2 for Gcube. People keep buying the PPG instead, and I don't blame them.

[DAntiheroJ]

The only time we ever move any new games is when it gets marked down so low that a parent is willing to spend it just to shut their kid up. prices are too high on new stuff, which i guess makes the previously played look even better.

[MissHailstorm]

Yet another to add to the collection: 'Kingdom Hearts 2'.

And since it's a 'V' code on the system, we know Blockies had absolutely no intention of buying it in to rent, at least. What about retail? Anyone get it? Our town is full of geeks, they've been asking about this for weeks. Seriously, almost every Friday, we've had people phoning up, asking if it's out (it wasn't helped by it being put back). I've had people asking about it before the Summer too, when it wasn't even listed on the system, wanting to know when it was out. I also assured all those customers that there was "no way we wouldn't be stocking such a big release".

I'm getting sick of being made to look like a cunt!

In other news, 'Just Cause' showed up. Too bad I already told every customer that asked that we probably weren't gonna get it, seeing as though the recent trend had been towards not receiving a number of big releases, and since we didn't have it on release day, we weren't gonna get it. Yet again, another situation that could've been avoided if they'd FUCKING TOLD US! :mad:

[Lomithrandel]

If the system for this is any way remotely similar to ours in Canada, the date in the computer for games is the shipping date, not the release date. So depending on what day of the week your shipments come in, or how reliable your couriers are, you may not get it till the week or 2 weeks after.

[MissHailstorm]

If the system for this is any way remotely similar to ours in Canada, the date in the computer for games is the shipping date, not the release date. So depending on what day of the week your shipments come in, or how reliable your couriers are, you may not get it till the week or 2 weeks after.

It may turn up for retail, but judging by current form, probably not. But then 'Just Cause' did, so you never know. But 99 times out of 100, if it hasn't arrived on before the release date, it isn't coming, unless we're told of the delay. Either way, every single one of those customers who were phoning and asking have probably already bought it elsewhere.

We definitely aren't getting it for rent. In the UK, 'V' rental code means we cannot rent it out.

[SavageUK]

It may turn up for retail, but judging by current form, probably not. But then 'Just Cause' did, so you never know. But 99 times out of 100, if it hasn't arrived on before the release date, it isn't coming, unless we're told of the delay. Either way, every single one of those customers who were phoning and asking have probably already bought it elsewhere.

We definitely aren't getting it for rent. In the UK, 'V' rental code means we cannot rent it out.
I heard that maybe, within the near future (ie. 6 months) we will be able to order things ourself, so we have a choice as to whether we get many, or no copies, of things like Kingdom Hearts 2 (games that naturally don't have a big release, such as Fifa 07)

[Adornedatom]

It may turn up for retail, but judging by current form, probably not. But then 'Just Cause' did, so you never know. But 99 times out of 100, if it hasn't arrived on before the release date, it isn't coming, unless we're told of the delay. Either way, every single one of those customers who were phoning and asking have probably already bought it elsewhere.

We definitely aren't getting it for rent. In the UK, 'V' rental code means we cannot rent it out.
I was shocked when the manager told me Kingdom Hearts 2 was supposed to have been out yesterday. You've got to wonder whether it was the combination of Square and Disney characters, or the fact that the original was one of the most popular family games (scratch that, the most popular family game) on the PS2 that make it seem like such a poor prospect.

[c:nt]

I heard that maybe, within the near future (ie. 6 months) we will be able to order things ourself, so we have a choice as to whether we get many, or no copies, of things like Kingdom Hearts 2 (games that naturally don't have a big release, such as Fifa 07)

I had that last week for rental movies.

Got asked which of the pre-christmas releases (Da Vinci, Superman, etc etc) would do well in my store, and which ones I wanted extra copies of.

Thought that was a good idea.

[the boy wonder uk]

c:unt you an SM yes?

Has your DM fedback to you from the meeting with Martin Higgins yet?

[SavageUK]

I had that last week for rental movies.

Got asked which of the pre-christmas releases (Da Vinci, Superman, etc etc) would do well in my store, and which ones I wanted extra copies of.

Thought that was a good idea.
That's right, my SM just recently had his say in what he wanted "more" of, especially our retail games and the number of Wii's we'll hopefully be getting for release. And yep, same with DVD rentals, but I can't remember what our SM wanted more of.

[the boy wonder uk]

That's right, my SM just recently had his say in what he wanted "more" of, especially our retail games and the number of Wii's we'll hopefully be getting for release. And yep, same with DVD rentals, but I can't remember what our SM wanted more of.

LMFAO Wii's?

2000 for the company i reackon

[SavageUK]

LMFAO Wii's?

2000 for the company i reackon
Well the figure that we requested was roughly (as I can't remember specifically) eight.

[c:nt]

c:unt you an SM yes?

Has your DM fedback to you from the meeting with Martin Higgins yet?
Err, well no. My DM has gone 'walkies'.


We have been assigned a temporary DM from D40. Ours is 'missing' and his mobile is 'diverted'. :eek:

[OzMan]

I had that last week for rental movies.

Got asked which of the pre-christmas releases (Da Vinci, Superman, etc etc) would do well in my store, and which ones I wanted extra copies of.

Thought that was a good idea.

Yeah, but actually LISTENING to what you said would be even better.

You'll have to let us know if they actually follow thru.

Err, well no. My DM has gone 'walkies'.


Been a lot of that going on, from what I have heard.

[the boy wonder uk]

Err, well no. My DM has gone 'walkies'.


We have been assigned a temporary DM from D40. Ours is 'missing' and his mobile is 'diverted'. :eek:

I am your new boss

NOW WORK YOU LAZY BASTARD

[Adornedatom]

So did anyone else have as much fun transferring the retail Xbox to PRP as I did today? Wouldn't have been so bad except I had no prior knowledge of this, I just sort of arrived at work and opened an email that said "Oh by the way, you're getting rid of the retail Xbox today. Have fun." Of course I had to fill up the space, which I did by extending the PS2 another 2 bays. Looked pretty good too, except the manager wanted 1 of those bays for our over priced board games so it all got done again anyway.:o

Wasn't too bad though, I used the extra PS2 Bay for all the budget PS2 games (£9.99 or less) so now all the little old ladies looking for cheap Christmas presents don't have to hunt through all the latest releases in order to find them. Whose bright idea was it to do the same thing on Xbox360 (budget titles anything under £29.99) though??? Little old ladies looking for cheap prezzies don't tend to pay £25 for a computer game now do they? It just makes the 360 section look like we can't alphabetize anything. If the manager doesn't get to change it back to normal tonight then I'll do it tomorrow because, email or no email, it looks naff.

Ah well, store looks a lot better now because PS2 isn't so cluttered and our PRP games (our main source of gaming revenue) has been fleshed out a little more. Still glad the day is over though.:eek:

[Budice100]

yeah i had fun today!!!!, transfered 250 xbox games twice (retail to rental, then back again) what fun. on top of a 9 page price change!, plus the normal stuff on a friday, plus email say the insert for the games released today wouldnt arrive until next week!.

whats the betting we dont have a los on monday again like this week, these sort of jobs should be sorted better through the week to allow better action. oh yeah have you printer off your del balance report for the starlight yet!!!!!! 195 pages to go through on top of the call list fun fun fun


enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!

[SavageUK]

Hmmm, I was only in for the evening and our xbox rental section was still there. Someone hadn't noticed a PF4 message about new emails so I printed them but it was just one telling me that Wilderness should be put into the A-Z section as it wasn't renting from Halloween. I assumed if someone else had already printed the email (btw, I didn't read all the previous emails so someone MAY have printed it) it would have been actioned... I'm in tomorrow so we'll see.

[Adornedatom]

Hmmm, I was only in for the evening and our xbox rental section was still there. Someone hadn't noticed a PF4 message about new emails so I printed them but it was just one telling me that Wilderness should be put into the A-Z section as it wasn't renting from Halloween. I assumed if someone else had already printed the email (btw, I didn't read all the previous emails so someone MAY have printed it) it would have been actioned... I'm in tomorrow so we'll see.

Your an express store right? That's probably why. The email did include a list of around 10-15 titles that we were to keep, but they had to be moved to wherever you could squeeze them in at the bottom of Xbox360 retail. If that's how many games you have then you'll be allright, but if it's more then I hope you're not going to be understaffed tomorrow.

[SavageUK]

Your an express store right? That's probably why. The email did include a list of around 10-15 titles that we were to keep, but they had to be moved to wherever you could squeeze them in at the bottom of Xbox360 retail. If that's how many games you have then you'll be allright, but if it's more then I hope you're not going to be understaffed tomorrow.
We were understaffed today :) - but I was in with my SM so it was okay. They said the transferring of Xbox to PV at this stage was a misunderstanding by many, and that only a few new titles were to be transferred... I can't imagine we'd have those few titles you just said (that list of 10-15) as our selection is very small. My SM said we hadn't PVed any.

[Adornedatom]

We were understaffed today :) - but I was in with my SM so it was okay. They said the transferring of Xbox to PV at this stage was a misunderstanding by many, and that only a few new titles were to be transferred... I can't imagine we'd have those few titles you just said (that list of 10-15) as our selection is very small. My SM said we hadn't PVed any.
The 10-15 was only the very latest stuff (Scarface, Fifa 07 ect...) Plus whatever was left of the top 5 (Star Wars Battlefront 2 and the like) that stores would have had limited stock of anyway. The email from operations was very specific about everything not on the list being PRP'd and the rest of the stock being displayed on a single shelf at the bottom of Xbox360. It worked though. I'd say most of this stuff has been sitting on our shelves for the better part of the year, and now it looks like over a third of it has gone in a single day by transferring to to second hand and selling it slightly cheaper.

[SavageUK]

The 10-15 was only the very latest stuff (Scarface, Fifa 07 ect...) Plus whatever was left of the top 5 (Star Wars Battlefront 2 and the like) that stores would have had limited stock of anyway. The email from operations was very specific about everything not on the list being PRP'd and the rest of the stock being displayed on a single shelf at the bottom of Xbox360. It worked though. I'd say most of this stuff has been sitting on our shelves for the better part of the year, and now it looks like over a third of it has gone in a single day by transferring to to second hand and selling it slightly cheaper.
Interesting, this is confusing. I'm taking over from the SM this evening so I'll chat to them then. They made it clear to me that it was ONLY those 10-15 titles of the new release games that needed to be transferred to PV... or maybe I misunderstood what they said. At the moment we don't have enough Xbox360 games to merch it the way you just described.... we just have that Open Season that everyone got, but hopefully we'll be getting some more games soon as we've just had our games grade upped and we're actually going to be getting some Xbox360 retail games in, and the Wii on release etc.

[c:nt]

This was a fantastic idea. I had games that had been sat on shelf for months, some labels were printed last year. Now on pre-owned they have sold instantly.

Might as well get minimal revenue, rather than no revenue. Now those two shelves have been put back to good use displaying PS2 games £9.99 or below - that section is now flying off the shelves.

[MissHailstorm]

I have to say, I was quite amused by the e-mail. What the hell kind of stores would have had SNES, N64 and Dreamcast new?! :eek:

[SavageUK]

Can people clarify what's happened? Do your stores have rental Xbox? Mine does, the same selection it's had for months, yet are you saying it should have all been PVed?

[Adornedatom]

Can people clarify what's happened? Do your stores have rental Xbox? Mine does, the same selection it's had for months, yet are you saying it should have all been PVed?

Rental Xbox is fine to stay as it is. Retail Xbox, excluding a select few titles mentioned in the email, are to be transferred to PRP. (Transfer retail to rental, then rental to PRP) Though if you see any titles you think would make good rentals I just found out you can leave them on rental too. (I assumed it we would need developers permission, or whatever, so Evil Dead and a few others went straight onto PRP and out the door. :( )

[SavageUK]

Ohhhh that's cool, I misunderstood what you've been saying before. We only had one Xbox retail game left before the email, and it was one on the list, so nothing happened at my store :)

[MissHailstorm]

Time to resurrect this thread. :D


Anyone noticed games are a bit fucked again at the moment? I don't know how it is for BBGames stores, but we're just a normal store, and we've been getting terrible copy depth on everything. At first, I thought it was just Transformers, but we're not getting much of anything at the moment. Getting 1 retail copy of Wii/DS, 0 of PSP, and getting 5 or less of everything else.

Also, the stock for the console deals has been a bit of a joke. The starter kits for the DS have been out of stock for an ice age! And now we're pretty much out of all the 'selected' games, too.


Anyone else having problems?

[SavageUK]

Time to resurrect this thread. :D


Anyone noticed games are a bit fucked again at the moment? I don't know how it is for BBGames stores, but we're just a normal store, and we've been getting terrible copy depth on everything. At first, I thought it was just Transformers, but we're not getting much of anything at the moment. Getting 1 retail copy of Wii/DS, 0 of PSP, and getting 5 or less of everything else.

Also, the stock for the console deals has been a bit of a joke. The starter kits for the DS have been out of stock for an ice age! And now we're pretty much out of all the 'selected' games, too.


Anyone else having problems?
Yes we're having identical problems. We've got, at most, one copy of each No.1-5 chart title, but on Wii we only have about 7 games total (very annoying our customers love Wii, but as usual we can't do much about that at store level). They really need to get the stock "out there", if they even have it, and allow it to be easily shifted around within local stores, or within a district, so that customers can get what they want. The problem is I think that BB doesn't even have the stock at distribution. I don't know what Blockbuster has done, but it seems like they don't have any games stock.

[MissHailstorm]

Yes we're having identical problems. We've got, at most, one copy of each No.1-5 chart title, but on Wii we only have about 7 games total (very annoying our customers love Wii, but as usual we can't do much about that at store level). They really need to get the stock "out there", if they even have it, and allow it to be easily shifted around within local stores, or within a district, so that customers can get what they want. The problem is I think that BB doesn't even have the stock at distribution. I don't know what Blockbuster has done, but it seems like they don't have any games stock.

No, I've heard things about an "issue", whatever TF that means, but everywhere does seem to be having similar problems.

I searched the company for some starter kits the other day, and nowhere, not even BBGames stores, had any more than 5. :eek:


I don't get it - I thought we were supposed to heave learnt how to treat games from owning GameStation? :confused:

[Stell]

Anyone noticed games are a bit fucked again at the moment? I don't know how it is for BBGames stores

Seems fine to me, got onto a store with a PC and it would seem the Leeds (i think it was leeds) BBGames store have more copies of Transformers than the rest of the district put together. So far this week ive had to chase about 5 games from a different stores for transfers, the majority of which were Transformers.

We have been sent 1 copy of every new release for tomorrow, not that they are big titles, but thats not the point.

We had PSP games, and sold them, and got them taken off us and now the peopel that used to come in weekly for games just go over to woolworths, HMV, virgin or similar as they can buy soemthing there and then and not have to wait while we chase up a copy.

[MissHailstorm]

Seems fine to me, got onto a store with a PC and it would seem the Leeds (i think it was leeds) BBGames store have more copies of Transformers than the rest of the district put together. So far this week ive had to chase about 5 games from a different stores for transfers, the majority of which were Transformers.

We have been sent 1 copy of every new release for tomorrow, not that they are big titles, but thats not the point.

We had PSP games, and sold them, and got them taken off us and now the peopel that used to come in weekly for games just go over to woolworths, HMV, virgin or similar as they can buy soemthing there and then and not have to wait while we chase up a copy.

Not even bothered trying to get Transformers, although we did get some more in the delivery today. 1 copy on the PS2! 1 on the Wii! :D But 3 on the PS3...

I did swing a Pokemon Pearl for someone... just - only because she wanted to trade some stuff in and do the DS deal. But, of course, had to put in yet another presale for the starter kit. :rolleyes: Could've done with about 30 copies of Pokemon Pearl, but what do we get? Oh, just the 3 copies - cheers! Maybe there was a misprint at Technicolour? :p


I wish we'd stop kissing so much Sony arse, and focus a bit more attention to the Wii and DS. I'm glad we're getting a decent amount of DS consoles in (at least, my store is), but retail is shite, and our PS3 section (although it is crap) doesn't rent that much, but always getting requests for DS/Wii to rent. Does Nintendo allow them to be rented, does anyone know? I heard ages ago they were thinking of trying to get DS games to rent, but never heard anything more...

[Jason]

Not even bothered trying to get Transformers, although we did get some more in the delivery today. 1 copy on the PS2! 1 on the Wii! :D But 3 on the PS3...

I did swing a Pokemon Pearl for someone... just - only because she wanted to trade some stuff in and do the DS deal. But, of course, had to put in yet another presale for the starter kit. :rolleyes: Could've done with about 30 copies of Pokemon Pearl, but what do we get? Oh, just the 3 copies - cheers! Maybe there was a misprint at Technicolour? :p


I wish we'd stop kissing so much Sony arse, and focus a bit more attention to the Wii and DS. I'm glad we're getting a decent amount of DS consoles in (at least, my store is), but retail is shite, and our PS3 section (although it is crap) doesn't rent that much, but always getting requests for DS/Wii to rent. Does Nintendo allow them to be rented, does anyone know? I heard ages ago they were thinking of trying to get DS games to rent, but never heard anything more...


Nintendo wont allow wii/ds games for rent.

[MissHailstorm]

Nintendo wont allow wii/ds games for rent.

Bastards. :mad: :mad:

They do in the States, don't they? :confused:

[Stell]

we did get some more in the delivery today. 1 copy on the PS2! 1 on the Wii! :D But 3 on the PS3...

We got 1 on the PS2 and 2 on the wii, none on the PS3. The PS2 one was sold before id even added the delivery onto the system.

[MissHailstorm]

We got 1 on the PS2 and 2 on the wii, none on the PS3. The PS2 one was sold before id even added the delivery onto the system.

Lucky you! I got the pleasure of peeling every 'SORRY' sticker off #1 in the chart, plus the end cap for one measly copy, that probably won't even last until closing! :D

[SavageUK]

No, I've heard things about an "issue", whatever TF that means, but everywhere does seem to be having similar problems.

I searched the company for some starter kits the other day, and nowhere, not even BBGames stores, had any more than 5. :eek:


I don't get it - I thought we were supposed to heave learnt how to treat games from owning GameStation? :confused:
"No" what? :(

I think it would be a good idea for the company to send out a wide selection of NR games, rather than trying to focus heavily on select games.

[MissHailstorm]

"No" what? :(
I think I meant, "No, [they don't seem to have any games,] I've heard...". :)

[Mr.M]

i havent had a PSP chart for about 3 months, theres no replenishment and we dont get the stock anyway.

[SavageUK]

I think I meant, "No, [they don't seem to have any games,] I've heard...". :)
Ah sorry :o

i havent had a PSP chart for about 3 months, theres no replenishment and we dont get the stock anyway.
Are you still selling new PSP then? We shipped them off somewhere - it really helped us as PSP was taking up a much needed bay.

[MissHailstorm]

Are you still selling new PSP then? We shipped them off somewhere - it really helped us as PSP was taking up a much needed bay.

I think grades 1 & 2 (although they've changed the system now, so it's something like grades 6 & 7:confused: :confused:) are continuing to sell PSP. Not that you'd know it, though - we're hardly getting anything in at the moment. Stuff is being announced as a new release, but we're getting 0 copies, and we've been putting display sleeves out with 'SORRY' stickers on them on the day of release.

We didn't get any Transformers, and still haven't. We didn't get any Shrek either, but 1 copy eventually turned up 2 weeks after the release date. We haven't received more than 1 copy of new stuff on PSP for a while.

[SavageUK]

Ah I see. Well we'll be moving up to that grade bracket soon, but I really hope we don't have to start displaying PSP again, it was really pointless. Our PPG PSP is selling okay now, but still not as much as I'd like it to. We really need to expand the Wii selection as soon as possible - like you say most of the chart is just filled with "out of stock" stickers, it kind of makes the chart pointless (in this situation it should just be flat facing A-Z sans Chart).

[bitemyskull]

Bastards. :mad: :mad:

They do in the States, don't they? :confused:

Yes, we do rent out Wii games in the states, though the copy depth is a bit screwy (at least at my store). We got FIVE copies of Sonic and the Secret Rings, which was an awful game, and only two copies of Super Paper Mario, which was great. We only have one copy of Madden 2008 on order for Wii. :(

[MissHailstorm]

Ah I see. Well we'll be moving up to that grade bracket soon, but I really hope we don't have to start displaying PSP again, it was really pointless. Our PPG PSP is selling okay now, but still not as much as I'd like it to. We really need to expand the Wii selection as soon as possible - like you say most of the chart is just filled with "out of stock" stickers, it kind of makes the chart pointless (in this situation it should just be flat facing A-Z sans Chart).

Well, hopefully, you won't be stocking PSP again. It's a waste of space. What grade are you now? Old system was 1-5, but they're now reserved for BBGames stores (I think), so just add 5 to your old system to work it out. Still confuses me! :D

It's such a bloody nightmare when they change your grade up and down. We were grade 3 for years, then they started moving us around, knocked us down to grade 4 for a while, meaning we didn't stock DS at its release date. Then, with no warning, we suddenly shot up to grade 1, and started getting DS stuff in. But, of course, no-one ever considers the fact that you've not stocked it before, so we don't get a back catalogue selection, they only send in the new stuff from that date. And it took us months to build up a decent DS section, not least because DS is hugely popular around here.

We're now grade 7, I think (grade 2 on the old system).

[MissHailstorm]

Yes, we do rent out Wii games in the states, though the copy depth is a bit screwy (at least at my store). We got FIVE copies of Sonic and the Secret Rings, which was an awful game, and only two copies of Super Paper Mario, which was great. We only have one copy of Madden 2008 on order for Wii. :(

I wonder why they allow rentals there and not here. We were allowed to rent out Gamecube stock.

Do you rent DS there, or do you know if anywhere is allowed to?

[bitemyskull]

I wonder why they allow rentals there and not here. We were allowed to rent out Gamecube stock.

Do you rent DS there, or do you know if anywhere is allowed to?

I'm not sure about other stores, but we don't rent DS. Sadly... :(

[MissHailstorm]

Nintendo wont allow wii/ds games for rent.

http://www.gamesmonster.co.uk/rent-wii-games.aspx

Well... it seems either that website is operating on some legal loophole, or Nintendo is selective about who it allows to rent its games. :(

[SavageUK]

Well, hopefully, you won't be stocking PSP again. It's a waste of space. What grade are you now? Old system was 1-5, but they're now reserved for BBGames stores (I think), so just add 5 to your old system to work it out. Still confuses me! :D

It's such a bloody nightmare when they change your grade up and down. We were grade 3 for years, then they started moving us around, knocked us down to grade 4 for a while, meaning we didn't stock DS at its release date. Then, with no warning, we suddenly shot up to grade 1, and started getting DS stuff in. But, of course, no-one ever considers the fact that you've not stocked it before, so we don't get a back catalogue selection, they only send in the new stuff from that date. And it took us months to build up a decent DS section, not least because DS is hugely popular around here.

We're now grade 7, I think (grade 2 on the old system).
We're grade 8 at the moment, but we sell shit loads of games for this grade, so it'd really benefit the company to up us a grade. I think the SM is in talks with DM to push us up a grade on both movie and games. It's annoying being in this grade, not because of the low "depth" of these games, but when you don't get a major game at all, like Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition. I really wish at store level we could have an influence over the amount that gets sent to us, rather than the company deciding which "grade" we're in.

[MissHailstorm]

It's annoying being in this grade, not because of the low "depth" of these games, but when you don't get a major game at all, like Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition.

Don't feel so bad, we got about 2 copies of this, I think... :rolleyes:

[SavageUK]

Don't feel so bad, we got about 2 copies of this, I think... :rolleyes:
True, but at least you did get this. We actually have two rows on our Wii bay with nothing on them. It's a real joke that we're told to have a bay for this and that, then only provide stock to fill a quarter of it. It's such penny pinching, I thought they wanted to become a big retail competitor? At least that's what the MD said on that DVD we all watched (from a managers convention), yet it seems we're just slumping back into rental.

[MissHailstorm]

True, but at least you did get this. We actually have two rows on our Wii bay with nothing on them. It's a real joke that we're told to have a bay for this and that, then only provide stock to fill a quarter of it. It's such penny pinching, I thought they wanted to become a big retail competitor? At least that's what the MD said on that DVD we all watched (from a managers convention), yet it seems we're just slumping back into rental.

I don't know, but it's frustrating. We're told these problems are beyond their control, yet no other retailers seem to have this problem. It's just not good enough for me. How can we get customers to trust us when we never provide the stock? I highly doubt anyone looks at Blockbuster as the place to go for their games.

My store does well on games, but only because there really is nowhere else in town that sells them, except possibly WH Smith. If a games store popped up in my town, we'd be ruined. The only reason people are putting up with waiting for stock from other stores, and pre-ordering parts of deals we don't have is because there's nowhere else to go. :(

[the boy wonder uk]

Sav going up a grade can be just as bad as normal......we get loads of ds consoles to sell but still dont get the starter packs so we have even more incomplete bundles!!!!!!!!!!1

[Mr.M]

Are you still selling new PSP then? We shipped them off somewhere - it really helped us as PSP was taking up a much needed bay.


my store is a grade 5, which would have been grade 1 before the games concessions screwed up the grading.

[MissHailstorm]

Sav going up a grade can be just as bad as normal......we get loads of ds consoles to sell but still dont get the starter packs so we have even more incomplete bundles!!!!!!!!!!1

Hehe, tell me about it! We've got about 5 on pre-order now. :rolleyes: I just convince people it's a shit free gift, not important, but we'll put one on order and call when its in. Still had a few angry customers though, as some have had to wait, like, a month...

Surely it can't be that difficult to substitute it for another peripheral, or change the deal POS to not include the starter pack? :o

[MissHailstorm]

my store is a grade 5, which would have been grade 1 before the games concessions screwed up the grading.

Oh, well, in that case, we must be grade 6. :o

I said it was confusing! :eek:

[SavageUK]

My store does well on games, but only because there really is nowhere else in town that sells them, except possibly WH Smith. If a games store popped up in my town, we'd be ruined. The only reason people are putting up with waiting for stock from other stores, and pre-ordering parts of deals we don't have is because there's nowhere else to go. :(
Identical. I think Blockbuster is too concerned with having "dead stock" that they severely under stock us, when in fact if we actually had the stock it'd sell a lot better than they think. I think people at HO would be astounded by the number of disappointed customers we get due to things being out of stock. They're too concerned with figures saying this store or that store is not selling many games, when it's because they don't have the games to begin with that means they're not selling many.

[the boy wonder uk]

To defend the company a little here there are reasons for running the stock down on certain lines> Has anyone seen thier stores "buy quantities" of the big qtr 4 games? mine are amazing but the truth of the matter is we need to free up cash in order to pay for the kinda quantities we want. eg I should be getting about 175 copies of halo which is a fantastic amount of stock to sell.

[TED]

Aye, except with Ice Cream, and I have to admit that is one of my most enjoyed tasks at Blockbuster, making a decision on how much to order :o

and now they take that away from you :D

Ha Ha nothing left to do !!

[Adornedatom]

To defend the company a little here there are reasons for running the stock down on certain lines> Has anyone seen thier stores "buy quantities" of the big qtr 4 games? mine are amazing but the truth of the matter is we need to free up cash in order to pay for the kinda quantities we want. eg I should be getting about 175 copies of halo which is a fantastic amount of stock to sell.

Exactly. I think we also need to consider that the demand for these games does not always need to be brand new either. I know my store has been constantly short of stock on Transformers for all formats, but then those few customers who brought it on day one finished it in less than half a week and traded it in. We've got quite a few trade copies of the 360 version bouncing around. Wheras if we'd just got a load of retail copies the first week then we'd have been stuck with hundreds of trade copies and no demand for them around a week later.

[MissHailstorm]

Exactly. I think we also need to consider that the demand for these games does not always need to be brand new either. I know my store has been constantly short of stock on Transformers for all formats, but then those few customers who brought it on day one finished it in less than half a week and traded it in. We've got quite a few trade copies of the 360 version bouncing around. Wheras if we'd just got a load of retail copies the first week then we'd have been stuck with hundreds of trade copies and no demand for them around a week later.

But the company acknowledged there was a "stock issue" with Transformers, so if they'd have bought in more copies if they could've.

[Adornedatom]

But the company acknowledged there was a "stock issue" with Transformers, so if they'd have bought in more copies if they could've.Doesn't mean that I'm not relieved there wasn't. We'd have ended up with 10+ rental copies when every customer would finish the game first time and never want to play it again. :D

BTW, your PM box is full. ;)

[MissHailstorm]

Doesn't mean that I'm not relieved there wasn't. We'd have ended up with 10+ rental copies when every customer would finish the game first time and never want to play it again. :D

BTW, your PM box is full. ;)

It's not now... :p

FWIW, we're not flooded with trade copies of Transformers, but we do have a of kids after it. We've had a couple of 360 ones traded in, but people are still requesting it for rental, and we're still sold out on PS2.

Even if loads of people are trading it in, we'd have made more money if they'd bought it from us in the first place!

Honestly, I don't think this games 'blip' was in any way intentional, especially with what's planned from Q4. It's just another cock-up, and - yes - I'm annoyed because we're supposed to be establishing ourselves as a major player in entertainment and games especially. :mad:

[SavageUK]

and now they take that away from you :D

Ha Ha nothing left to do !!
:( I know. I did an order two days ago with this new company and the person I spoke to was very nice indeed. I can't believe these little things they have to take away from us.

[MissHailstorm]

:( I know. I did an order two days ago with this new company and the person I spoke to was very nice indeed. I can't believe these little things they have to take away from us.

I don't mind! The amount of times the ice-cream would call, and no-one had completed the order! :mad: :rolleyes:


I just hope they've thoroughly done their homework on our back-ups freezers, as I will have no-one in close proximity to blame if we get too much. :D

[SavageUK]

I don't mind! The amount of times the ice-cream would call, and no-one had completed the order! :mad: :rolleyes:


I just hope they've thoroughly done their homework on our back-ups freezers, as I will have no-one in close proximity to blame if we get too much. :D
I wanted to rep you for that, but as usual it tells me I cannot.

The thing about the ice cream people calling before we had decided what we wanted to order wasn't a big deal for me, in fact I appreciated it. It'd often be that I'd completely forgotten to check if we needed to order some ice cream, so I took it as a reminder, and then I'd call them back later when ****I**** was ready :D

[Jason]

I wanted to rep you for that, but as usual it tells me I cannot.

The thing about the ice cream people calling before we had decided what we wanted to order wasn't a big deal for me, in fact I appreciated it. It'd often be that I'd completely forgotten to check if we needed to order some ice cream, so I took it as a reminder, and then I'd call them back later when ****I**** was ready :D

The woman that we used to get calling us, used to get the right arse when you didin't have an order ready. What did she expect at 10am in the morning, i do have more important things to do than speak to her!:mad:

[SavageUK]

The woman that we used to get calling us, used to get the right arse when you didin't have an order ready. What did she expect at 10am in the morning, i do have more important things to do than speak to her!:mad:
I've never noticed if they got in a strop because the first thing I would say is "Can I call you back later.... is there a reference number". There is no way they can say anything to that. They mustn't realise we actually have shit to be getting on with other than ordering ice cream :)

All the phone clerks for the P+H have been very nice as far as I remember, and for Ice Cream World (if that's what it's called, the delivery note had another name on it) so far they were great, very chatty and helpful.

[Jason]

I've never noticed if they got in a strop because the first thing I would say is "Can I call you back later.... is there a reference number". There is no way they can say anything to that. They mustn't realise we actually have shit to be getting on with other than ordering ice cream :)

All the phone clerks for the P+H have been very nice as far as I remember, and for Ice Cream World (if that's what it's called, the delivery note had another name on it) so far they were great, very chatty and helpful.

There was only ever one really nice lady but she left a year or so ago.
The recieve note would have had another name on it because of the depo's that they use.

[MissHailstorm]

To defend the company a little here there are reasons for running the stock down on certain lines> Has anyone seen thier stores "buy quantities" of the big qtr 4 games? mine are amazing but the truth of the matter is we need to free up cash in order to pay for the kinda quantities we want. eg I should be getting about 175 copies of halo which is a fantastic amount of stock to sell.

Still getting 175 copies, Boy Wonder...?

We were offered 80. We said, "More, please!" At close of business today, we stood at 45 presales for Halo 3. How much stock did they send us? 60 copies.


Also, the e-mail sent down today said they have a target to sell 70% of stock by the end of the week. Um... what? We've already sold 70% of the stock, and it's not even on general release yet!

As for taking orders over the phone... pur-lease. We won't even have anything left by midday, if that. :mad:




Sorry guys :( I know I keep going on about this, maybe it's just my store, but still feeling very screwed over games wise. I read a store mail saying Halo 3 is expected to be the best-selling game ever. More than GTA: San Andreas? :confused: We got over 100 copies of that, and they were all gone by the early afternoon...

[c:nt]

Dont forget some stock has been moved towards the Choices stores (according to my DM). We are sharing our stock for the next month until new orders have been placed.

At least aquiring more stores should give us even greater buying power.

[MissHailstorm]

Dont forget some stock has been moved towards the Choices stores (according to my DM). We are sharing our stock for the next month until new orders have been placed.

At least aquiring more stores should give us even greater buying power.

Well, how much? Come on... 59 divided by 700-odd. Still doesn't add up. We should've got around 120 copies, really. So half of my copies have been divvied up amongst 59 Choices?


What scares me is that Blockbuster don't even seem to acknowledge that more copies were required with this, "Let's try and sell 70% of our stock" business. WTF? Let's try and not would be more of a challenge...

[Mr.M]

so we just did out midnight opening for an hour to sell Halo. including all 3 additions we had 180something units. We did 700 quids worth in 25 mins. Sold about 40 units.

[MissHailstorm]

so we just did out midnight opening for an hour to sell Halo. including all 3 additions we had 180something units. We did 700 quids worth in 25 mins. Sold about 40 units.

Out of interest, how did they decide the midnight openings? 'Cause our nearest store is a teeny-tiny express store, but they were opening at midnight. I wondered if they just decided to do it themselves? I don't recall being told one way or another...

We pretty much thought that, since we didn't get that many units, there was no point. We'd sell out from whenever we opened the store, really.

[Mr.M]

everyone got a poster saying Opening At Midnight, then it was up to you if you wanted to open.

[MissHailstorm]

everyone got a poster saying Opening At Midnight, then it was up to you if you wanted to open.

Will you get penalised for over-spending? :D

[SavageUK]

everyone got a poster saying Opening At Midnight, then it was up to you if you wanted to open.
Did we? '

[Adornedatom]

Will you get penalised for over-spending? :DExactly what I thought when the idea was put forward. My store has absolutely no hours to spare so I'd have to be working the midnight alone. So I could either open at midnight alone, at a time when the other shops are closed and everyone is tucked up in bed, putting myself at risk for free since it's all over time anyway, just so that I can sell out of Halo 3 in one hour. Or I could open at 10:00AM, enjoy an extra 7 hours in bed, get a CSR with me when I open and sell out of Halo 3 in one hour without spending any extra cash.

Tough choice that.:rolleyes:


Oh yeah, about the original subject of this thread though. The fact that everyone's noticed that Blockbuster are sending out a lot less copies of games, but still want to get into retail games as a main focus. The reason for the shift was that, when Blockbuster was ordering tons of copies of games, then we always had plenty of stock for the customers who wanted to buy those games. Unfortunately that also meant that we still had plenty of copies 6 weeks later when the main burst of interest had died down. What we want to do now is sort of trim the fat. We've got the game sale going on so that we can sell of most of our games at a loss just to get them sold through. With any new games coming in then the company alocates them to each store as per usual, but then watches the situation.Some stores will see a poor performance on the main games because of their customer base, in which case their copies can be transferee to a store that sells them really well and the company can make the profit in the second store without leaving stuff rotting away in the first store. I believe there's a SM in each district who is in charge of distributing the games between stores, and when they tell you to transfer stock you can not refuse. It's unfortunate that right now most of the transfers go to BB games stores, but that will even out eventually.

As for Halo 3, well yeah the company definitely under ordered on this one, but since they're still trying to perfect their range I'd rather they under ordered so that we could be continually refreshed when needed, than to have a massive over stock and be left with 50-60 copies that I can't sell. With the massive hype surrounding Halo, and the numbers a lot of SMs were looking for, that would have been a very real possibility.

[MissHailstorm]

Exactly what I thought when the idea was put forward. My store has absolutely no hours to spare so I'd have to be working the midnight alone. So I could either open at midnight alone, at a time when the other shops are closed and everyone is tucked up in bed, putting myself at risk for free since it's all over time anyway, just so that I can sell out of Halo 3 in one hour. Or I could open at 10:00AM, enjoy an extra 7 hours in bed, get a CSR with me when I open and sell out of Halo 3 in one hour without spending any extra cash.

Tough choice that.:rolleyes:
Yeah, we got the posters - my SM put them in the bin.

Incidentally, did they expect the closers on Tuesday to hang around until midnight, unpaid? Or was someone supposed to come and open up the store at midnight for an hour? Either way, sucks, we were never gonna do it.


Oh yeah, about the original subject of this thread though. The fact that everyone's noticed that Blockbuster are sending out a lot less copies of games, but still want to get into retail games as a main focus. The reason for the shift was that, when Blockbuster was ordering tons of copies of games, then we always had plenty of stock for the customers who wanted to buy those games. Unfortunately that also meant that we still had plenty of copies 6 weeks later when the main burst of interest had died down. What we want to do now is sort of trim the fat. We've got the game sale going on so that we can sell of most of our games at a loss just to get them sold through. With any new games coming in then the company alocates them to each store as per usual, but then watches the situation.Some stores will see a poor performance on the main games because of their customer base, in which case their copies can be transferee to a store that sells them really well and the company can make the profit in the second store without leaving stuff rotting away in the first store. I believe there's a SM in each district who is in charge of distributing the games between stores, and when they tell you to transfer stock you can not refuse. It's unfortunate that right now most of the transfers go to BB games stores, but that will even out eventually.
I'm not quite sure what you're saying in the first part of this - the company are ordering less games because they used to order too many? I'm not expecting the company to over-order, I'm expecting the company to order the right amount.

As for the second part, I don't know of this, other than with pre-owned games - is it a new thing?

As for Halo 3, well yeah the company definitely under ordered on this one, but since they're still trying to perfect their range I'd rather they under ordered so that we could be continually refreshed when needed, than to have a massive over stock and be left with 50-60 copies that I can't sell. With the massive hype surrounding Halo, and the numbers a lot of SMs were looking for, that would have been a very real possibility.
Again, I don't understand, "perfect the range"? How long is this going to take, exactly? Why did they under-order for Halo 3? The staff in store knew they didn't have enough copies, Blockbuster should've been able to see how many copies we required based on our presales. I just don't see the problem, unless they are trying to get more, but the distributors aren't giving it up. And if that was the case, they'd have said so, rather than telling us our target is to sell "70% of our stock". It just doesn't sound like they're aware that more stock was required!


We always seem to be having this same debate on here about games, but I've been with this company 5 years, and I don't ever recall a time when they were particularly good at dealing with games. With DVDs, they mostly get things spot on (aside from a few disasters, such as 'Hot Fuzz' and 'Happy Feet'), but there always seems to be something going on with games. Either, 'We're working on that', or 'There's some supply issues', or 'GameStation are teaching us how to deal with games'.


I completely understand your point, but I just don't see any progress. If Blockbuster are really in some kind of transition period, how come the same old problems that this very thread highlights (it was started a year ago) are still dogging the company?




The biggest problem for me is that Blockbuster is desperate to be thought of as more than just video rentals. It has taken a long time to get some of my customers to treat us as a games store, not least because we managed to put the local independent games store out of business when we started taking trade-in. Gaming has a lot of value and potential, and has been building up a lot in the last few years especially. Yet many gamers are still going to go to Game or GameStation or even Woolworths over us for their gaming needs. Maybe under-ordering is better than over-ordering in the short run, but if we are trying to get the gamers on side, we need to be established as an affordable, reliable place to buy all the games you want. Not somewhere that can't secure your presales (http://www.ihateblockbuster.com/forum/showpost.php?p=257547&postcount=17), and don't have enough copies of the latest game. Really, the company cannot afford to keep making these kinds of mistakes.

[Adornedatom]

To simplify it as much as I can (and that's a difficult task because ordering exactly the right amount of stock is a part of the buisness I couldn't run) we got burned fairly badly when we tried to have enough copies for everyone, so now the company needs to be a little more reserved. For example, on most games the 70% benchmark the company sets us means that we've broken even on that game, wheras in the case of games like Halo 3, Bio shock and Gears Of War, we're selling the games so dirt cheap that selling 70% of the games is a pretty substantial loss. We know we're paying somewhere between £28 and £31 for each copy of Halo 3, so your talking about a loss of £400 for every 100 units purchased if they misjudge the required amount. So now the company is nervous about ordering the predicted amount if that means they could misjudge the demand and lose too much money. Instead they order just under the predicted amount and then share one stores surplus between stores that need it. You're likely in the same boat as me, you sell your retail games so nobody tries to take them from you, but surely you've recieved random store to store transfers with 1 or 2 copies of a game included?

Also with Halo you need to remember that when we first ordered this stock we were going to be selling it at £44.99, and well, the game would have sold a lot less copies if we'd had the same price as everyone else. Once they'd decided to drop the price by a tenner they brought the refresh date forward as much as possible (this was supposed to be 10 days worth of stock afterall:rolleyes: ) and decided to use the money we made off this stock to purchase more copies of the game. Of course with our price point I think we'll be able to sell through this second batch without any difficulty too.

Now I'm not exactly a corporate yes man, in fact I think you've seen me complain about 90% of the choices this company makes. However I can understand why they're taking the approach they are with games, even if it's not yet 100% perfect.

[SavageUK]

Well to be fair they did secure our presales, just that the delivery was slightly late (it's not a big deal now I KNOW they're there, it's just when I thought they weren't coming at all that I was angry). When I left the store at 5pm today we had sold through 50-55% of stock, with a few presales (11%) still to be collected. We opened at 11am (no midnight open), so that's only six hours and we only had 34% of our initial stock level left, and it hadn't even got into the peak of the shift. By tomorrow night I assume stock levels can be rounded to zero... I'm not sure from the businesses point of view if this is a good thing or a bad thing. Ideas?

[MissHailstorm]

To simplify it as much as I can (and that's a difficult task because ordering exactly the right amount of stock is a part of the buisness I couldn't run) we got burned fairly badly when we tried to have enough copies for everyone, so now the company needs to be a little more reserved. For example, on most games the 70% benchmark the company sets us means that we've broken even on that game, wheras in the case of games like Halo 3, Bio shock and Gears Of War, we're selling the games so dirt cheap that selling 70% of the games is a pretty substantial loss. We know we're paying somewhere between £28 and £31 for each copy of Halo 3, so your talking about a loss of £400 for every 100 units purchased if they misjudge the required amount. So now the company is nervous about ordering the predicted amount if that means they could misjudge the demand and lose too much money. Instead they order just under the predicted amount and then share one stores surplus between stores that need it.
The problem I am having is that it's not slight mistakes, but huge mis-calculations. As far as I can see - and I am speaking for my store - the company is not ordering anywhere near enough stock.

You're likely in the same boat as me, you sell your retail games so nobody tries to take them from you, but surely you've recieved random store to store transfers with 1 or 2 copies of a game included?
No! I was wondering what you meant when you mentioned this earlier? I've never heard anything about stores spreading the stock around after dispatcherment as a general rule. I knew there were buddy systems for pre-owned stock (but the company can't control where the stock springs up), but we've not received any retail stock from other stores, except where they've had shite they can't shift for months, and certainly nothing we want or need.


I think they knew the price for Halo 3 quite a while ago, since they produced the posters, btw. I know they said it wasn't confirmed, but they were probably 99% sure 3 weeks ago.

Lately, the company have been ordering stock, but keeping some back at Technicolour with the idea of shipping out to the stores that need it after selling their initial stock. It's a nice idea in theory, but in practice, all our stock is gone long before the weekend, and by the time we've received more stock, we've lost plenty of potential business, as they have gone elsewhere.

I realise the logistics of understanding how many stores require how many copies must be rather complex. That said, even I can see that when a store does 45 presales, 60 copies is not going to be even vaguely close enough to see out the weekend. This, coupled with the fact games always seem to have problems in this company, it doesn't fill me with much hope that their learning curve will be completed any time soon...

Personally, I think the company need to consider that risking their profit margin for the next few weeks/months/years(???) might be favourable to establishing our company as one not reliable as a games retailer. After all, they made a huge amount of unexpected profit this Summer...


Well to be fair they did secure our presales, just that the delivery was slightly late (it's not a big deal now I KNOW they're there, it's just when I thought they weren't coming at all that I was angry). When I left the store at 5pm today we had sold through 50-55% of stock, with a few presales (11%) still to be collected. We opened at 11am (no midnight open), so that's only six hours and we only had 34% of our initial stock level left, and it hadn't even got into the peak of the shift. By tomorrow night I assume stock levels can be rounded to zero... I'm not sure from the businesses point of view if this is a good thing or a bad thing. Ideas?

Selling out is a good thing, but we don't want to sell out too early, which causes people to take their business elsewhere. And if this happens on a regular basis, people will start to think of us as a place where the stock levels are limited, and that's not a good thing.

[MissHailstorm]

Well done for selling all those units! Great work! We're amazed at how well this has gone! You've all done very well!


No, no... all we did was scan some shit and take some money. The customers came in all by themselves!!!! And we didn't have to talk anyone into anything!!!!! :rolleyes:



WHY ARE YOU SURPRISED?! (she screams)


Now we've got 2,000 units, sitting in a warehouse, that won't be with us until Thursday, or, God-willing, Monday.


WHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYY MEEEEEEEEEEE-slash-USSSSSSSSSSS? :eek:

[SavageUK]

Well, we should have been delivered some more stock this morning, but you're on the money with all the praise they give us. Retail stock, in Blockbuster at least, is hardly EVER upsold. Customers just come in, ask for the game, and pay the money. Stores that didn't sell many of them didn't sell many because of their customer base, not because the workers were slacking.

[MissHailstorm]

Well, we should have been delivered some more stock this morning, but you're on the money with all the praise they give us. Retail stock, in Blockbuster at least, is hardly EVER upsold. Customers just come in, ask for the game, and pay the money. Stores that didn't sell many of them didn't sell many because of their customer base, not because the workers were slacking.

Another e-mail I only saw yesterday evening! :D I'm glad they did actually get their arses in gear and get the stock sent in this morning. We had a VM on Thursday saying it wouldn't be until Monday or Thursday, and I wondered why, since we owned the stock and needed it.


I was flabbergasted by all the praise. I'm sure there's a handful of people that did something special to shift a few extra units, but - let's face it - hardly any stores needed any kind of helping hand in shifting the stock they had. Perhaps if we'd been given 150 units, we'd have done the midnight opening, and promoted the price, etc, etc, but on the pathetic amount we were sent, we didn't really need to bother - they all sold themselves.

Did they already have those 2,000 units secured before our initial allocation, I wonder? If so, why did they hold them back? We've lost 2 and a half valuable days of selling on this. :mad:

What's more, nowhere else - Game, GameStation, even frickin' Argos, seemed to be out of stock. Nowhere except us. :mad:

[SavageUK]

Did they already have those 2,000 units secured before our initial allocation, I wonder? If so, why did they hold them back? We've lost 2 and a half valuable days of selling on this. :mad:

Wasn't it 10000 units?

[MissHailstorm]

Wasn't it 10000 units?

That's 3 figures I've heard, now - we got a VM stating it was 800, initially.

Perhaps they've increased their order?

[MissHailstorm]

Okay Sav, I don't think it was 10,000 units - just spoke to my store and they got 15 copies! And they've all gone already! :D

Perhaps they're saving some of the 10,000 for next week...?

[Mr.M]

i didnt get Forza 2, and im the top grade on games. did anyone get this title?

[MissHailstorm]

i didnt get Forza 2, and im the top grade on games. did anyone get this title?

Didn't realise it was out... :confused:

We didn't get it.

[Mr.M]

a local store got it today, wasnt on their OPO though.

[SavageUK]

Didn't realise it was out... :confused:

We didn't get it.
You mean Juiced 2, right?

10,000 units sounds right, even with your allocation of 15. 10000/650 stores (some stores were listed in the email to say that they wouldn't get any more Halo 3 on Saturday) = 15.38 copies. Obviously some people would get more, some less, yours seems average as average can be.

[Mr.M]

yerr im referring to juiced 2.

[MissHailstorm]

You mean Juiced 2, right?

10,000 units sounds right, even with your allocation of 15. 10000/650 stores (some stores were listed in the email to say that they wouldn't get any more Halo 3 on Saturday) = 15.38 copies. Obviously some people would get more, some less, yours seems average as average can be.

Except we are not 'average' on games.


Which cunts have been hoovering up my stock, eh? :D