Half of digital content buyers are first-timers
With its efforts shifting into the digital distribution market, retailer GameStop reveals that it hasconverted a number of its customersonto the idea as well. In fact, half of the customers who have bought digital content from the retailer were doing so for their first time, a trend that Brad Schliesser, GameStop’s director of digital content, hopes will continue.
“I always believed if all we did was take customers who were shopping at the Microsoft storefront or the PlayStation storefront and make them our customers, that doesn’t benefit the whole,” Schliesser said in an interview withGamasutra. “If we were going to be a significant player in the content market, we had to widen the pie.”
To achieve that goal, GameStop sells voucher codes to customers who wish to obtain digital content, a tactic aimed at attracting consumers who either do not have a credit card or aren’t comfortable with buying digital content directly through their console.
Xbox 360 currently accounts for 65% of GameStop’s digital sales, with PlayStation 3 racking up roughly 30%. Other platforms, such as Valve’s Steam service, top it off, though Schliesser notes those numbers are rising.
