Computer Game/Hardware Company

[Red_Stafford]

Hi all, I was hoping you guys could give me some advise, I am batting around with a few new business ideas and I was thinking why not start with something I enjoy and have knowledge in, so seen as most of my spare time is spent playing computer games why not start my own business selling computer games and console hardware, but where do I start ??

Would it be best to start of buying games from suppliers and selling through eBay and other simillar sites or setup my own ecommerce website ??

How do I find/get in contact with suppliers and also what can I offer that the competitors dont offer to make me stand out, maybe creating a forum for gamers to come and chat about gaming and post gaming/hardware reviews for members to view ??

 

[puffin]

Its a tough market mate.

Lots of competition, and your margins are very low.

My advice see what you can pick up on ebay, as a job lot in your local area and try that.

 

[Chunky Beagle]

Very crowded market.

You will never be able to beat the prices on sites like play.com and the fact that almost every large highstreet retailer such as comet, currys, sainsburys now stock all the latest games is no help at all.

Recently a games shop opened up in a little shopping area near me. It was a perfect place, near two schools, no other shop sold any games, yet it went out of business in under a year.

 

[Red_Stafford]

Very crowded market.

You will never be able to beat the prices on sites like play.com and the fact that almost every large highstreet retailer such as comet, currys, sainsburys now stock all the latest games is no help at all.

Recently a games shop opened up in a little shopping area near me. It was a perfect place, near two schools, no other shop sold any games, yet it went out of business in under a year.

Im not looking to make massive profits to start I was just hoping for something I could do part time to make a little extra profit and start a business in something I enjoy, I cant really see it losing money as the stock should always be able to sell if I pick the right most desirable titles at the right prices, what would be the profit margin I could expect on e.g. Xbox360 game, Xbox360 console ??

To start off I could open a eBay shop as the place to sell/advertise my products and if the business goes ok I could look at getting my own website and hopefully progress from there.

 

[Chunky Beagle]

Why would a potential customer pick you over someone like play.com or amazon?

And how would they find out about you. You would have to spend a ridiculous amount of money to get ranked in the first 10 pages of google results I would imagine.

 

[Red_Stafford]

Why would a potential customer pick you over someone like play.com or amazon?

And how would they find out about you. You would have to spend a ridiculous amount of money to get ranked in the first 10 pages of google results I would imagine.

This is one of the reasons I would start by trading through an eBay shop, I think the games console market is big enough just for me to have a minor slice of the market, like I said I am not looking at becoming a milionaire over night just a bit of extra cash and a taste of running my own business.

Why would a potential customer pick you over someone like play.com or amazon?

This is a very good question and hopefully something we could work towards in the future, if I start off small and offer a reliable service at a competative price then hopefully exsiting customers will return to me for there next console game they require, obviously Play.com & Amazon are a couple of the big guys and they offer a very good service but not everyone will go to these companies when they are looking to purchase a game.

 

[Chunky Beagle]

Well tbh I think 99.9% of the market would go to play.com if they were ordering online for 3 reasons :-

1) They offer the cheapest prices with the largest range
2) Free delivery
3) (Possibly there biggest USP) - They often send the games out a few days early.

Then you have the other 1000's of businesses who also sell games online to compete with for the remaining 0.01%.

I'm not trying to sound all doom and gloom, just trying to have put some questions that you'll have to answer to you.

 

[Red_Stafford]

I'm not trying to sound all doom and gloom, just trying to have put some questions that you'll have to answer to you.

No I relise that and I apreciate your comments, does anyone know of suppliers for console and console games and also what sort of margin is involved in this market, just want to gauge how many items I would need to sell to make it worth while.

 

[James.Dunford]

Seriously, don't bother. You said about the market being large, which it is, but it is full of the big companies, and in all honesty you don't have a hope without a six figure sum to spend. The margins are very low, on some of the new games, places like play and amazon will make less than 10%.
As well as that everyone wants to sell games as they are small and cheap to post too. If you do want to go ahead, I used to use centresoft for playstation games, but opening an account isn't easy!
Good luck!

 

[Red_Stafford]

Seriously, don't bother. You said about the market being large, which it is, but it is full of the big companies, and in all honesty you don't have a hope without a six figure sum to spend. The margins are very low, on some of the new games, places like play and amazon will make less than 10%.
As well as that everyone wants to sell games as they are small and cheap to post too. If you do want to go ahead, I used to use centresoft for playstation games, but opening an account isn't easy!
Good luck!

Cheers, looks like I am never going to find a pofitable company to start up by myself, every idea I come up with falls at the first hurdle, I think this would of been something I could of enjoyed.

 

[toastking]

Cheers, looks like I am never going to find a pofitable company to start up by myself, every idea I come up with falls at the first hurdle, I think this would of been something I could of enjoyed.

I wouldn't give up hope, I think maybe you would have more luck taking a different approach, think about what people want that you can get and make money on. If you do well with that, then you can try something else...

It may be a little boring short term, but money opens doors and the experience might help. I learnt from selling DVDs that its not always the best idea to just go for something you enjoy, as I made a little but now I have a bunch of DVDs I don't want but never get round to getting rid of them.

 

[Shaun_Pearce]

Do you want to sell your DVD's?

Genuine interest. If you have a list feel free to email me on [email protected]

(A lesson for you here OP. You never know who may want to by your products. Originally the DVD seller thought it was game over. Now he has marketing the products in such a way that interests me. I am looking for a deal)

Interesting ...

 

[Red_Stafford]

think about what people want that you can get and make money on.

Is that not the million dollar question ?

 

[toastking]

Yes it is, but more people look at it in terms of what they want to do, rather than what they can and is a good idea!

 

[Red_Stafford]

Yes it is, but more people look at it in terms of what they want to do, rather than what they can and is a good idea!

Well my hobies are Pool/Snooker would love to open my own pool or snooker bar but I am guessing this would cost alot of money and time to setup, I want to start something and keep my current job until the business moves on enough to support me in leaving my job.

Computers and computer games, and thats about it.

 

[rosszero]

Similar to what everyone has already said. If the likes of Amazon only make 10% profit on each sell, then yours will be less.

I've known others start up this kind of online business who are really into SEO as well and even with thousands of hits a month, they only make about a dozen sales a month.

The video games business is purely a buy low, sell high business model with no niche and gives very little room for smaller outifts to undercut prices or provide any particular sort of USP.

 

[Chunk]

Instead of looking to sell hardware for gamers. Why not do something online, such as creating an online comunity or a league etc, alot of opportunity online. Although its packed with businesses doing these ideas and more, theirs always room for more aslong as you have a USP.

 

[Astaroth]

The "problem" is the usual volume issues. If your only buying 200 games from a supplier your going to be paying very high prices, potentially more than the likes of Play retail at.

There is no point selling at a loss as you may as well increase the volumes to such that you can at least break even but that assumes you have the finances to pay for that volume of stock.

If your selling on eBay then how can you have a USP? You're only going to be going on price and you will be up against both second hand items and counterfit in a very open pricewar.

To be honest, unless your willing to lose money on it and therefore treat it like a hobby then you need to think of something a touch more unique than simply selling new games on ebay.

Once you have talked to the wholesalers to get an idea of prices you may want to compare that with what you can do as an affiliate store of the likes of Amazon where you are effectively a marketing route for them and you get your 10% commission.... easy enough to integrate into a review site or league table or what ever is of interest to you and your fellow gamers.

 

[Sacha]

Online won't work. Too much competition. Don't forget also that the next-gen of consoles probably will be completely software based. PlayStation Network, OnLive (will be huge in a decade), Direct2Drive, Steam, and Microsoft will probably join in soon if they haven't already.

Retail will only work if it's more than just a games shop. Competitions, coaches, coffees, cokes, etc. Something like that will work. A place where gaming fans can come and hang out, see the latest games together, trade games in (though this will only last for a decade at most), etc. etc.

 

[Red_Stafford]

Once you have talked to the wholesalers to get an idea of prices you may want to compare that with what you can do as an affiliate store of the likes of Amazon where you are effectively a marketing route for them and you get your 10% commission.... easy enough to integrate into a review site or league table or what ever is of interest to you and your fellow gamers.

Some very good coments guys, how would I go about setting up an affiliate site if I chose to go down this route I have no experience in this, I suppose once you successfully run one affiliate site you could start a one or two more, is this the best way to make money on the web without actually selling a product ?

 

[Billmccallum]

Cheers, looks like I am never going to find a pofitable company to start up by myself, every idea I come up with falls at the first hurdle, I think this would of been something I could of enjoyed.

The key to a successful small business is to know your market, although you play games, you don't know anything about the distribution channels the major manufacturers use, so getting a foot on the ladder is always going to be difficult for you.

Two options to consider...

1 Get a job at one of the high street retailers, learn all you can from them to give you an insight to the business world of gaming.

2 Look for an alternative to retailing, an online gamers forum, a small unit where you can have consoles where people can come and play (an amusement arcade without the gambling), many young people cant afford the latest games, so you can give them access to the latest games.