Today in Retail: Grim times for Game

No comments

It’s been a mixed bag of trading updates for two retailers that have been struggling of late.

Videogames specialist Game reported plunging UK sales, as many were expecting. However, for Burberry, Christmas brought some much needed cheer.

Game has been suffering at the hands of the weak console market for a while. With more than three years passing since the release of the latest Xbox and PlayStation, consumer demand has understandably been dampened.

However, if you look underneath the surface, there are some green shoots for Game. The retailer has been trying to diversify its business of late and is moving into the live events space.

Sales from its new events, esports and digital division surged 80% and it achieved “strong growth” in new retail categories, including preowned phones and tablets and virtual reality headsets.

As a videogames specialist, it will be a tough job to overcome dwindling console sales, but Game is making the right moves to widen its appeal.

The challenge will be growing this burgeoning part of its business to its growth engine over the next few years.

Meanwhile, at Burberry, ‘Brexit tourism’ – overseas shoppers taking advantage of the weak pound – helped UK like-for-likes to surge over Christmas.

Burberry is one of many retailers who are thought to have benefited from savvy overseas shoppers flocking to the UK, with high-street spending on non-UK cards up 22% year-on-year to £725m in December, according to payment specialist Worldpay.