Sales giant Asmodee has opened a temporary board game store in the middle of Essen's shopping mile. The publisher attracts customers with “selected promotional items” at low prices. What is well received by fans is met with criticism by some specialist retailers.
A Saturday at the beginning of August in Essen city center: A long queue forms in front of a shop right at the gate of the shopping mile. The air in the shop is thick due to the warm and humid weather, and customers are unusually happy to wait at the checkout. The reason: Asmodee, one of the largest German game publishers and also a sales company, has opened a so-called pop-up store. There are promotional items at low prices in the board game warehouse until the end of the year.
The YouTube scene celebrates the store, fans are delighted with the offering, which ranges from family games like Camel Up or Colt Express to connoisseur titles such as Ankh or Precognition and also appeals to experts who are looking for games like Hallertau. Anyone who likes to hunt for board game bargains should have found what they are looking for and will continue to find it. In addition, the selection is sometimes aimed at beginners, so the store can definitely serve as a door opener into the scene.
For the publishing heavyweight Asmodee The store on the site of the former Jysk store is a good opportunity to empty the full warehouses. The idea also suited the city of Essen. “With the board game warehouse, a specialist store for games is finally coming back to Essen’s pedestrian zone,” says Svenja Krämer, city manager of Essen Marketing GmbH. The new offer was well received on opening day. So everyone is happy? Not quite. Criticism is particularly loud from specialist retail circles. In an interview with WAZ, Asmodee boss Udo Fischer stated that they wanted to get more people to play. Ultimately, specialist retailers who also exist in Essen (including White Rabbit at Segerothstraße 79 or AllGames4you at Langenberger Straße 436) would benefit from this. And actually: The basic idea is correct - the more people like games, the larger the group of potential customers.
In addition, retailers could display flyers in the store and sell the promotional goods that are available in the board game warehouse at the same prices. The problem: The small specialist retailers usually rent space outside the city centers because the rent is cheaper, but the typical walk-in customers are rarely there. Instead, small businesses rely on participation or marketing campaigns. They attract interested parties to the stores with gaming tournaments or trading card events and then hope that they too might even become regular customers. When purchasing - including board games - two factors usually determine: How high is the price? How much effort does it take?
In terms of price it depends Asmodee no better than the specialist retailer, but the city location is already an important factor for quick, spontaneous purchases directly from the specialist retailer. A simple idea, but too short-sighted, as Asmodee emphasizes.
Visibility for specialist retailers
“We support stationary specialist retailers” is emblazoned when you visit the website for the temporary shop. And the Essen gaming experts are actually serious, as a query shows. “Before communicating to the outside world, we had a personal exchange with retailers from the region and the reactions were consistently positive,” explains Asmodee spokeswoman Elena Anna Ebbert. Two large posters were set up in the pop-up store - in the shop window and in the shop area - which drew customers' attention to Asmodee's specialist retail partners. “There is also a store finder on the website,” says Ebbert – and flyers from retailers in the region will also be displayed.
At this point you inevitably come across another point of criticism: the regional limitation. Retailers behind this drawn “boundary line” do not benefit from the opportunity to offer promotional goods at promotional prices. Why? “We simply had to draw a sensible limit based on the known shopping radius,” explains Ebbert. “Of course, people from other regions also come to Essen city center, but the focus is on the immediate region.” Remedy for those who feel ignored is simply to create communication: “If voices are raised about this pro forma limit, we will of course also enter into individual dialogue with these specialist retailers,” appeals Ebbert. “Our desire to implement the pop-up store in parallel with a good relationship with our partners obviously does not apply exclusively to the region in which we are based.”
By the way: “Further campaigns to support retailers are already being planned,” reveals Asmodee’s new addition to the PR department. These are not just empty words. Because: “The initial response from customers shows that the retailer is being seen,” sums up Ebbert around two weeks after the store opened. “We are already receiving feedback from retailers that customers are also contacting them - so the concept is working.”
In the medium term, there could be helpful synergies for specialist retailers because game fans - if they have taken a liking to the hobby - not only go hunting for bargains, but also buy games at regular prices after they are released. These are not available in Asmodee's board game warehouse, but rather at those retailers who may still be struggling with the gaming giant's new project.
In any case, Asmodee attracted attention. The publisher's review of the opening day at the beginning of August is positive: "We are really pleased that the rush was so high," says Elena Anna Ebbert, summarizing the voices from the Essen publishing house. “Of course, we reacted within our means by regulating admission and handing out water and sweets to bridge the waiting times. We also entered into a dialogue with people and informed them that we would still be there all year round - but everyone was happy to queue up to take advantage of the opening offers." In the end, the team had their hands full and “that’s exactly what makes a store like this the most fun.” Managing director Udo Fischer pitched in, scanning the purchases at the checkout and packing bags. “A successful day all around!” says Ebbert happily.
There could hardly have been a better location in downtown Essen: the board game warehouse is located at the “gate” of the shopping mile, which leads from there down to the Limbecker Platz shopping center. The frequency of so-called walk-in customers is high in this area, the place is something of a bottleneck in Essen city. Asmodee expects this to have some positive effects for the industry. “Our goal is basically to build on the newfound enthusiasm of many people from the Corona period,” says Ebbert. “We would like to open the door to this wonderful, colorful world in the long term for people, especially from target groups that we have only partially reached so far, and thus turn them into regular players. Ultimately, our goal is always to get people excited about gaming - and with this location we are in exactly the right place.”
No direct competition with specialist retailers
With a view to the Christmas business, the idea definitely has potential – for everyone involved. Are there already plans for further cooperation with local retailers? “In addition to the opportunity for specialist retailers to adapt offers from the board game warehouse throughout the entire term, there is a serious factor that clearly puts specialist retailers ahead of the board game warehouse: people can only get sought-after new products that are available in specialist retailers There is no pop-up store,” explains Ebbert. In addition, customers would, for example, receive game expansions for basic games that they bought in the pop-up store from specialist retailers. “It is extremely important to us to promote cooperation – especially with a view to the Christmas business – with specialist retailers and not to enter into direct competition,” said the Asmodee spokeswoman. Therefore, there is always intensive exchange.
The reason for implementing the project was high inventory levels: “Last year was somewhat slowed down compared to the Corona years, that’s very clear,” says Ebbert. “With the end of the lockdowns and general restrictions, people had all sorts of opportunities to spend their free time again and were happy to be able to leave their four walls again. Of course that had an impact on us. However, we are now observing a consistently positive development.” Ultimately, Asmodee did not want to give specific figures on the filling quantities in the warehouse.
“Deals” have long been a constant in the scene; hardly any retailer can do without this special incentive to motivate customers to shop: “Bargain hunting is certainly widespread in all sectors,” says Elena Anna Ebbert. Ultimately, the pedestrian zones have recently been full because of the summer sales, for example in the fashion industry. “Of course we also relied on this incentive. In the past, exactly these measures have shown, for example at trade fairs, how popular good offers are. We are happy to make people happy, to win new customers and at the same time to create space for great new products that specialist retailers can then offer.” The aim is to create a (new) basis for trading, especially through people who are playing for the first time.
Ebbert confirms that the board game warehouse will be available in downtown Essen until the end of December. And then? “We are of course very pleased about the initial response and the great rush as well as the increased demand from specialist retailers. At this point in time – just a few weeks after the opening – it is impossible for us to make a statement about such a far-reaching decision.”
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