Playstation, Nintendo, Xbox and other computer game magazines are not selling like they used to. Sales in the segment have fallen by more than 50% in the last year in me newsagency. Over the same period benchmark categories of women’s weeklies, women’s interests, other men’s interest segments have grown.
While there has been a reduction in the titles supplied in the Computer game segment, we still have between 15 and 20 pockets allocated at any point in time. This is a considerable amount of retail real-estate.
The game titles remain popular with browsers – but fewer of them convert to paid sales.
We will create a feature display to promote the segment in a few weeks but I suspect that this will not generate a significant kick in sales. People interested in computer games can get access what they want online, free. Online sources are also more timely. Why pay for out of date information?
What got me looking at the category was a customer who picked up a Playstation magazine as the free magazine when she filled her Magazine Club Card. The fiftysomething pointed out that the magazine was for her son. She went on to say he used to buy plenty of magazines but “the Internet changed thatâ€.