The collaboration begins…register and join the GameSupply community!

January 23, 2009 · Posted in Devendra's Blog 

NPD reported a record year for the video game industry for 2008 with sales of $21.33 billion, a 19% increase from 2007. Software sales of $10.96 billion registered a 26% increase, hardware of $7.81 billion with an 11% increase and accessories of $2.57 billion with a 14% increase. Pundits assure us that the industry is poised for continued growth, albeit at a more modest pace than what we saw the last two years. With the existing installed platform systems at an all-time high, optimism about growth prevails.

The GameSupply Conference, which is gathering publishers, retailers and service providers for the first time, appears to be positioned strategically to anticipate and address the challenges to be faced in the current turbulent and somber times.

While the industry is expected to continue to capitalize on technology and its creativity and innovation on the content side, a proactive approach to pursue collaboration, cost reduction and efficiency in the supply chain, from end to end, is going to be the cornerstone for the coming together of all the stakeholders of the interactive entertainment industry.

When you register for GameSupply, you have a unique opportunity to participate in an online community specifically created for attendees of this conference.  When registering for the event, please be sure to say “YES” to the community question on the registration page.  Once registered, please submit your questions to ask the panelists of operations and supply chain executives, the retailers and service providers in the last 100 feet at the upcoming conference on the 11th of February in Burbank.

In addition, I welcome your discussions on some of the following subjects, which I believe have the potential of ensuring the continued profitability of the industry:

The loss of sales to competitors due to out of stocks measures about $800 million.  How can collaborative sales planning, enhanced store execution and B2B connectivity with POS data reduce the loss?

Considering that the industry has no returns policy, are the open to buy dollars constrained, forcing suppliers to replenish in a characteristically volatile market?

Is the level of resource deployed by the retailers adequate and qualified to manage a category that is unpredictable and short-lived?

Do we have something to learn from direct to store delivery and vendor managed inventory, successful a practice of the home entertainment industry?

Is unavailability of store-level POS data a serious detriment to allocating and managing store-level inventory?

How can business intelligence and real time, in-store inventory visibility reduce markdowns?

Both from the viewpoint of sustainability of the environment and overall cost, how effective is packaging of video games?

What can be done to alleviate the product theft and the loss of potential sales due to merchandising constraints?

I believe that supply chain practitioners, who are coming to the GameSupply Conference, are executives who play a pivotal role in improving liquidity by reducing inventories while ensuring decent earnings by reducing waste, particularly in recessionary times. So let us hear from you.

Devendra Mishra

Chief Strategist, MESA; 
Conference Co-Chairman, GameSupply; and
Professor, Decision Sciences
Graziadio School of Business and Management

Tags: , , , ,

Comments

Comments are closed.

  • Hollywood IT Society

  • 2nd Screen Society

  • Content Protection

  • Discmail Direct

  • Signup for the M&E Daily
    * indicates required

  • Stay Connected