Retail and Hospitality

Case Study:

GameStop upgrades with Cactus

8 January 2010

Leading gaming retailer GameStop chose Cactus Commerce to help it update its entire e-commerce system and link its store and online offering.

With more than 6,000 stores worldwide and two popular Web sites GameStop is one of the world’s largest video game and entertainment software retailers. The company’s goal was to become an essential part of the gamer community and, to implement their ambitious growth strategy, they required a stable yet flexible e-commerce platform, one that culd facilitate tighter links between stores and online. “Our core vision is to be the research, shopping, and social destination for gamers, with enhanced cross-channel integration that will allow us to maximise our sales in all channels,” says Curt Burgess, director of online operations at GameStop.

GameStop required a number of enhancements to its customers’ cross-channel experience. These included the ability for customers to preorder games online and pick them up in the store, an expansion of the Edge Card discount programme, an update to the existing store-based game trade-in credit programme and an easier system for gamers to post their own content online and provide tailored reviews.

The company’s existing e-commerce system, based on Microsoft Commerce Server 2000, was unable to support many of these cross-channel functions. It also needed a solution that would help reduce customer support costs by providing many self-service features via the Web sites.

“The system had been successful in running our sites for several years, but it had reached capacity and was nearing the end of its life cycle, so it was very challenging to do any type of new development on it,” says Burgess. “For example, the system didn’t allow customers to use multiple payment methods. We wanted to move to a solution that would provide a stable and robust foundation to take GameStop to its next phase of growth.”

GameStop decided implement to an up-to-date e-commerce solution based on Microsoft Commerce Server 2007. This was accompanied by a full system upgrade involving an extensive development and testing cycle, during which GameStop replaced all its front-end e-commerce applications and all its back-end systems, except for its warehouse fulfillment system. Cactus Commerce was the primary integration partner for the entire process.

Cactus Commerce partnered with us up front to learn our business model and brought technical expertise with the Microsoft software.

Curt Burgess, GameStop “Cactus Commerce partnered with us up front to learn our business model and brought technical expertise with the Microsoft software,” says Burgess. “Cactus did the majority of coding and testing of the solution, and also provided effective project coordination.”

In addition to upgrading to Commerce Server 2007, GameStop moved to Microsoft BizTalk Server Enterprise Edition 2006 for integration activities and to Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services for data analysis. GameStop also deployed Microsoft order management and customer service software and Endeca catalog search technology. The upgraded e-commerce sites—GameStop.com and EBGames.com—went live to consumers on March 30, 2008.

The advanced e-commerce capabilities that are built into Commerce Server 2007 were instrumental to GameStop’s efforts to integrate online and stores channels. The new solution allows the retailer to offer store pickup of games preordered online. GameStop also used the advanced catalog, customer, and order management capabilities to expand its store-based game trade-in programme and Edge Card discount programme to its online channel.

GameStop also increased the range of user-generated content that could be presented online. It is now easier for users to post product reviews, participate in discussion forums and preview new games. “We’re now able to offer enhanced reviews that allow users to rate games on more specific, relevant criteria,” says Burgess. “For example, with a racing game, the reviewer can rate the number of different tracks that are offered, and for a fighting game, the number of characters available. As a specialty retailer, we were excited to be able to offer this level of detail.”

With the new solution, GameStop enhanced online customers’ self-service capabilities, making it easier for them to manage their account information and individual order preferences. Previously, customers had to phone or e-mail customer support staff to manage these functions.

GameStop also expanded its product availability look-up capabilities. Online customers seeking a particular game can type their postal code and be shown the three stores closest to them that have it in stock. This type of location-specific product availability is a new feature made possible because of the solution upgrade. “This has had a huge impact, particularly in the used games category,” says Burgess. “If gamers can find used versions of some of the rarer games, they’re often willing to drive to a store to get them.”

As a result of the system upgrade, Gamestop now has a stronger, more flexible e-commerce solution that supports an enhanced customer experience. The company has experienced growth, improved sales and has added new stores while online sales have also improved. It has also seen some of its biggest benefits in cross-channel integration, particularly the in-store pickup capability for games purchased online

The retailer has also achieved many of its support-related goals. Expanded online self-service options have helped it lower online customer service support costs. For the first nine months that the self-service options were available, they accounted for ten to 12 per cent of all customer service contacts at GameStop.

The upgrade to Commerce Server 2007 and integration of BizTalk Server and SQL Server has provided a robust solution that can be leveraged throughout the company, allowing it to provide product data to a range of other systems. GameStop now provides its full product catalogue to customer-facing kiosks located in a few of its stores, along with the enhanced user-generated content available online. This provides customers at stores with access to the retailer’s online content, bringing the online experience into the store environment.

“Online, we’re offering better research tools than we ever have, and we have enhanced our reviews and discussion forums,” says Burgess. “We’re getting great feedback from the gamers who are some of our biggest buyers.” And GameStop as a whole has experienced growth, improving sales and adding new stores.

Since the upgrade, the number of unique visitors to GameStop sites has increased by 14 per cent and the average amount of time that visitors spend there is up by ten per cent. The robust, flexible solution also provides a solid foundation for future growth.

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