Products
Gamestork’s primary product is a subscription-based video game rental service where customers order
selections through the Company’s website and receive them quickly via postal mail. Competitive
advantages for our firm include: [Jon please edit]
 Targeted marketing – Driving growth through a lucrative customer base.
 A superior website – Providing a top-notch customer experience while adding to top-line growth
with recommendations and referral systems
 Lower overhead – Eliminating costs borne by older competitors in our market space.
PRODUCTS
Game Rental
Gamestork’s primary product is a subscription-based video game rental service.
Customers order selections through the Company’s website and receive them quickly,
often the next day, via postal mail. This distribution system is modeled after the success
of NETFLIX in the DVD/home movie market. Unlike traditional video game renters,
Gamestork allows customers to play for as long as they want—with no time restrictions
on the rental and no late fees. When done playing, a customer simply drops the respective
game in the provided business reply envelope and can order a new game after receipt by
the Gamestork warehouse. In addition, customers may purchase their favorite rentals at
discounted prices.
Gamestork Advantages Over Traditional Brick-and-Mortar Renters
1. No late fees, ever. No due dates.
2. Free shipping, always.
3. No driving, no lines.
4. Buy your favorite games at discounted prices.
5. Customers play as many games as desired for a fixed monthly price.
6. Queueing system to automatically get games.
7. Great selection through a centralized warehouse.
The Company will strive to make all modern video games available to consumers, on
major platforms such as Sony Playstation 2, Nintendo GameCube, and Microsoft Xbox.
Gamestork will also stock redundant inventory designed to handle sharp demand for a
particular title, not unlike traditional brick-and-mortar rental establishments. Yet through
the use of a centralized warehouse system, Gamestork will be able to efficiently stock a
wider variety of game titles than a typical retail presence. The Company will appeal to a
diverse population through game selection, stocking new hot titles, classics on older
systems, rare titles, and even imported games. Thus customers can use the Gamestork
rental service to get games not previously possible.
Gamestork will make the experience of renting games as convenient as possible. The
consumer’s experience starts on the Company’s website: www.gamestork.com. The
consumer first signs up for an account: providing payment information, choosing a
payment plan, and entering referral codes (which can be designed to track marketing
campaigns or handle other promotions).
Then Gamestork’s newest customer uses the website as a gateway to the Company’s
extensive stock of video games. Customers may search for a game in mind, pick from top
charts, or see what other users have recommended. Reviews from fellow customers and
pundits also enhance the game selection experience. Gamestork will also develop
intelligent software that will “learn” an individual customer’s likes and dislikes and
suggest personalized game recommendations.
After picking a game to rent, our system will handle the logistics involved and ship the
respective game to the customer, free of charge. A customer can also put games in their
“Gamestork queue,” where new games can be set for shipment after old games have been
returned, thus allowing Company customers to set queues for many cycles in advance.
The customer receives the game in a Gamestork-branded envelope, with possible
promotions available for incentives for friends to sign up. Enclosed inside will be the
game and a business-reply envelope with prepaid postage. After playing the game for any
desired length of time (while the customer’s subscription is still valid), the customer may
elect to either purchase the game and not send it back, or send the game back in the
aforementioned envelope.
DEVELOPMENT PLAN
Gamestork’s fully-functioning website positions the Company favorably to launch
limited-scale operations in the near future for a real-time test of the Company business
model. The Company believes it can use bootstrap financial techniques to acquire an
initial customer base through low-cost guerilla marketing techniques.
Marketing
Stage 1: proof of
concept
(Bay Area)
Internet and
personal word-ofmouth.
Forums/Internet ads.
Referral marketing.
Inventory
No warehouses:
inventory at
personal residence
System
Fully-functional
website
Stage 2: maturity
(California)
Stage 3: expansion
(United States)
Stage 1, plus college
campus
representatives,
High school
newspapers and
activities
No warehouses
initially, with
addition scaled to
demand
Beta IT System to
monitor distribution
centers
All prior, plus
subscriber retention
efforts.
Warehouses
strategically placed
throughout the US
(near urban cores).
Maturity of
Distribution IT
Business goal
Proof of concept
Service
differentiation
Revenue sharing
with game
publishers
STAGE 1
Stage 1 represents Gamestork’s proof of concept run in a local San Francisco Bay Area
introduction. Limiting the scale of initial-stage growth allows Gamestork to cut
fulfillment costs while achieving market penetration in a key urban sector. Marketing will
be relatively low cost with internet and personal word-of-mouth, free internet forum and
low-cost search engine advertisements, and the start of a strong referral marketing
program.
Obstacles include customer acquisition, marketing to lucrative target markets, and
controlling costs of acquiring inventory. Customer acquisition will be Gamestork’s most
aggressive goal, with all marketing efforts directed towards this goal (see marketing
section). To mitigate costs of procurement, Gamestork can buy initial amounts from lowprice club stores that guarantee satisfaction and allow possible return for slumping
inventory. Costs of actually storing and processing inventory should be low to none, with
a personal residence serving as a warehouse and the founding team handling logistics.
STAGE 2
In Stage 2, Gamestork introduces service to the urban areas of Southern California,
including Los Angeles and San Diego. Shipping times can remain low with a focus on
California-wide service, yet the immense size and demographics of the California gaming
market keep the opportunity appealing.
Stage 2 witnesses the maturity of Gamestork marketing efforts. College campus
representatives will capitalize on the college-student market, while marketing in
secondary schools and to tweens will bear fruit. No warehouses will be initially rented,
but as the inventory IT system develops, warehouses can be added in strategic regional
locations as demand increases.
A major goal at this time is service differentiation, as outlined in the competitive
positioning portion of this document.
As the Company scales up, the development plan calls for the introduction of a skilled
and experienced chief executive officer (CEO). Ideal characteristics of such a projected
person can be found in the attached job description and specification.
STAGE 3
Stage 3 will end the initial chapter of Gamestork, as warehouses are added to other urban
centers throughout the United States, such as New York. The focus on urban centers
continues to keep fulfillment quick and low-cost (translating into higher customer
satisfaction), while capitalizing on attractive demographics.
A major business goal should be the development of revenue-sharing contracts with
major game publishers, modeled after NETFLIX’s agreements with major movie industry
players. This allows Gamestork to cut procurement costs and reduce risks inherent in new
games and possible flops.
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