GameStop (NYSE: GME), one that has been successful for many years in the distribution and production of various video game products, is faced with new challenges this year due to the coronavirus and other competitors that desire to outsell them.
Although GameStop has been expected to be a Black Friday standout in comparison to other competitors such as Walmart (NYSE: WMT), Best Buy (NYSE: BBY), Target (NYSE: TGT), and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), they have been limiting their carrying rate, thus making video game consoles such as Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) Xbox Series X and S, as well as Sony's (NYSE: SNE) PlayStation 5 available online only in order to limit crowds due to the coronavirus.
Consumers found that they could not find the game consoles in stock even online, in spite of the fact that they were initially informed or led to believe otherwise. It is estimated that some consumers, at places such as California GameStop, had waited in line up to 36 hours in order to purchase the new PlayStation 5.
In comparison to other companies, such as Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), and Samsung, Sony and Microsoft did not have a very strong ability to predict how many customers would purchase their products, and how much inventory that they would be in need of. All gaming items are expected to be sold out for quite some time, since the average number of units as well as the restocking plans are left so far into the unknown. Supply and demand rates were left unmanageable even to these major companies who are typically competent in the way that they are able to sell their products. Customers were left feeling ultimately dissatisfied and even more eager to receive the products that have become in even further demand since Black Friday.
Due to the competitive nature of the video game industry, GameStop has increased their necessity to appeal to customer satisfaction regarding the selling and distribution of these new gaming products. But there are still other companies who wish to outdo GameStop in terms of how many products they will sell.
GameStop is predicted to nevertheless be a standout because of their promise to soon restock of nextgen consoles and their respective games, as well as to make sales on newly trending game consoles such as the Nintendo (OTC: NTDOY) Switch. But all the distributors have one thing in common, and that is their inability to foresee when the gaming items will be available for restock. Customers may have to wait some time before this happens, but hopefully it will be an investment that will be well worth it in the end.