About Me  | Most Recent Posts Videogame Supplier dancesWITHdigital Killed the Retail StarPosted Jul-13-07 00:06:45 PDT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: In a move seen by industry pundits as "risque", Australian video game wholesaler dancesWITHdigital (www.danceswithdigital.com) tells retailers to 'get stuffed', opting to supply direct on ebay rather than supply retailers the traditional way. Lisa Dance, Australian Channel Manager said "It's been a long time coming. dancesWITHdigital is embracing the new age, and our supply management solution has left many of retailers redundant. Rather than swimming with elderly retailers, unwilling to help themselves, we have chosen to supply entirely online." Is it solely eBay? "We have an entirely un-tiered strategy, which allows for growth with more flexibility than our competitors can offer. We've chosen to test eBay since 1999, and it will become a core channel in ensuing months. We are talking with other potential partners, however, and it is more than likely that eBay will not be the only channel. This will to a large degree depend on how successful eBay will allow us to be...the main thing is that customers will win. That's why we're doing it". Several of Australia's largest retailers, who cannot be named, have been left cold. A disgruntled Distribution Manager of one of the largest retailers in the country, and a major sport sponsor said "We've been left with hundreds, possibly thousands of customers, who we can no longer supply. We just cannot compete if the distributor goes direct. in an age of the internet, our loyal customer base is flocking to our supplier. It's just not cricket." Indeed. One may ask was it ever cricket to begin with? When asked if the rules had changed, he declined to comment, but it is alleged that a brief statement had been leaked to the press, under suppression via a swift court order to prevent the details being printed. But publishers seem much happier with the deal. "As long as performance targets are reached for console video game software, we've no official opinion as to how that should be achieved. Evidently, traditional channels are no longer the only way to distribute, and we recognise the potential of eBay and Alibaba as new ways to represent our productstoo a technology-savvy market" says Jeff Hilbert, a US-based agent for many of the publishers with which dancesWITHdigital deals directly. Customers stand to gain discounts of as much as $70 from retail prices of $99.95 at store level, for items such as the strikingly best-selling Battlefield 2142 for PC, in the Top 10 games for PC in the USA for over 6 months. Battlefield 2142 is a first-person shooter computer game designed by Digital Illusions CE and is the fourth game in the Battlefield series. Its 64 player-simultaneously appeal is matched by the first-person shooter's popularity, with over one million rounds played since it's release. "I love how it's set in a new Ice Age, and it feels pretty real too. The Aussie version of the game doesn't have the in-game ads either, because it's not allowed under the Australian Spyware Act, so it's even better" says Ms Dance's 19 year old nephew, Alex. In response to his comments, she said "He's probably our best advertisement, since all his friends know where his Aunt Lisa works, and have nearly bowled him over in the rush to get it when they found out he paid $30 for this $100 game". Similar savings can be made on Nintendo Wii, and XBOX 36O titles. We couldn't see much PS3 in the line-up, but Ms Dance assures us that "this is a function of the poor sell-through performance of the PS3 console. With Sony's price drop in the USA, we expect a flow-on in Australia, and a seasonal change as a result in terms of PS3 game distribution". "With the older style retailers out of the picture, we can expect significant decreases in price for consumers quick enough to snap up the stock offered" says Mr Edwin, Consumer Analyst, of MBFO Holdings, the fulfilment company which delivers stock for dancesWITHdigital. "Just look at the dancesWITHDigital feedback they've received from customers already during the testing phase. Now that ebay shows the item that was purchased on the feedback page, it is easy to see how much people have saved, at a glance. Compare with online retailers, and the difference is always there, but in most cases is nothing short of devastating." Less impressed, however, is Joshua Kline, spokesman for dooverlackies (www.dooverlackies.com), another eBay seller, who uses the MBFO system to distribute. "While dancesWITHdigital has some unique titles, so do we. It is true that we compete on certain titles, which is why it's so important that Dooverlackies.com also has the lowest freight in the world. We feel that this cannot be overlooked. We've spent an enormous amount of money getting our products and our freight component aligned, and Dooverlackies uses a proprietary management system to allow no more than AU$5 to be charged to Australian buyers, no matter what they buy, or how much, and our worldwide charge is AU$9, which is simply unmatched for orders advertised at 'any size'. Our largest orders ship anywhere in the world for $9, and for that reason, we fly alone". Buyers agree. One says "fast delivery, very well packaged, very friendly and easy to contact", another commenting "Fast, reliable seller. Item as describe and shipped promptly. Excellent!" With customers easily able to get cheap freight and similar items, dancesWITHdigital may have more ground to cover than just providing the item at the cheapest price. Not so, says Ms Dance, "We do have a crossover on similar items, but many of our PC, Sony PS2, PSP and Microsoft XBOX titles are exclusive. Our research has shown that buyers don't require subsidised freight to lure them to buy. They just want the right product, at the absolutely lowest price possible. As long as freight is reasonable, and the item is genuine (as opposed to fake software being sold on ebay from Hong Kong and Thailand) we'll have happy buyers. Our customer feedback has previously shown this to be true, and this is a trend we expect to continue." An even bigger threat to local competition is piracy. Fake items stem from Asia mostly, but even some reputable Canadian sellers purporting to sell genuine items have allegedly been found shipping bootlegged items, in an increasingly competitive market. We asked Mr Edwin from MBFO about his concerns about piracy. "One thing has become increasingly clear... and that is we all have to be vigilant in our pursuit of justice against pirates selling fake games from Asia, in western markets." Many people still believe that just because they are buying on eBay, they are safe. Nothing could be more inaccurate. How to tell if you're getting a fake (pirated) copy of a game? "First, look at where the seller is located. If the seller is from Thailand, China, Hong Kong, or anywhere else in Asia, ask the seller to photograph a full-sized original manual (in English) at several places within the manual (page numbers you specify) and both sides of the box. Most will not respond, and if they do, you don't get these with the item you buy. This is how you can tell officially distributed, Australian items are the real deal. We ship for both dancesWITHdigital and Dooverlackies, and they are both super-vigilant about this issue, as they distribute official items only, and share an interest with the customer that the customer gets what the customer pays for" said Mr Edwin. "Piracy will decrease when Western buyers smarten up". It appears that has already begun to happen, but with more children buying on their parents' eBay account, the only thing that lures them is the lower prices. Thankfully, with dancesWITHdigital leading the way in direct-distribution, now customers can get genuine games for close to 'pirated prices'. This was previously seen as impossible, but the proof of such a claim is there on eBay for all to see. When the dust settles, old retailers may be left wondering what has happened to their game sales, and customers may even tell them it was dancesWITHdigital, but only when they've finished playing. And that may some time in the future. Daniel H. Pink is the author of Free Agent Nation and the forthcoming A Whole New Mind. |
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