Expect huge gaming and tech sales from Raru

Despite being relatively new kids on the block, Raru.co.za has become synonymous with gaming in South Africa.

The founders – who have over 15 years of experience in the online retail world in South Africa – have managed to create a website that feels tailor-made for the South African “geek” audience.

We talked to the people behind the site and discussed how the website came to be, the uniquely South African issues they face, how they deal with the economy, and where they see South African gaming heading.

Firstly would you guys mind introducing yourselves?

The directors of the site are Neil Smith, Jose Perreira and Waine Smith all from Take 2. Neil used to manage the Games for Take 2 and now does the same for Raru.

Another key employee is Ramone Pickover, who is currently the Head of Retail for Raru but used to be the Category Manager for Games at Kalahari.com, and was also the Specialist Games Buyer for Musica.

All in all we have a lot of experience in dealing with challenges of retailing video games online in South Africa.

How did Raru get started?

The directors were also the co-founders of Take 2 (now Takelot) which we sold in 2010. Raru was launched in June 2014 almost two years ago now.

Neil and Waine also founded www.sagamer.co.za , and help run the site and forum.

What are the unique challenges/opportunities you face as a primarily geek/nerd focused website in South Africa?

We know digital media has taken a massive chunk of the traditional physical media sales over the last couple of years. For example a lot of local companies have stopped supplying Blu-rays for their new Movie Releases, focusing on the DVD market.

We do still see Blu-ray releases, but mostly of big titles like the recent Star Wars: The Force Awakens, where we struggled to keep up with customer’s demand for blockbuster movies.

We expect a similar trend for movies like Deadpool, Captain America: Civil War etc.

Whilst the actual media might be moving to the digital side, customers still like to purchase the associated merchandise for the franchises and brands they love.

Would you be able to comment on how your prices are set?

We try and sell our video games at the best possible price we can manage.

Our sales are also heavily driven by new releases and pre-orders. With regards to pre-orders, what has happened a few times already this year is that a supplier might increase the cost price they initially offered us the game at.

What we do is absorb the extra cost at our expense. The price a customer pre-orders at is the price they will pay, no matter if the price increased for us in the meantime.

If the price should drop for some reason we would credit the customer’s profile with the difference.

Where do you see the South African gaming community heading?

Gaming is an ever-evolving beast. eSports seems to be getting bigger all the time. The roll-out of fibre should also help more local people stream their gameplay.

We also look forward to VR when it hits locally. It will be very expensive at first to be sure, but it just might be a game changer – especially on the PS4.

Is there anything you would like to add?

We plan some big sales for our second birthday at the start of June. Watch the site, or Twitter/Facebook for more details closer to the time.