{"id":56977,"date":"2013-08-05T02:10:59","date_gmt":"2013-08-05T00:10:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/?p=56977"},"modified":"2013-08-05T02:12:48","modified_gmt":"2013-08-05T00:12:48","slug":"sa-pre-order-exclusives-add-retailer-differentiation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/business\/56977-sa-pre-order-exclusives-add-retailer-differentiation","title":{"rendered":"SA pre-order exclusives add retailer “differentiation”"},"content":{"rendered":"

The topic of pre-order exclusivity in South Africa<\/a>\u00a0is a popular one, and a number of the country\u2019s retailers and gaming distributors have chimed in on why pre-order exclusives exist, and if they\u2019re hurting the industry.<\/p>\n

Why pre-order exclusives are offered<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cBeing able to provide exclusive pre-order versions of certain titles to local retailers helps make the offer to the consumer more appealing,\u201d explained a Ster Kinekor Entertainment (SKE) representative, regarding why pre-order exclusives are offered.<\/p>\n

Another local distributor, Apex Interactive, said that pre-order exclusivity is not a priority for them, but does sometimes happen with DLCs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not offer retailers exclusive titles, only a select set of DLC. [It happens rarely] that Apex offers DLCs as an exclusive to certain retailers,\u201d said a spokesperson for Apex.<\/p>\n

Why those retailers?<\/strong><\/p>\n

When asked how certain retailers are chosen, SA distributors gave some insight into why and how the specific stores are chosen.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe specifically look at the retailer\u2019s consumer audience and base what we negotiate with them on who they would be selling to and how best they intend taking the product to market,\u201d said SKE.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe offers proposed to retailers are based on what publishers are able to commit to and SKE endeavour to offer these exclusive deals to different retailers depending on audience, key differentiators, and go to market strategies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Apex Interactive explained that it has to do with stock and availability, as opposed to preference. \u201cThis is not because we favour one retailer over another, it is more to do with quantities. DLC is uses as a pre order incentive,\u201d said Apex.<\/p>\n

\u201cRetailer exclusivity is not something we plan on from day 1,\u201d added Apex.<\/p>\n

Do they limit choice?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is a concern that one retailer carrying a perceived “better” version of a game will mean that other retailers cannot compete on even terms, and SKE explained that the goal is not to give an advantage to one retailer over another.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe aim to work our exclusive pre-order offers to act as a point of differentiation for retailers and their consumer audiences rather than \u2018competing\u2019\u201d, said SKE.<\/p>\n

SKE were asked if it would \u201crotate the strike\u201d, offering the better exclusive pre-order to varying retailers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis would depend on what we are provided by the publishers and what the individual retailers are planning with specific titles and how best the retailer can take the product to market,\u201d said SKE.<\/p>\n

With regards to the future, MyGaming asked SKE if pre-order exclusives are something we’ll be seeing more of, as with the US and EU markets.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are unable to comment on behalf of other publishers, but we will continue to provide added value to our retailers that can better assist sales volumes,\u201d said SKE.<\/p>\n

EA South Africa declined to comment, and Megarom did not respond in time of publication.<\/p>\n

More SA gaming news:<\/h3>\n

\u201cNo cost is too high\u201d for SA gamers<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

SA game System Crash combines\u00a0Magic, cyberpunk elements<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

PS4 pre-order at CNA Online: R500 secures your console<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The truth behind SA game prices<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

SA dev\u2019s Ouya game RED \u201creasonably profitable\u201d<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SA distributors answer questions on the implementation and impact of exclusive retailer pre-order versions of games<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":196,"featured_media":56596,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_enabled":true,"_sma_x_custom_text":"","_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[361,509,813,21,2219,2232,2752,5793,5794,9659,9825],"class_list":["post-56977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-apex-interactive","tag-ea-south-africa","tag-electronic-arts","tag-headline","tag-megarom","tag-pre-order","tag-sa-gaming-market","tag-sa-gaming-news","tag-sa-news","tag-ske","tag-ster-kinekor-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/196"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56977"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56977\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56978,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56977\/revisions\/56978"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}