Best Buy Expands Used Game Trading To Almost 600 Stores

Best Buy is expanding its used videogame trade-in program to “close to 600” stores nationwide in the U.S. this week, and more stores will “soon follow,” it said Thursday. GameStop, by far the U.S. market share leader in used games, didn’t respond right away to a request for comment about Best Buy’s move or Target’s announcement on Wednesday that its new Electronics Trade-In service will allow customers to get credit toward any Target in-store purchase by turning in their new or used videogames, in addition to mobile phones and iPods.

Best Buy executives said in June that the retailer would add sales of used videogames chainwide by late summer, building on a category that it had been testing (CED June 16 p5). It concluded a kiosk-based test in a small number of stores in January, a Best Buy spokeswoman said Thursday. That was before the kiosk company it partnered with filed for bankruptcy (CED May 3 p5). The test launched in June 2009 in Texas and expanded to Georgia in December, the spokeswoman said. “We had about 23 stores in Georgia and I believe close to 40 stores” in Dallas and Austin participating, she said. Best Buy used information from the test “to determine how we wanted to move the offering forward and based on these positive experiences, the time was right to expand the offering chain-wide,” she said.

Trade-in is available for game hardware online now at BestBuy.com, the spokeswoman said. But she said, “We are not taking that in at the store at this time.” She declined to say if the retailer plans to add that later.

Customers will get Best Buy gift cards in exchange for their games. The cards can be used to buy “anything in the store,” it said. Customers trading in games can either go the store’s customer service desk or, in an unspecified number of stores, a dedicated trade-in desk within the game department, the retailer said. “Soon,” customers will also “be able to purchase a pre-owned game,” Best Buy said.

"To celebrate the new offering, customers who trade in their games” starting Sunday will get a $20 Best Buy gift card when they trade in any of “more than 100 popular titles,” it said. A list of qualifying games will be posted at Best Buy’s website Sunday, the spokeswoman said. The program’s expansion “reaffirms our commitment to consistently pursue new ways to bring a better gaming experience to consumers,” said Chris Homeister, senior vice president and general manager for Best Buy’s home entertainment group. “Fall marks the launch of several highly anticipated gaming titles and new technology,” he said. The retailer “will continue to offer a similar program” online at BestBuy.com that allows consumers to get trade in value estimates for their games, mail them in for free and receive a Best Buy gift card 7-14 days later, it said. Trade-in prices at Best Buy stores will match the prices shown at its website, it said.

Target already had a trade-in program in place at Target.com, but the program is now being offered in its stores for the first time, a spokeswoman said Thursday. The program “encourages guests to be eco-friendly,” the retailer said. Guests will receive store credit toward any Target purchase when they trade in items at stores’ Target Mobile counters, it said. Customers will get “from a few dollars up to more than $200 per item depending on the product and its condition,” it said. The in-store program launched in Northern California on Tuesday and “will roll out to additional stores in September, then go wider, it said. Customers can also trade in used electronics and DVDs at Target.com in exchange for a Target gift card, it said. The company’s recycling partner is NextWorth.

Target also expanded a test of Target Mobile in-store wireless shopping stations and launched a 1-877-myTGTtech free product support hotline for all Target CE purchases after a “soft launch” last month, the spokeswoman said.

The support hotline is available to Target customers across the U.S., while Target Mobile and Electronics Trade-In “will roll out in select markets this month,” expand to about 850 stores by December, and then “become available nationwide through 2011,” it said. Target Mobile provides customers with “a convenient and simplified cellphone shopping experience both in-store and online,” it said. The number of stores offering full-service mobile phone centers is widening this summer “as an added convenience to guests,” Target said. The Target Mobile centers are part of a joint program with RadioShack, and will be available in “the majority of Target stores nationwide by mid-2011,” Target said.