In a world traveling at dizzying speeds, traversing highways of digital data and real-time information exchanges, the physical, concrete, and tangible product has returned to being a precious, unique, and sought-after good.
The Store, the physical one, once again stands out as an irreplaceable meeting point where customers, enthusiasts, and Collectors, and the products in question: consoles and video games, can be brought together and connected.
According to some polls and market research, in recent years (we are talking about the pandemic period ranging from its peak in 2020 to the beginning of 2023), the video game market worldwide has generated billions of euros, figures that were considered unthinkable at the time when the pandemic crisis had triggered the rush for goods of far greater immediate utility.
Eppure il media Videogioco has resisted, repopulating servers and communities. Users have also rediscovered something else: the value of a physical place, the smile of a friendly and knowledgeable face that recommends the game you were looking for and stops at the counter to talk about it with you, perhaps offering you a coffee. Not just a store, but a welcoming place where Videogioco truly becomes a means of communication and sociality.
With a growth of 5.2% compared to 2021, physical software reached 15% of the video game market share (Source: I.D.E.A report 2022), an extraordinary figure when we think about what we experienced and that practically confined us to our homes for more than a year.
Quando si parla di "negozio fisico", the most fitting and meaningful example is of course Ambogiochi, our platform’s first pro seller, which offers a tangible experience, giving customers the opportunity to see and touch the products before buying them. This aspect is particularly important for those who frequent the world of Collecting above all, where the packaging itself and any extra contents can influence the purchase decision.
Moreover, beyond the personal advice that a shopkeeper can offer a customer, which is hard to replicate online and certainly not with the same expertise, physical stores like Ambogiochi offer exclusive editions of games or collectible items, the so-called Limited Editions, thereby encouraging people to go directly to the stores to obtain such items.
Il rapporto Dealer/Customer, therefore, takes on strategic importance for the new directions the industry is taking, undoubtedly constituting, also in light of the latest market data and statistics, a valuable asset to rely on for the future.
