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Gorilla Games takes a different approach to the retail video game business. Founders Rhodes Thompson and Shipman Northcutt opened the first Gorilla Games store in March 2008. Drawing on their vast experience in wireless retail, Thompson and Northcutt wanted to create a lucrative business that could expand via a complete package – providing partners with all the necessary tools to quickly become profitable and successful video game retailers.
First off, Gorilla Games offers “trademark licensing” instead of franchising, which means that partners (licensees) keep royalties they would otherwise have to pay a franchisor.
“This way, you’re not handcuffed to franchise programs or policies you don’t agree with. You can tailor the business to suit your local market and growth strategy,” explains Stan Marks, Gorilla Games’ director of market development.
The Gorillla Games complete business package includes the unique Gorilla Games® trademark, access to “Gorilla” marketing, the company’s POS System (offered in partnership with iQmetrix) and “Gorilla Trade” System, as well as access to Gorilla Games’ extensive video game and console inventory.
The Gorilla Games POS system is more than a typical POS system. RetailiQ includes everything you need to run and manage your own video game store, such as:
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Customer management with activity and contact scheduling
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Complete inventory management and pricing by store, area or corporate level
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Accounts receivable system with G/L coding
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Reporting on all sections with cross-comparison reporting
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Employee scheduling system
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Embedded help and support system.
“Being equipped with the right tools is necessary to quickly become profitable in video game retail,” says Marks. “And as a licensee, you avoid the steep learning curve associated with franchises – the first one-to-two years spent learning the programs, the market, the staffing requirements and so on. Even after the franchisee learns how to run the business, they still have to pay expensive royalties to the franchisor.
“We don’t do it like that. We charge a very small fixed license fee to help us continue to develop the brand. We want our stores to be entrepreneurial and the license fee to be of value to licensees’ business – all while protecting the Gorilla Games brand and the Trademark License Agreement.”
Also, a typical franchise requires that you pay a percent of your sales, pay for local and national advertising, pay for every change they make to displays, and on, and on. Not with Gorilla Games.
In the end, it’s really about being entrepreneurs. Gorilla Games was founded by entrepreneurs who enjoy working with like-minded entrepreneurs. The business and operations model is designed around a complete business package to make everything easier. The package lets you manage operations and metrics in real-time for each of your Gorilla Games stores.
The rest is up to you.
** For more information about Gorilla Games visit: http://www.gorillagames.com/
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