Stronger Together 2009: Complete Success

Posted on August 06, 2009 by Teanna Hart

Play N Trade recently concluded its Stronger Together 2009 Show in Las Vegas, Nevada with the Play N Trade Corporate team, franchisees and vendors all in attendance. Throughout the three day conference, it was clear that the futures of the gaming industry and Play N Trade look very bright.

During the conference there were classes offered on sales, product and inventory management as well as marketing in which franchisees were invited to evaluate their marketing plans and event- advertising, then taught how to improve on these strategies.

Michael Mauerer, CEO of Teamwork Retail, offered every attending franchisee a half hour, in-depth private demo of the new software. On Tuesday morning he gave another demonstration of the new Store Operations software. Teamwork did an excellent job evaluating the old Pharos point of sale system and extracting its best features, then built a completely custom software suite from the ground up. Unlike Pharos, the new Store Operations will be more than just a point of sale including operational functionality such as internal messaging, online reporting services, inventory replenishment & forecasting, purchase ordering, and more!

Another key address at the conference was given by Jeff Manatrey from Ingram Entertainment regarding the video game industry and what the future holds for Play N Trade. Some key points included:

• In 2008, video games were the only portion of the entertainment retail industry to grow. Most other sections (music, movies, etc) stayed even or dropped
• The average citizen spends $47.70/month on entertainment. Video games have a 33% share of that monthly budget, generally receiving $15.91/month

Also noted was Play N Trade’s innovative new store design, which was unveiled in Chicago in May 2009. For the new design, Play N Trade hired EWI Worldwide to research the gaming industry. Research found that while the typical video gamer was changing, the retailers were not. Based on the findings, Play N Trade designed a layout to appeal to both casual gamers and mothers while still staying true to dedicated gamers.

Also presenting at the conference was Dr. Bill Magee, founder of Operation Smile, a non-profit organization that has performed over 100,000 reconstructive surgeries on children in over 40 countries. Dr. Magee discussed how Play N Trade franchisees could team up with Operation Smile to give back to the community both locally and globally. After his emotional presentation, many franchisees were quick to discuss ways they could help.

In his closing address, Play N Trade CEO Larry Plotnick received a standing ovation as he discussed exciting new changes within Play N Trade’s organization. Many tools have and will be used to result in the ultimate success of Play N Trade and each franchisee. Plotnick again reiterated the sentiment that it’s a great time to be in the gaming industry and that Play N Trade has an incredible future.