Why bother going to GameStop.com and having the whole of the video game retailers' inventory at your fingertips when you can visit a severely limited GameStop Facebook store instead? It's got 'Like' buttons!
GameStop's new Facebook store doesn't hold a candle to GameStop.com. It features a limited selection of sale items, bestsellers, new items, and games available for preorder, a store locator, and that's pretty much it. There's no search function, so what you see on the page is what you get. It seems like an odd move to those used to shopping via the website.
Of course, not everyone shops via the website. With nearly two million likes on Facebook, the world's largest video game retailer has good reason to set up shop on the world's largest social network.
"Social commerce on Facebook is a natural complement to our trusted store and online networks," said Kelly Mulroney, vice president of ecommerce at GameStop. "We have millions of customers already engaging with us on Facebook, and ShopFans gives those loyal fans more reasons than ever to shop GameStop across multiple channels."
Mulroney is referring to Adgregate Markets' ShopFans platform, the technological force behind the GameStop Facebook store, delivering a secure marketplace with the social connections that make having a shop on Facebook worthwhile.
Customers visiting the Facebook store will be able to purchase and preorder select games, earning points with the retailers' Power-Up Rewards program in the process. More importantly, visitors will be able to 'Like' products directly in the store, starting up conversations that will generate the sort of buzz that sells product.
So yeah, it sounds crazy, but it just might work. In this strange of wondrous social networking-powered world, 80's sitcom logic can indeed win the day.