"so you have socks sandals and gears of war 2 sir will that be all"

would be a very odd combination i cant see them competing with the game specialists.

especially when supermarkets sell games like gears of war 2 for under £30 margins are now lost.

oooh arrr - you got your Viva piñaaaaaata, jus' next to your Y-fronts and bag of compost; tha's wa' I call diversification!!!

Actually Next are great for all of my shopping needs - who needs other retailers when you can get everything you need under one fantastic roof?

ps - i bought Mario and Soni at the Olympics on Wii for a bargain £28 - thats £7 cheaper than the likes of Argos!

@3 - PLUG

I don't think it's such a bad idea Next selling games. After all you can buy un derwear and other items from all supermarkets so why not from Next.

Personally Next is one of my favourite retailers whether I purchase online or from one of their stores. If they can be competitive on price and have a good selection then where's the harm in it? If this becomes a success over time look for other non traditional retailers to follow suit.

Do we really want a high st of homogoneous store selling the same products.

Is it old fashioned to think stores should specialise in one or two fields only?

Grocers selling groceries
Clothes stores selling clothes
Hardware stores selling hardware

(6) yes i prefer buying from a store that is more knowledgeable about a specific line of products.

i would hope the staff would be fully trained to give me the best advice.

Personally I don't expect Next to be trying to take over the specialist gaming world! I am happy that I can buy gaming at good prices along with all my other Christmas presents. They have even been getting some Wii Fits so my neighbour Gazza Evans tells me!!!

brilliant!

Another retail store I can go into without hordes of kids milling around stinking of maccies and claiming to have played resi 6 and gears 2.

That kind of service is worth the extra few shillings!

Next have lined up Euk to category manage games for them.
Its launches in store ready for Easter.
A great idea, Next male product lines is the ideal supplement for the gaming market!

@ 10

Really? Another customer to stretch their already limited cashflow and to have another carbon copy top 10 as ASDA, Woolworths, Zavvi etc?

Now that is homogenisation if I heard of it

Each individual customer decides what the top ten should be. Each retailer has a buying team who decide ranges and what products should be stocked, and where.
Euk simply source and distribute the product based on the customer decisions.

Cash flow may stretched at certain parts of the year but availability across retail at present is superb. If it was not then you would have asda, sainsburys et al going crazy!

Just been into my local Tesco, an average supermarket size not a express.

They seem to have removed their range of Top 10 games for PS3/360/Wii and instead have a few 2 for £30 games, across multi-formats and a load of budget dvds.

No Fifa 09, No World Tour, No Smackdown 09, No Gears 2.......Strange.

Have they finally realised selling games at cost gets them nowhere?

@7: Just walk into any "Game" store and see first hand how a dedicated games retailer, can employ a bunch of people incapable of giving "the best advice".

The more the merrier I say... any move that gets a developers hard work into the hands of the people it is created for, is a good move.

I think Next can be successful but need to get the product mix right.

I think Wii and DS which are suited to the family/casual market would be the right way to go along with maybe value priced PC titles that fit in to the casual bracket and don't need specialist knowledgeable staff in store to sell it.

It needs to very much be pick up and purchase type software in store that customers don't need to be advised on. Basically not AAA hardcore games.

By all means online would be a different case and could be opened to a wider range.

NEXT stores employees can be quite helpful, I see this working if A - they can get the prices right, B if they take on the same level of commitment when the product you want is not in their store. IE they will call nearby stores to see if they have it and will retain it for you if they have.
There is also the website, which has everything you see in the directory and more....

Practically every mother in the universe has a Next Directory catalogue on the shelf and if experience is anything to go by, it gets studdied for hours. Ideal placement for potential birthday / christmas presents for the kids.

"Practically every yummy mummy has a next catalogue on the shelf" - they don't fit into the game buying demographic though - they are the ones who buy games from play.com and have them delivered.

They only shop in bricks and mortar boutiques. Next is for their day to day slumming clothes which they wear on their trips to the gym in their 3 year old range rover sport or do their gardening in next jeans.

When they grow a little bit older they migrate to be Marks & Spencers shoppers and they will hold picket line protests about games then outside their local scout hut.

This whole debacle smacks of a desperate attempt to cream some profits off a sector which is 'currently' bucking the economic down turn - even their yummy mummies are now shopping at Topshop.

Personally I think I'll be queueing at the doors come boxing day to mop up their overstocks which will be marked down ala sparkly tops and skirts of minge displaying proportions,

The clue is in the title "Specialist Sector." and companies that take the leap without a suitable custodian of their buying department normally find themselves in the mire.

Good luck - Next!