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The final entry in our look at the UK’s top indie innovators is niche site GenkiVideoGames.com.
Site proprietor Peter Koeppl says he is catering to the needs of a niche market.
With Amazon the biggest player in the online retail space, more and more online indies are turning to stocking specialist items in a bid to carve out a customer base.
GenkiVideoGames.com is doing things different by imported Japanese titles that are near-impossible to find on the UK High Street.
Our stock is all Japanese. It’s a niche market. The games we sell are not released over here or available on the High Street,” says site proprietor Peter Koeppl.
We import them in but it’s not a case of just getting the games; you have to get them at a good price.”
Koeppl has found that taking this approach has attracted not only gamers, but also collectors.
You can’t just go against Amazon. You have to go niche. And with importing, you get the extras that you don’t get in the west like deluxe and special editions,” states Koeppl.
A lot of our customers are collectors as well. They will often stash one away and buy another one to play the market. Being niche, positive word of mouth can spread quickly too.”
The site is sure to capitalise on titles popular around the world, importing games in as soon as buzz for the product is felt in online forums in the UK.
As soon as an event happens, word gets around, things get translated from the Japanese and then hopefully consumers see that we will stock it.
Moving forward we are trying to cater for the older consoles, so in terms of progressing, we are looking back to retro.”
