Joystick, We Hardly Knew Ye
June 15, 2007
By Josh McIlvain
Video games have come a long way since the days of Pong, Asteroids, and Space Invaders, and their popularity is greater than ever. Many who grew up with the classic games are still playing in their 30s and 40s, and advanced technology entices players in their early teens. Video game consoles, especially Nintendo's Wii, Sony's PlayStations and Microsoft's Xbox 360, are so hot that the demand is outstripping the supply. A most-wanted consumer item, they are equally in demand in the incentive gift market. But who distributes them? Despite the lure of offering one of the hottest products as an incentive gift, video game boxes have been slow to find distributors. This may soon change, however, as one distributor takes on a prime market that has somehow been overlooked.
"It's like the Wild West," says Chris Zane, president of Zane's Incorporated. "There hasn't been any consistency in the availability of these products, and this makes it difficult for the incentive market." Indeed, the major distributors are often out of stock and delivery can be unreliable. Nintendo's Wii—the system most friendly to novices with its motion-sensitive controller—sold over a million units in the first quarter of 2007 and has had to increase production to fill the shortages.
Attracted to the challenge of a hard-to-get incentive gift, Chris Zane is distributing Microsoft Xbox 360. Zane's Incorporated first built its business with bicycles, because in the mid-90s they were "the hardest thing to offer in special market services." Zane sees a similar opportunity today with video game consoles, and he hopes to pioneer the way to "open up the channel for the sale of the product" which for now is being controlled by "consumer pull as opposed to promotional push."
As an incentive gift, Zane observes, today's video game consoles represent "state-of-the-art technology that you want to acquire." Certainly no one wants their employees to play Grand Theft Auto: Miami at work, but "gaming as a whole has grown," Zane explains. "Games are becoming more sophisticated and mature, and [through the Internet] you can set up communities and play with people all over the country. For some people, it's an alternative to going to the bar."
Zane's Incorporated can customize orders of the Xbox 360 with extras. Prices range from $280-$600 per bundle.
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