PYMNTS-MonitorEdge-May-2024

GameStop’s Losses Widen as it Moves to eCommerce Retail

GameStop's Losses Widen as it Moves to eCommerce

Seeing losses in the fiscal Q3, GameStop also saw its shares fall by 4%, CNBC reported Wednesday (Dec. 8).

The company’s net loss was $105.4 million — an increase from the $18.8 million loss from 2020 at the same time — while its total revenue was at $1.30 billion.

GameStop said its sales grew as it fostered new relationships with brands like Samsung, LG, Razer and Vizio. Meanwhile, inventories grew during the quarter as the company tried to get ahead of supply chain challenges, particularly as the holidays approached.

GameStop’s current goal is to get away from brick-and-mortar retail and transition to eCommerce. To help achieve this, it has acquired several new leaders, including Chewy co-founder Ryan Cohen to lead its turnaround as chairman of the board.

Cohen was behind hiring ex-Amazon execs Matthew Furlong and Mike Recupero as CEO and CFO, respectively.

However, the new leaders have been vague on strategy and haven’t answered questions as to their outlook. In a call Wednesday (Dec. 8), Furlong said that the company has hired over 200 senior employees from top tech companies and has expanded merchandise, adding more personal computing gaming items.

Furlong also said that GameStop was looking into its options with things like blockchain, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and Web 3.0 gaming.

GameStop faced more attention earlier this year when it got flooded with attention from Reddit posts and the “meme stock” frenzy, with day traders looking to fight back against what they saw as overly powerful hedge funds. Other companies that fell under that trend included AMC and Bed, Bath & Beyond.

Last month, PYMNTS reported on GameStop’s intentions to add jobs in NFTs and Web3 gaming, writing that there were eight new openings as of October which focused on product marketing for NFTs, software engineers and Web3 gaming heads.

See also: GameStop Opens NFT, Web3 Opportunities

The listing said creators would not only build games, but also “the components, characters and equipment.”

The company was also looking at hiring a senior software engineer for supply chain technology, to help get products to customers “fast and efficiently.”

PYMNTS-MonitorEdge-May-2024