GameStop Strategy Focuses on eCommerce, Fulfillment

GameStop, the world’s biggest video game retailer, is focusing its strategy on eCommerce and fulfillment after adding new C-suite talent scooped up from Amazon.

Matt Furlong was appointed chief executive officer, and Mike Recupero as chief financial officer, in June and July, respectively. The company also appointed Ryan Cohen, the co-founder of Chewy.com, as chairman in June.

See also: GameStop Poaches Amazon Execs For Its CEO, CFO

Headquartered in Grapevine, Texas, and founded in 1984 as Babbage, GameStop was the video game darling until streaming took hold and changed the landscape of interactive and competitive gaming. Still, the retailer is hanging on tight, having experienced an injection of capital thanks to a meme stock rally that took most investors by surprise.

Read more: GameStop’s Post-Meme Transformation Takes Two Steps Forward

Although the retailer is ramping up eCommerce efforts under the guidance of its new leadership, physical stores and fulfillment centers are very much top of mind for the company that started out with just 30 stores. As of January, GameStop was operating 4,800 stores around the globe, with the majority — 3,192 — in the U.S., according to the company’s annual reports.

Last year, the company closed 462 stores and then shuttered more than 1,000 retail outlets in March as the video game franchise made the definitive pivot to eCommerce. Now, it is homing in on fulfillment and long-term growth initiatives, according to its second-quarter earnings report.

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GameStop is planning to expand its product catalog and add new talent to its workforce, in addition to building out its fulfillment capabilities and investing in new technologies. The retailer recently leased a 530,000 square foot warehouse in Reno, Nevada, and also added a customer care center in Pembroke Pines, Florida. In May, GameStop leased a 700,000-square-foot fulfillment center in York, Pennsylvania.

Before these additions, the retailer’s U.S. fulfillment requests were handled at two facilities in Grapevine and one in Shepherdsville, Kentucky.