GameStop's Master Comeback Plan: Reselling Used Apple Products
Used Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 games will not save GameStop from plummeting even further as the company seems to have taken a new approach to rebuilding its business with Apple products.
By taking in and reselling iPads, iPods and iPhones, the video game giant hopes to regain some of the stock it lost as it took a 26 percent dive in recent years.
The company began taking trade-ins of Apple devices in September of last year and this did not seem to be anything more than another way to generate extra profits. However, this move to used Apple products was all part of a master plan to get the retailer back on track, and avoid suffering the same fate as Blockbuster and Circuit City.
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A recent report in the San Francisco Chronicle confirms this plan as the publication stated that GameStop opened a $7 million Refurbishment Operations Center around the same time it began taking Apple device trade-ins.
This division's goal is to refurbish these Apple items and prepare them for re-sale. Once the device is fixed, it is sent back to GameStop to be sold for a marked up price, earning the retailer a nice a profit on a gadget that could have been discarded otherwise.
Apple also benefits off a refurbished program as the company sells used gadgets for a solid price. Buying a refurbished Apple product from the company can save the customer anywhere from 10 to 20 percent.
GameStop originally announced that it would offer customers $180 for an iPod Touch, $300 for an iPhone, and $400 for an iPad depending on the device's condition. Now the retailer has changed its pricing, offering $148 for an iPad, $360 for an iPhone, and $388 for an iPad.
