GameStop has been trying to deal with a lot of issues lately. Due to declining sales in a wide number of segments, GameStop even had to seek out a buyer for the company, although that didn’t pan out.
Part of the strategy for staving off closure in the face of declining software and hardware sales is to diversify greatly in terms of the products GameStop offers in its stores. Anyone who goes into a GameStop nowadays will notice that less and less games are being focused on the shelves of a given retail outlet, with much more shelf space being devoted to Funko POPS!, figurines and other geek-related schwag that often attracts a younger and atypical audience. Another part of this strategy is the merger of ThinkGeek, the gaming and geek online and retail brand that GameStop acquired a while back.
ThinkGeek will merge the majority of its inventory and branding with GameStop’s supply chains, giving more than 3,700 stores an infusion of more stuff to hawk. ThinkGeek will cease operating their separate site on July 2, 2019.
As part of this merger, a portion of ThinkGeek staff have been laid off from their jobs. Many of those affected are directly related to running the ThinkGeek site and warehouse infrastructure, as well as marketing.
GameStop confirmed that layoffs have taken place, providing a prepared statement.
“GameStop recently announced that it is engaging in a strategic business transformation initiative to build the GameStop of the future,” a GameStop spokesperson told GameDaily via email. “As part of this company-wide effort, we have made the decision to reorganize our ThinkGeek business by streamlining the operations of our ThinkGeek.com ecommerce platform and transitioning it within our GameStop.com omnichannel platform.
GameStop still has a way to go though, as the recent announcement of earning caused more investors to jump ship, causing a noticeable dip in the already terribly low stock price. Since that fall, the company has been struggling to regain its footing. It’s also safe to say that public opinion is still thoroughly against the company, and that’s likely not to change despite an inventory and focus pivot.
