Gerry Harvey has stopped fooling around and delved into the dot com world of selling – with his latest move into online gaming sales.Earlier this week, it was announced that Urban Geek Media had signed a deal with the electronics giant, making them the exclusive gaming retailer across all of their websites, which includes Australiangamer, Xboxworld and Gamesradar.
This latest move comes as Chairman Gerry Harvey announced this week he was pulling back from his hardline campaigning of government to place a 10% GST on all online goods ordered from foreign companies, which he spearheaded along with retail powerhouses including Myer, David Jones and the Solomon Lew owned Just Group.
The agreement will also see UGM give the gaming section of their standalone website Harvey Norman.com.au a makeover, adding content like videos and reviews to help drive presales that can be reserved online.
However, for consumers who are waiting for a complete move online by the retail giants will have to wait a little longer – online gaming orders will still have to be collected in-store, making the bricks and mortar business model still king (for now anyway).
Urban Geek, the self-declared male technology group, flouting the slogan “we know Aussie guys” claims to have an audience of 3 million males between 14-44 years old.
UGSM’s other sites includes ufc.com, break.com, collegehumor.com, heavy.com and dedicated gaming sites including Gamesradar.com, 1up.com, MMGN.com and Games.on.net .
“We see UGM as a fantastic way for us to market to gamers – a real way to continue to drive our sales of gaming,” according to Ben McIntosh, GM for Computers at Harvey Norman.
“Having worked with several global brands, UGM is thrilled to be working with a stand-out Australian retail brand like Harvey Norman,’ said Urban Geek Media’s Drew Parkes.
The exact value of the year long deal is undisclosed.
Last month, analysts at Morgan Stanley warned retailers including JB Hi-Fi and Harvey Norman are set to make major financial losses as the growth of online rivals continues.
