GameStop investor Ryan Cohen is pushing the company to take a hard look at putting a bigger emphasis on digital sales as parter of a larger strategic review.
In a letter to the company’s board of directors, first spotted by Reuters, Cohen wants the digital sales focus to be part of a move away from the traditional brick and mortar model.
“GameStop needs to evolve into a technology company that delights gamers and delivers exceptional digital experiences – not remain a video game retailer that overprioritizes its brick-and-mortar footprint and stumbles around the online ecosystem,” Cohen wrote.
Cohen’s Venture Equity company, RC Ventures LLC owns 10 percent of GameStop. He upped his level of investment in the retailer in September and there was reportedly some who thought he might make a move to join the board. In a financial filing on Tuesday, Cohen said he was in fact, not interested in that move.
GameStop has been trying to find a way to turn around flagging sales figures for months. The added financial pressure of the coronavirus saw the company reduce executive pay and reopen some stores earlier this spring when the pandemic had just started to rage.
Last month, the firm announced a new strategic partnership with Microsoft. That partnership is geared towards being beneficial financially for GameStop while also changing the way store associates go about their business, including carrying Surface laptops around the sales floor, thereby making them more accessible to customers.
Earlier this month, the firm offered customers the chance at buying special PlayStation 5 bundles to preorder, just one day before the console officially launched.
For its part, it wasn’t clear what, if any reaction the company’s board of directors had to Cohen’s treatise on moving towards digital sales over a physical retail strategy.
About the author
