MyGames - Business Lounge

Roy Hui, owner of MyGames.com.au and MMGN.com.

An active online video gaming community
was the launch pad for MyGames.com.au, an online games retailer. Owner
Roy Hui shares his story.

How did you come up with the concept of MyGames?

We run one of the largest Australian video games websites, MMGN.com. On MMGN our members talk about where to buy games, how to sell games and they swap games frequently. We listened to what our members were using the site for and created the MMGN Marketplace: a place to buy, sell and trade games with other MMGN members. We soon realised that we should open this up to everyone, rather than restricting it to existing MMGN members. We created MyGames.com.au in December 2011.

What does the MyGames customer base look like?

Because MyGames grew out of the MMGN site, we already had a strong customer base before the retail site was officially launched. Our customers are active and informed gamers, aged 18 to 34, who are also MMGN.com members. They interact frequently on MMGN.com, making new friends, talking about games and learning about games. The challenge was getting them to take out their credit cards and buy games from us.

We also decided that MyGames customers should not be restricted to existing gamers. We have started to attract more diverse customers, such as grandparents buying games for their grandkids, siblings buying games for each other and organisations using and exploring games for their employees or customers.

How have you optimised the site for this new type
of customer?

We made the MyGames site very simple and accessible. Searching
for a game and related information is super easy and buying a game
is always one click away. We also use social media sites such as Facebook to acquire potential new customers. We even created a Facebook store to allow purchases direct from Facebook.

What kind of growth has MyGames experienced?

MyGames business has doubled every single month since it started. It is growing steadily and we are always selling out of new games.

What aspect of running your own business have you found the most difficult and how have you addressed this challenge?

Managing repetitive tasks can be difficult, as everyone loves to learn something new and have fun doing so. Knowing that doing the same thing day after day can wear down the employees, we try to rotate the tasks throughout the team and introduce fun elements to mix it up a bit.

Describe a business highlight.

There is nothing more satisfying than giving a customer a great experience. An uninformed parent recently asked us to recommend something for her son. We asked what type of games the birthday boy owned and enjoyed, and recommended a new game that we thought he would love. We contacted various suppliers to source the game and express-delivered this to the customer days before his birthday. He was delighted and surprised by our accurate recommendation and got back to us to let us know. This is an example of providing customer service with a ?wow? factor, which is a highlight in our day.

What are your goals for MyGames?

We want to be the best online video games retailer in Australia. When you think about buying video games, you will go to MyGames.com.au.

How do you manage order deliveries?

Australia Post?s eParcel is a great service that we use every day. eParcel allows us to deliver games to residential addresses economically and efficiently. Buyers can be anxious while waiting for the games they bought, and with eParcel we can provide real-time tracking to our customers and locate a package no matter where it is.

Do you have any advice for people setting up an online business?

Do not assume a good concept is all it takes to succeed. An online business should have a website with great usability, the site should be very easy to navigate, provide clear payment options and great delivery methods. If a potential customer gets confused, they will lose interest quickly and your competitor is only a few clicks away.

Great customer service is much harder to achieve online compared to a physical store but it is an important aspect that every online business should focus on.

Just like any other business, you should be aware of all your numbers, like how many people are visiting
your store, how many people looked at your items, which items they viewed and how many people attempted
to purchase.

Useful tools and resources

• MyGames.com.au is an e-commerce site selling video games, launched in December 2011.
• MMGN.com is Hui?s video gaming community.

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The views expressed in this article are those of the author and the interviewees, and not of Australia Post.

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