Game.co.uk > Reviews > game.co.uk

Author's product rating:   

Layout & Design	Good
Range of services/products	Excellent
Prices	Good value
Purchase tracking function	Good tracking function, I know what is happening at any time
Customer service support	Excellent

Advantages:	Choice between BN and 2nd hand, Reward Card loyalty, free delivery
Disadvantages:	Expensive lifestyle choice

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Background

Game.co.uk, part of the Game Group plc, main core business is involved in selling PC and video games software, video consoles and also computer related peripheral accessories.

The company are online based, and also have around 800 branches in UK and Eire concession stores such as Hamleys, Debenhams, Selfridges and Fenwicks. Some stores are franchised. They are also internationally recognised with a presence in countries such as Australia, France, Spain, Portugal and Scandanavia.

The company reported a £801 million turnover for the year ending 31 January 2007, compared to £645 million a year ago, representing an increase of 24%.

Games sold. Include Brand new games and also pre owned second hand games. This is a very good selling point as money can obviously be saved buying second hand. Though there is the obvious risk taken in buying second hand goods. Also the pre owned selection available tend to be not the latest titles. The consoles and games sold include PS2, PS3, Xbox, Xbox 360, Wii, Gamecube, Gameboy Advance, PSP, DS,

Extra features included are an on demand Buy and download section. Also is an on demand service which allows the user to download and play games online for a fixed fee. The games contained here would not appeal to most as they are PC only and are relatively standard. The prices for buy and download per game start from £19.99 upto £34.99 depending on a fixed type price. The on- demand option costs £12.95 for unlimited access and downloading and burning of upto 231 different PC games. This may represent good value. Also the added benefit of easy cancellation and no obligation in terms of using this service. It might be a good investment for gamers to use this for upto 1 month, thus making a good saving on needing to go out and buy any extra PC games for a good time indeed.

The Website & The Buying Process
Non account holders must create an account to purchase goods from the site. I found that when I first registered it took me less than 1 minute to fill out my details. I was always comfortable with this process as the company do not share and pass on details to 3rd parties. So this made me feel re assured about buying through game's website.

Upon entering the account details, i.e. username/password, the user is still browsing the same homepage, though the site displays the customers' name. I found this a good feature and it shows that they have taken time to design a website with the user in mind, in so far as saying they know who the customer visiting the site is, and not somebody else.

Moving from the shopping basket and into the checkout area is a secure https link which demonstrates the companies' terms and conditions regarding safety and site security. From the shopping basket to the checkout area, displayed is a 4 step process. Users can update quantities or remove the items from the checkout. The price and product title is also shown. Stage 2 is the delivery and payment method, again attention to high level of customer security and delivery details is displayed on the website, nothing confusing. Stage 3 is the Review of the order, displaying customer details, address, product, total order price. Stage 4 is the final order confirmation.

From the main page first impressions, well its logo are displayed in the companies Violet graphics, the background is primarily white and grey areas. The impression I thought here was that it looks good, then I thought to myself, there is no flash version of website, or something really different compared to saying buying off Amazon.

Delivery on all goods are free. So this is very good to save on the shipping and delivery costs involved in buying consoles, and buying games.

Goods can be returned within 28 days of purchase, or via ordering online 28 days from the arrival date. Delivery of the goods takes 2 business days using the business standard option and the delivery charge is free. Next day or 1 day delivery costs £4.95 for games. So it's good to have the option of next day or waiting 2 days. By having this option a customer can go to the store or order online if in urgent need to buy a game.

Having ordered a number of Playstation 2 games from game.co.uk in the past I was very pleased and satisfied with the delivery time taken. EBay and some other games related sites often take slightly longer to despatch delivery, and there is the risk of the software not working, or being copies, or even arriving.

There is also a help topics section which I find good to read through this. I thought the question and answer sections good as they contained the companies' privacy statement, secure shopping, payment options, delivery times and so on. Though the useful part of this is that clicking on one of these sections just produces a set of answers on all question topics. Annoyingly is a first aid box icon under each sub section of Question categories which is hardly effective in terms of design. This I feel is badly thought out, over confidence shown by the designer.

Other website information

A store finder is located at the top of the website enabling the user to locate the nearest branch via town or via postcode. The website then brings up the store details along with a map, address and telephone number of the 3 closest stores if needed.

Reward card is available for customers located in the UK and the ROI. This card costs £3 for life membership enabling customers to gain 2.5% of the purchase price paid per order Therefore if spending a total of £100 a customer gets a saving of £2.50 for future usage.

Customers with the reward card are sent details of bonus points promotions, exclusive mailings that keep people informed of the great deals, and future releases of games. Also double points are offered on pre ordered software. Registration for the reward card can be done online or in store, and entered into the customer's online account.

Searching is really easy and straightforward as the website contains links to the different consoles and games offered. The links are contained on the left hand side of the web page displaying all the different Brand of products available i.e. Wii, Xbox, Playstation 2) etc.
Also contained is a search tool and advanced search which displays products initially via all the gaming products sold online.

Payment methods accepted here are standard as all other companies. All debit and credit cards are good, cheques are not accepted.

Navigation is very fast and speedy, I can go from say Playstation 2 select the product I want fast, though if I have more than 1 console, I would have to frustratingly click back to the homepage and select say Xbox to browse the products contained within. There are no pop ups, or flash type animations that would slow down a users browsing experience on this site.

Under each console platform are subcategories of games i.e. action, activity, board game, classic, driving etc. So if I want to buy a driving game I simply click on the driving section and it will list all available options.

The website also contains a real time stock information so in the confidence of ordering online, As a result the customer wont order for the goods and later have to wait unexpected lengths of time, or to be told later that there is no stock. Once the order is processed and payment is made online, as a customer I feel confident knowing that I will receive the goods.

Upon choosing the category of game of my choice i.e. driving again I can navigate fast by sorting the results via price, availability, publisher and title. The results are similar to other websites i.e. eBay, Amazon.
Though it is a high rating achieved here.

Conclusion: A safe and secure site worthwhile for any gamer to browse and compare prices, and for ordering. 93/100 rating Recommended for gamers