For example, you have to wait a few days (and sometimes even pay) for your delivery, you can't trade in your games, you don't get rewarded for being a good customer, and you don't get a cheery hello every time you walk through the door. When we found out about a new online store that aims to resolve three of those four problems and more, we got in touch with the head of the company to find out more...

Wiiloveit: Let me start by asking you to introduce yourself.
Games Basement: My name is Michael Ferguson and I am the project manager of GamesBasement.co.uk

What is your main focus with creating Games Basement?
Our main focus has been to create a great games site that focuses on delivering competitive prices and great customer service.

Why did you decide to create your own online store?
I personally am a gamer and over the years I have been disappointed by the approach some of the retailers in the UK have taken to us gamers and wanted to put that right; so we assembled a team of games enthusiasts to help create something from the perspective of a real gamer.

That's great! Are you worried at all that some of those retailers might overshadow Games Basement?
No, not at all. I think because of the approach we are taking we will be unique, create our own niche and have the gaming community's support and we do not intend to let them down.

How many people are there working on Games Basement?
We are a team of 10 and growing

At the moment, Games Basement is based in the UK. Do you plan on expanding the website's reach in future?
Of course, we have great hopes for Games Basement, but for now we want to focus on the UK market and really get that right. In the future I am sure we will have the opportunity to expand into other countries.

Some of the features that distinguish gaming stores include extra merchandise, reward systems and trading / purchasing pre-owned titles. What does Gamesbasement have to offer that will make it stand out?
We have all of those features and more. To be honest, we feel our approach is completely different to any other retailer out there. The first thing people will notice is that our site is quite distinctive in itself. We have free shipping on all items, fast delivery and great customer service. I think we are the first store to really listen to what our customers want. We have also joined twitter to help connect with our customers and get their input on what they would like a games retailer to be.

What was the general response you recieved from the public?
To be honest it was overwhelming, we had no idea so many people had something to say! It really spurred us on.

How long have you been working on Games Basement for now?
We started seriously working on it from September 2008.

Wow, that's a long time! How tasking would you say the process has been?
It has been very challenging but we expected it to be, we knew if we really wanted to make a difference in the gaming industry we would have to put in a lot of hard work.

How exactly do you go about creating your own online business?
It's a lengthy process. Once you have an idea, I think the most important thing is to find out if it is viable, and what better way than getting the public's response? Once we knew our idea was a solid one we went about finding suppliers of the products we want to sell - which is not easy! Then came the most difficult part of all - building a great website. We are still in that phase at the moment and have revised our website around 20 times already to ensure it delivers exactly what our customers need. In between that, you have to secure funding and find places to advertise, and that is why it has taken since September.

Wow, it certainly doesn't sound easy!
No, but it will be worth it once we start serving customers and we can see we are having a positive impact.

Even though you are only going to be trading in the UK, will you be importing items such as games and merchandise for people to buy?
Initially we had wanted to do that, some of the strongest feedback we had received was that gamers found it unfair that blockbuster games were released in Japan and America before here. They had told us that many of them were already searching the internet for the latest titles and retailers from which they could import them. We made some inquiries of our own, however we came up against two main issues; the copyright of the games restricts the sale of games from outside of the UK to be sold here and also the classification of the game was also an issue. So we have had to go back to the drawing board and now we think that we will only be importing consoles and not games like we had originally intended. However we are still speaking with several companies to see if there is any way that we can deliver games earlier to our customers.

Here's hoping it ends up going well! The biggest question that consumers will likely be thinking (especially during the current economical situation) will be how much you will charge for your games, and whether or not you'll be charging for postage; So... how much will you charge for products on Games Basement?
As I have said, we are approaching this from the perspective of a gamer, so all postage will be completely FREE and all our items will be sent by Recorded Delivery or Courier! In terms of pricing, we have listened to what the gaming public has said and we intend to be VERY aggressive with our pricing, so I think people will get extremely good value when shopping at Games Basement.

Excellent! When can we expect the 'site to go live?

Competition

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