Seller Gathering Recap: GAMA 2022
Carling BerkhoutYesterday, TCGplayer shared exclusive information about the future of our tools and programs at the 2022 GAMA EXPO, the largest gathering of hobby game industry professionals.
Click below to view the full keynote!
1. Sell Sports Cards With TCGplayer
The news: Summer of 2022 we’re welcoming sports cards, the most financially lucrative hobby collectible product line in the world right now, to the TCGplayer Marketplace.
What this means for you: Get ready to sell your sports cards on TCGplayer! Starting this summer, you will be able to sell sports cards on the Marketplace. We will provide you with valuable tools to delight your customers and enable you to tap into this fast-growing collectibles vertical.
Tell me more: The sports cards industry is nearly three times the size of the collectible card game industry. We believe that we can create a pathway for our current local hobby store partners to take advantage of the substantial upside we see within this new product line. We are dedicated to equipping all retailers with the tools and services needed to expand into this high-growth vertical.
2. Industry-Leading Conditioning Standard Unveiled
The news: We unveiled our Conditioning Guide, a new and improved card conditioning standard that was developed in partnership with our sellers.
What this means for you: Fewer conditioning errors, a straightforward and easily trainable conditioning process, fewer returns, and more repeat business. You can better delight your customers and consistently meet their expectations.
Tell me more: The standard minimizes subjectivity by incorporating very clear terms, measurements and criteria to reference when conditioning cards. We are confident that this will improve conditioning consistency throughout the industry — eliminating ambiguity and subjectivity from the process. We also released easy-to-use condition verification tools so you can easily train in-store staff, reduce errors and set clear definitions to meet your customers’ expectations. Sign up to receive TCGplayer’s conditioning tools.
3. Roca Robotics Finds Its Home at TCGplayer
The news: We introduced the Roca Sorter Max which delivers more capacity with less labor and attention from your staff. The Roca Sorter Max is available for pre-order today for September 2022.
What this means for you: Roca lets you save time and money with image recognition and automation for your Magic: The Gathering, Pokémon, or Yu-Gi-Oh! cards right in your store.
Tell me more: In November, TCGplayer acquired Roca Robotics, the world’s leading robotic card sorting machine for the trading card market. With Roca, you can quickly sort and index 1,000 cards in just two hours, with labor cost savings of up to 80%. You can expect over three times the capacity with the Roca Sorter Max. The data is then seamlessly imported into TCGplayer with integration available for other e-commerce platforms. Learn more about the Roca Sorter.
4. Retail Solutions Levels Up
The news: We launched the next generation of Pro Website and Kiosk, TCGplayer’s premier Retail Solutions.
What this means for you: Pro Website and Kiosk 2.0 are now faster and easier than ever, allowing you to save time and grow your business so you can focus on your customers.
Tell me more: In addition to speed and ease, Pro Website and Kiosk now have a sleek new look, enhanced functionality, and a new highly scalable and reliable hosting backend. Pro Website and Kiosk 2.0 enable us to quickly launch and test new features while providing advanced search options that improve the store experience for you and your customers. Learn more about our Pro Tools.
5. Direct-to-Consumer Campaigns Award $275K to Local Hobby Stores
The news: TCGplayer and Legend Story Studios awarded $275,000 to retailers in a series of direct-to-consumer (D2C) campaigns aimed at keeping local hobby stores at the heart of the community.
What this means for you: Whereas traditional D2C campaigns cut local hobby stores out of the process, bringing products directly from a publisher to the customers, TCGplayer leveraged our unique relationship with Legend Story Studios to bring something creative to the Marketplace. As a result, we created a revolutionary series of D2C campaigns that connects sellers to each product sale.
Tell me more: We recently concluded our third direct-to-consumer campaign where we facilitated the listing, fulfillment, shipping and customer service for an exclusive product bundle, and awarded 100,000 to local hobby stores who sell Flesh and Blood on the Marketplace.