Growing demand from consumers is spurring more retailers to offer gaming furniture within their home goods assortments.
What happened
Walmart, Best Buy, Wayfair and Argos are increasingly catering to gamers with specialist products such as ergonomic chairs, desks, storage space and accessories. Retailers and brands cite gaming as a growth category that allows them to target a broad range of consumers, from teens to millennials to parents.
Why it matters
Once the stronghold of niche technology hardware brands, the gaming furniture category has consequently experienced a flood of new entrants, including Ikea and office and home furnishings brand Herman Miller, which debuted new gaming collections in 2020 that they continued to refine this year with new items. In order to steal share from tech companies, traditional retailers are forging partnerships with esports brands, hiring professional players to shape their strategies and approaching gaming from an interior design lens.
The popularity of the gaming sector is causing more industries to sit up and take notice, according to Tom Wijman, market lead at games and esports analytics firm NewZoo. “Non-gaming companies are interested in the video games market because there are 3 billion gamers across the world this year,” he previously told Modern Retail. “Gaming is the most popular form of entertainment globally.”
Like its big-box rivals, Walmart — which sells PC and console hardware and software — has a dedicated gaming furniture section on its website, and has been increasingly marketing this part of its home goods vertical. Due to its focus on affordability, it allows shoppers to browse gaming chairs and desks based on price points, such as sub-$200 and sub-$100 items. Walmart’s gaming furniture page also links to complementary products such as mini-fridges, coffee makers and video games merchandise including bedding.
This news brief is based on reporting published by Modern Retail on 2021-10-19. The original report is linked below.
Modern Retail
https://www.modernretail.co/retailers/gaming-products-are-infiltrating-home-goods-retailers-and-brands/This independent news brief is based on the public source identified above. It is an original summary or translation, not a reproduction of the source article. Rights in source text, research, trademarks and images remain with their respective owners; images are used under the licence or permission identified in the credit. Rights holders may contact rights@goodproductasia.com with evidence of ownership. Verified concerns will be corrected, replaced or removed promptly. This report is not investment, legal, medical or purchasing advice.
