Which Is the Fastest Retail Brand to Reach 2 Million “Likes” on Facebook?

GameStop, the world’s largest multichannel video game merchant, accomplished this impressive feat in only 365 days. GameStop’s VP of eCommerce and GM of GameStop.com, Kelly Mulroney, spoke with PYMNTS.com about why social commerce is an ideal fit for the gaming sector.

PYMNTS.com: For our readers who may not be familiar with GameStop, give us a little bit of background about the company.

KELLY MULRONEY: GameStop Corp., a Fortune 300 and S&P 500 company headquartered in Grapevine, Texas, is the world’s largest multichannel video game retailer. GameStop’s retail network and family of brands include more than 6,670 company-operated stores in 17 countries worldwide, www.Kongregate.com, a leading browser-based game site with more than 13 million monthly unique visitors, and Game Informer(R) magazine, the leading multi-platform video game publication. The company also sells video games and related merchandise at www.GameStop.com.

PYMNTS: Tell us about GameStop’s Facebook store. Why did you decide to conduct commerce on Facebook?

MULRONEY: We launched our Facebook page last year, and the growth of the community has been nothing short of remarkable. Access to GameStop anywhere, anytime is one of the core principles of our cross-channel, digital strategy. Each of our channels – be they physical, Web, e-mail, mobile, or social – has a role in bringing that principle to life.  As the Facebook community grew, we saw some of our most loyal customers engaging with us and each other on our fan page. Providing commerce as an option within the overall experience is simply an extension of our cross-channel strategy.  

PYMNTS: How was the company’s approach to social commerce crafted, and why has social commerce been made a focus point?

MULRONEY: Having easy access to what’s happening in gaming is important to our customers. We’re using Facebook as a way to keep our customers up-to-date on new games, big announcements, and the best deals we have to offer. To that end, I wouldn’t say commerce on Facebook is the focus point of our social media approach. Instead, it’s offered as an extension of the experience for customers who would like to pre-order or buy a game that they’ve heard about or been discussing with the community without having to leave Facebook. With the launch of the store on Facebook, we wanted to be sure we offered some of the key cross-channel commerce features that gamestop.com users enjoy – ability to find a store near them, the option to pre-order online and pick the game up in store, and the ability to earn loyalty points for purchases.

PYMNTS: What insights can you share with us about how people interact with you on Facebook, and who these users are?

MULRONEY: Our Facebook community overlaps strongly with the audience that shops in our stores. Our fans represent some of our most loyal customers; most of them, for example, are members of our loyalty program, PowerUp Rewards. The audience skews male and ranges in age from teens to early 30s. Our fans are highly engaged and love to share their opinions. Gaming is in and of itself highly social. Community or some form of digitally enabled social interaction is built into many of the games our customers play. As a result, connecting with GameStop on Facebook and participating in the community is simply second nature to the audience. GameStop is the fastest retail brand to reach 2 million likes – 356 days.

PYMNTS: Are there other social networks that you are focused on (Twitter, MySpace, etc.) ?

MULRONEY:GameStop is also active with Twitter and YouTube as well, but we’ve focused most of our attention and efforts around cultivating our Facebook community. For that reason we’ve enjoyed great success.

Bio: As GameStop’s VP of eCommerce and GM of GameStop.com, Kelly brings more than 10 years of experience in eCommerce to the GameStop, the world’s largest video game and entertainment software retailer. At GameStop, Kelly leads a cross-functional team responsible for online acquisition, site merchandizing, user experience, Web-to-store integration, and customer care for GameStop’s Web and mobile properties. Prior to GameStop, Kelly was VP of Customer Experience and GM for Handango’s D2C business; Handango (now PocketGear, Inc) is the leading provider of mobile games and apps to ‘open’ smartphones. Her career in eCommerce began over 10 years ago; in that time, she has held various roles at hotels.com/Expedia, hybrid, inc., Cellstar, and the Worldwide Xceed Group. Kelly has a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania, a Master of Letters from the University of Oxford and a PhD from the University of Virginia.