After a 10 market trial run earlier this year, AT&T and GameStop have announced the forthcoming availability of Cricket Wireless products in 2,800 GameStop locations beginning next month.
The 2,800 locations are meant to represent the best locations for selling the AT&T powered service and are not meant to replace any current dealer locations, but are being leveraged as additional points of sale for the newly relaunched service. GameStop previously launched another pilot program whereby the company offered prepaid phones and service in select locations, but this is the first major joint venture with AT&T that involves the GameStop retail storefronts.
Employees are currently undergoing product training in preparation for the launch and both GameStop and Cricket will be debuting the customized floorplan for the Cricket Wireless sales in GameStop locations this week during the CTIA Super Mobility Week by utilizing a customized video game and VR headset.
The GameStop and Cricket retail tie-up has its origins in the former Aio Wireless brand, when AT&T and GameStop first sought to find ways to leverage their first agreement that led to the establishment of its Spring Mobile store concept, of which there are already over 200 locations around the country, with further expansion planned until the end of the year.
This move also cements GameStop’s current product diversification strategy, which involves the expansion of its trade-in program to mobile electronics and mobile phones outside of just video games, in order to preserve its aging business model that is still currently reliant on used game and merchandise sales for the bulk of its profits. profits that have been squeezed in recent years with the slow decline of console gaming.
