GameStop's (GME +1.46%) transformation into a digital video-game marketplace advanced to the next phase as the retailer today announced it was leasing a new 700,000-square-foot fulfillment center dedicated to its e-commerce ambitions.
The move seems to be a direct evolution of GameStop's appointment in March of Jenna Owens to be its executive vice president and chief operating officer. Prior to joining the video game retailer, Owens was a senior executive at Amazon, where her responsibilities included distribution and multichannel fulfillment.
Activist investor and interim chairman Ryan Cohen had previously made the audacious claim that he wanted to transform GameStop into the "Amazon of gaming."
Image source: Getty Images.
Building out and modernizing the video game retailer's fulfillment network to improve the speed of delivery and service to customers was one of the six pillars of investment GameStop announced this year as part of it becoming "a customer-obsessed technology company to delight gamers."
The new fulfillment center will be in York, Pennsylvania, and is expected to be operational by the fourth quarter. The goal is to expand its product offerings and speed up delivery on the East Coast.
Another of its investment pillars is adding PC gaming, computers, monitors, game tables, mobile gaming, and gaming TVs to its product lineup. Now, the video game retailer will have the warehouse to store all those goods.
