Last Monday Razerguy packed his bags, his box lunch (I was flying America West) and his trusty Alienware Area 51 notebook and clawed his way through the teeming masses from hometown San Diego to Orlando Florida. The setting was RetailVision, http://www.retailvision.com/us/, and this is the venue where all the leading retailers, distributors and manufacturers gather to share lies about how their products or stores are better than the competition.

This was Razer’s maiden trip to RetailVision and the potential for exposure to the likes of Fry’s, CompUSA, NewEgg, Amazon and other household names was crucial for long-term growth … both for Razer and for the underground gaming community.

What most gamers don’t think much about is their place in the world of marketing and merchandising … especially PC gamers. Retailers, especially the brick and mortar type all want your business. You guys and gals are the most elusive and hard to reach marketing group around … maybe the hardest to reach of all time. And now that there are so many of you around these big retail giants are starting to realize that they need to find a way to communicate to you. To “invite” you into their stores. To “expose” you to all of their wonderful product choices.

Well, sorry Charlie, but most of these guys don’t have a clue to who you are, what you want and how to reach you. So, in my most humble way, my goal for the week was to educate at least one or two of them to 1) how to merchandise to gamers, 2) how to communicate with gamers and 3) how to support gaming.

It’s clear to me that they are all not ready to make the supreme commitment, but the good news is that some are and that understanding and attitudes are changing. Certainly computing, communications, entertainment, computers and gaming dominated the expo. There were some cutting edge suppliers there and Razer didn’t look too shabby either. Naturally there are still a lot of educated buyers that walk past our booth and say, “oh a mouse … everyone has a mouse; what’s so special about your mouse?”

It’s always interesting spending time on Orlando, the town that Disney built. There’s certainly more their than just Epcot and the swamps, but stuck in meetings all day and night I really didn’t get to spend time Mickey, Minnie or my personal fav, Goofy. What was not goofy were the comments from several really big retailers that they were planning to create a PC Shop concept department in their stores this fall. Naturally, they were interested in Razer becoming a part of this shop concept, and we like the idea … to a point.

Look, gamers aren’t going to drop everything and rush down to shop at Retailer X just because they carry a few gaming products and present them in a department setting. I tried to point out that Retailer X needs to get involved in sponsorships, have their own teams, provide some prize money for LANS, tournaments, etc. In other words immerse them into the gaming culture. Participate in the grassroots of this community. Give something back to gaming and then allow gamers to reward you with their loyalty and patronage.

I tried to point out that while gamers don’t believe the hype of any marketer, they can also be some of the most loyal customers and fans in any consumer segment. Just look at what our fans have done for us. Look at the fan sites and free publicity, screen savers, wallpaper, product ideas, etc. etc. offered to Razer for simply being a part of the community. Clearly some of these retailers have a long way to go in creating a store environment that would attract the PC gamer. Many of them believe that PC gamers and console gamers are one in the same. Maybe there are a number of PC gamers that own and play console games, but they are primarily PC gamers in their attitudes and habits.

So, I’m back in the office today and I’m thinking, was RetailVision good for Razer and was it good for gaming in general. I believe that we made a lot of good contacts, and made our point about how and why they should cater more space, goods and services to the gaming hardware category and at the same time get involved in supporting the community. It seems to me that the online retailers like NewEgg, Amazon and Tiger Direct already get it. Alienware has had “it” for a long time now and have paved the way for new companies like Voodoo PC to be successful. IMHO Best Buy is really close to getting it and many of the larger EBGames stores are a great place for hardcore gamers to shop.

As a part of the “Gamer Generation” it is your responsibility to ask the tough questions, demand the highest quality products and then support the sponsors who honestly cater to our community. Remember that in the world of commerce, gaming is no longer a niche; it is a category unto its own. The gaming generation is bigger and broader than the baby boomers and you will be dominating the world of management, marketing and consumerism for years to come. There is a definite generation gap here … you don’t trust them and they don’t understand you. The majority of marketers over 35 haven’t got a clue as to how to communicate with the gamer generation. You guys RULE … so rule wisely.

PS If you are an over 35 gamer please do not take offence - my comments regarding age and attitude are generalizations. If you are over 65 I will be happy to debate this point.