Pokemon GO provides big boost to online retailers
It’s no secret that Pokemon GO has boosted sales of the franchise in various ways. We’ve heard about the increased performance of the games, trading card game, and more in various countries, but Bloomberg now offers up some information for the United States.
Based on data from Adobe’s Digital Price Index, online Pokemon-branded merchandise sales were up 105 percent in July year-over-year. This includes toys, electronics such as video games, plus T-shirts, caps and other apparel. Retailers such as Build-A-Bear and GameStop are seeing huge benefits from the craze that has become Pokemon GO.
Other specific data is tough to come by. However, Bloomberg does have an anecdote from Ansony Morales, assistant manager at a Virginia-based Build-A-Bear, who said more customers are looking for Pokemon-related merchandise. We also heard from GameStop last month that sales rose by more than 100 percent at stores used as PokeStops.
