MMX Advantages

Advantages

At first glance, a pre-owned store seems to be a simple concept; sell for more than you buy and you generate profit, ultimately, that is what we do, but there is much more to it. Knowing whether or not to buy an item, what to pay for it and what to sell it for becomes a daunting task when you consider we have many more active SKU’s (unique items) than a Wal-Mart Super Store and the buying is not being done from a central location by a handful of professionals, but by the new guy that just came to work for you from McDonald’s. You may be thinking how is it possible that a seven thousand square foot store has more active SKU’s than a store 20 times its size? When Wal-Mart buys an item for the first time it is added to their list. When they no longer carry the item, it is dropped from the list. They maintain about 100,000 active SKU’s at each location. Now consider that any Video Game, DVD, VHS Tape or CD ever released anywhere in the world and at any point in the past may be brought in by the very next customer to walk in. That’s literally millions of possible titles.

By maintaining a detailed history on each and every unique item ever purchased, our proprietary software system (NewSoft) has the ability to automatically determine whether an item should be purchased and if it is needed for that store or if it should be sent to a separate Online inventory and then establishes a cost and selling price based on the item's history.

NewSoft does more than just pricing. It is a completely integrated software solution tying together its separate programs for store operations, back office functions, Internet sales and fulfillment, central updates and data analysis. NewSoft is the sixth complete rewrite of the software that we developed and have been using to operate pre-owned stores since the early 90’s. The current version, developed in 2005, is a Windows-based program with a SQL database backend. Version six was necessitated to take full advantage of advances in internet and database technologies and to incorporate specific changes in the way we do business in our Mega Media Xchange® Stores. The software is continuously evolving and being updated. We employ a full-time programmer to assure quick bug fixes and implementation of new ideas as well as provide expert support.

Security - Certainly one of the concerns facing any merchant who buys their inventory directly from the public is the possibility of buying stolen merchandise. Our years of experience have taught us what to look for and we have built several safeguards right into the software to help reduce the possibility. One of the biggest deterrents is the scanning of the customers ID right into the system. It appears on the Buy Screen and on the receipt the customer must sign. Most people won’t sell stolen items if they know they will have their ID recorded. It also helps you stay in the good graces of the local authorities by assisting them in apprehending an offender in the rare case where items are found to be stolen.

Resurfacing – We offer a disc resurfacing service. We have machines that allow us to remove scratches from the surface of many damaged discs restoring them to near their original condition. We offer this to our customers for a fee and we also use it to allow us to buy discs with minor damage that we might otherwise have to turn away.

Spare Parts - Although the majority of our inventory is bought directly from our customers, an exception is an assortment of new, hard-to-find power cables, A/V cables and controllers which we maintain for most systems going all the way back to Atari making us the headquarters for replacement components especially for the older systems. These parts also allow us to buy a system that comes in incomplete. By using a replacement component, we are able to make the system complete, without which we would have to turn the unit away.

Subscription Plan - In addition to selling product, we also offer what we call a “Total Entertainment Pass”. It allows our customers to borrow any media items from our store on a subscription basis. They can check out as many items as they want up to their plans limit in any combination: video games, movies and music including boxed sets. As they return items, the points for that item are credited back to their account allowing them to check out other items. As long as their account is active they can keep items for as long as they want, returning whichever items they are finished with, whenever they want, all without ever having to worry about due dates or late fees. The plans range from $9.99 per month to $19.99. Because we have a deposit equal to the retail value of the items borrowed, we never have to “chase” product as with traditional rental stores.

Self Look up Kiosks - are located out on the sales floor to allow customers to look up items to determine if they are in stock and to check the selling price. It also displays the New Arrivals, Top Sellers and New Releases that we have in stock which helps promote the sale of those items.

In Addition to checking inventory, they can check gift card balances, store policies, fill out an employment application, leave feedback and reserve items they are looking for but we do not have in stock.

Reservation System - By making a reservation for an item, whether the reservation is made at the look-up kiosk or entered by a sales clerk at the registers, the system will notify the customer by email, or if they supplied a phone number a clerk can call them when the next copy of that item comes in.