The Stronger Together 2009 Show hosted by Play N Trade in Las Vegas, Nevada, recently just concluded its three day conference that had, in attendance, the Play N Trade Corporate team, vendors, and franchises. It was apparent by day three that the future of Play N Trade was looking very promising.

Three classes on sales, product and inventory management, and marketing were shown during the conference. Franchises learned how to evaluate their marketing plans and then how to improve upon those strategies.

Every video game business franchise was offered a half hour private demo by Michael Mauerer, CEO of Teamwork Retail. He also gave a demonstration of the new Store Operations software. Teamwork Retail had built a custom software suite from the very beginning by evaluating the previous Pharos point of sale system and siphon out its best features. The new Store Operations software, unlike Pharos, will include more features such as internal messaging, online reporting services, inventory replenishment and forecasting, and purchase ordering.

Jeff Manatrey from Ingram Entertainment made a few key points regarding the video game industry and what Play N Trade's future held. One of his key points was that in 2008, video games were the only portion of the entertainment retail industry to grow. Most other sections (music, movies, etc) stayed even or dropped. Another key point was that the average citizen spends $47.70/month on entertainment. Video games have a 33% share of that monthly budget, generally receiving $15.91/month.

Play N Trade also took another look at the new store design was revealed earlier in Chicago. EWI Worldwide was hired by Play N Trade video game franchise to research and study the gaming industry. Based on what they found, Play N Trade designed a layout that would both appeal to casual and dedicated gamers.

Dr. Bill Magee, founder of Operation Smile, was another face seen presenting at the conference. His non-profit organization has performed over 100,000 reconstructive surgeries on children in over 40 countries. Dr. Magee presented how Play N Trade could unite with Operation Smile to give back to the community, not only locally, but globally.

At the end of the conference, Larry Plotnick, CEO of Play N Trade, discussed the exciting new changes that would be happening within Play N Trade's organization. Mr. Plotnick was adamant about the great future in store for Play N Trade and the gaming industry.