How UK SMEs Are Capitalising On The Countertrend To Digital Entertainment
In an era dominated by digital entertainment, an intriguing and highly successful countertrend continues to grow in popularity: in-person trading card game (TCG) events. From local hobby shops to nationwide festivals, small and medium-sized businesses across the UK are building profitable, community-centred enterprises around games like Magic: The Gathering and the relative newcomer to collectible card games Disney Lorcana.
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The Business of Fun and Community
There are multiple success stories of businesses in the UK building profitable companies with the purpose of bringing people together to have fun. They might just be a small corner of the business landscape in the UK, but with their focus on inclusivity and fun, they are achieving something that many other industries are not.
These businesses include board game cafés. TCG retail stores and national event organisers. They create a welcoming environment for TCG players with hands-on events at local and national levels that people attend to simply have fun, make friendships and foster community engagement.
The businesses enabling these simple pleasures in life are rightly proud of what they are achieving, all while creating successful businesses.
Festivals with Scale: CommandFest UK and LorcanaFest
Beyond hobby stores, event specialists are running high-profile national tournaments hosted in prestigious venues such as Edgbaston and the NEC in Birmingham. Flagship events such as CommandFest UK, is the premier festival for the Commander format of Magic: The Gathering.
These events offer multiple revenue streams – ticket sales, vendor stands, exclusive promotional merchandise, and more – demonstrating how SMEs can deliver immersive experiences at scale. The CommandFest event is a week-end long festival attracting players from across the country so local businesses such as hotels also benefit from the influx of attendees.
On the Disney Lorcana side, the LorcanaFest event is a similar format week-end festival offering high-quality customer experiences; and some serious prizes on offer for the tournament winner such as a trip to Walt Disney World in Florida.
A Strategic Advantage Over Digital Saturation
In a world increasingly saturated by online gaming, real-life, face-to-face card game experiences offer powerful differentiation. First there is the human connection with live tournaments, encouraging networking, friendship and loyalty. From the business perspective this is priceless for returning customers. It also results in local commerce synergy with the sort of nearby venues that attract visitors to an area: cafés, pubs, even sightseeing locations, benefiting from ancillary spending on food, coffee, travel etc.
These dynamics position SMEs at a distinct advantage: they host immersive, relational events that algorithms and pixels simply cannot replicate on a screen.
Players echo these benefits with enthusiasm from the customer perspective. TCG event organisers are well-known for being both friendly and professional. This has helped them build loyal customer bases.
Read More: How Games Can Help Boost Attendance and Engagement for Your Brand
Why SMEs in Other Industries Should Embrace Face-To-Face Events
Face-to-face events – whatever the industry – are high-engagement experiences that result in increased customer retention rates and deeper brand loyalty. In our digital age, face-to-face formats tap into social needs that are unmet by online experiences.
Therefore, it makes good business sense to employ face-to-face events as part of the marketing mix of every business. Customers can meet the people behind the brand, and ambitious SMEs can carve out sustainable and scalable business models with real-world interactions and a positive point of differentiation with their competitors. Food for thought…
