Rockstar earned upfront merchandising at Walmart by giving the mass merchant an exclusive overlay to a national promotion tying in to Microsoft Studios' Oct. 11 release of Gears of War 4.
Upscale department store chain Nordstrom this season began offering "Product eGifting," a service that lets holiday shoppers choose a gift that can be altered by the recipient.
Best Buy teamed with Microsoft Corp. this holiday season to stock an exclusive blue-colored SKU of the manufacturer's new Xbox One wireless video game controller.
Marketers take note: Changing consumer habits, twinned with digital enablement, have fundamentally disrupted the value chain from manufacturer to consumer.