Game Group is looking at the second-hand games market to drive revenue and profits as like-for-like sales fell 16.3 per cent and pre-tax profit dropped by two-thirds in the six months to the end of July.

The specialist retailer, which sells games consoles, DVDs and software, saw turnover from second-hand games trading increase 12.4 per cent to £177.3m, a quarter of total revenue. Game makes a gross margin of 41 per cent on pre-owned consoles and games, compared with 23.9 per cent for its new products.