“We are very optimistic and ready to pick up the pace as soon as conditions permit”

Albert Radman, sales director at Alfastreet, spoke to Focus Gaming News about the challenges in the industry, the changes they are facing and what the next in-person shows will bring.

Exclusive interview.- Albert Radman, sales director at Alfastreet, puts an optimistic face on the challenges regarding the industry despite the coronavirus outbreak impact and talks about how the business will change. 

Focus Gaming News sat down with Radman to learn more about his expectations, the importance of localised shows, their presence in Ukrania and why they will not participate in this year’s G2E.  

FGN: In-person shows are coming and Alfastreet is set to arrive in Ukraine for UGW, how important is it to attend these localised shows in order to grow in these regions?

Localised shows are quite important for a simple reason. In markets like Ukraine, you have multiple single customers that are looking to strike a deal right there and then.

If we look at the ICE or G2E, there you will mostly find bigger operators that operate multiple venues. They are familiar with all the gaming equipment as it’s been offered to them all the time. They are not really looking to make a deal on the show as they need to strategise, negotiate and timeline their purchases.

These deals are generally bigger and more lucrative, however, they usually don’t cover smaller markets with their spread of single venue operators. 

Localised shows are therefore important to reach out to such a community and make sure to present our brand in the right way. 

Ukraine is a good example where such efforts pay off as together with our distributor we have struck multiple deals since and we maintain a firm lead position on this market.

FGN: What about G2E? What are your expectations for this year’s event?

Unfortunately, this year’s G2E is not going to have Alfastreet as an exhibitor. A long-lasting travel ban for EU countries is still being enforced and we had no choice but to cancel our attendance. 

G2E is a great show with excellent attendance and numerous new opportunities gathered during the exhibition. However, this year we expect this show to become more of a national show for the US, with a shy attendance from South America and the Caribbean.

“Localised shows are therefore important to reach out to such a community and make sure to present our brand in the right way.” 

Albert Radman, sales director at Alfastreet

FGN: How have priorities changed in the industry in the last few months?

Anyone’s priority has always been to develop and sell the product. I’d say that in recent months, the ”sell” factor took over and dominated the previously equal factor to ”develop”.

During these times, it is important for our company to stay fully functional and self-sustaining. For this reason, we have made certain changes in the company’s overall structure, but just to increase efficiency and to decrease the cost. 

We are very proud to confirm that during the whole ”Covid time” we remained open and we were producing and selling our products around the world. Surely the sales numbers have decreased to some point, yet we exceeded our expectations and we are very optimistic and ready to pick up the pace as soon as conditions permit.

FGN: In past interviews, there’s always been optimism for the future in Alfastreet, how do you feel about the post-Covid era? Do you believe that the way of doing business will change? And how this would affect Alfastreet?

Well, as mentioned previously, we have reasons to remain positive as we are confident in our products, our customers, partners and our distributors, and we know that we are the first choice when it comes to buying electronic table games.

The business will surely become more competitive. Especially due to many companies struggling these days and becoming more and more aggressive with their efforts to stay afloat. 

At Alfastreet, we have maintained our business model which is efficient in multiple ways. For this reason, we are ready to face any challenge. Definitely, the future of the gaming business will change in volume and competitiveness.

We spent the past year increasing our development efforts and we are now waiting for the right opportunity to present and release several innovations and improvements to our existing product line. 

Hopefully, we will see you all at the next year’s ICE…or at least at the next year’s G2E.