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Well, I logged onto my e-mail,and when I was in about five minutes, I got an email saying they had a sale of 15%.

I was like whoa wtf? and When I went ont [all of 3 minutes later] There was nothing.

Is this normal?

Were they like "Well since you're here.."?

Perhaps they turned off the lights and stereo and hid behind the sofa with the dips and beer until you went away again?

GW. Sale.

Flashman wrote:GW. Sale.

Further to this, have GW ever had a sale?

filbert wrote:Further to this, have GW ever had a sale?

Does the time just before the next price hike count?

Their sale constitutes a free shipping offer on their website...and a price hike for all the years of customer loyalty you offer.

filbert wrote:

Flashman wrote:GW. Sale.

Further to this, have GW ever had a sale?

Oh yes certainly, they used to have them after christmas, but they never advertised them well. I would just walk in sometime in January and they'd have bags and bins full of figures often half price. That's where my dad picked up all his Chaos Dwarves and Hobgoblins, rare now but they were pulling them out in heaps for several sales across a few years and so he amassed quite an army. When the Sisters of Battle stuff wasn't doing so well they had buckets full of Confessor Kyrinov for £1-2 each. The last decent sale I recall was when Dogs of War were pulled, they sold the whole range half price. I could have had the Dragonlord for £11 but went for things like the Albion Giants instead.

filbert wrote:

Flashman wrote:GW. Sale.

Further to this, have GW ever had a sale?

Sure. In Australia they have (or had) Grand Opening sales whenever a new store opened, when all their boxes and blister packs were buy two, get one free.

Howard A Treesong wrote:

filbert wrote:

Flashman wrote:GW. Sale.

Further to this, have GW ever had a sale?

Oh yes certainly, they used to have them after christmas, but they never advertised them well. I would just walk in sometime in January and they'd have bags and bins full of figures often half price. That's where my dad picked up all his Chaos Dwarves and Hobgoblins, rare now but they were pulling them out in heaps for several sales across a few years and so he amassed quite an army. When the Sisters of Battle stuff wasn't doing so well they had buckets full of Confessor Kyrinov for £1-2 each. The last decent sale I recall was when Dogs of War were pulled, they sold the whole range half price. I could have had the Dragonlord for £11 but went for things like the Albion Giants instead.

Certainly not since the management buyout then? The old style, customer focussed GW, yes. New style; no.

Yes.

Many years back ( 97 IIRC) when they changed the "recipe" of their metal models ( got rid of the lead) they had a sale in which all the old metal models were sold off.

Similarly when they made the jump from 5th edition WFb to 6th edition ( I think) all the army books were reduced to half price -- note that the army books weren't compatible in the way that they are today and were all really only of use for fluff/addiction purposes.

Going back even further than that, when the opening of a GW store was a major event worthy of much coverage than it gets now, they often used to do "sticker sales", where you could buy two blue and get one yellow stickered product free and the like -- Debenhems etc etc do similar these days at times.

I went to a few of those events, got some right bargains at the time. This was mainly around WFB 3rd/Rogue Trader era I reckon. They also used to print X% off vouchers in Wd for a time that you could redeem at events like this as well.

..man, that was a long time ago.

Odd really, since pretty much every other retail store you could care to think of (at least here in the UK) has at a minimum one annual sale event...

Yep, My very first WD had some coupons in it, for like 25% off any regiment boxed set, buy 2 get one free etc etc.

This was 12 years ago though...

I remember back when they used to have sales just after Christmas of any kits with mis-cast or missing pieces. On one occaision I picked up the Empire Elector Counts boxed set for less than half price because on of the horses looked like it had been dipped in acid.

It's a shame they don't still do things like this, I also remember the buy 2 get one free offers when new stores opened. Sadly I was too young to travel to any of the new stores

GW don't miscast. Ever. Their models and moulds are the best in the world and are perfect in every way. In fact, they are so perfect, they are practically giving them away - perhaps it is time to charge what they are really worth?

I remember buying big bags of bits left over from models the staff had made for the store, or from kits that were returned as they were faulty, etc. Even kits that were discontinued. Great stuff.

One of my friends has just got back into the hobby and brought in all his stuff from when he played before. A lot of stuff was still in the box and on two of the boxes where highlighted in a big yellow star Games Workshop Sale...alas for happier days (he also had a box of 20 Cadians for £15 remember the joys of cheaper models?)

I'm sure they'd attract 1000% more customers if they dropped the prices by 20% for good.

I mean, for hells sake, they're plastic. the kits cost around 5 to make. [plastic is cheap.] and most of that goes into making the box and the little transfers. [paper is more expensive then plastic.]

Please don't make "clever " attempts to bypass the swear filter, it's there for a reason.

Captain Solon wrote:I'm sure they'd attract 1000% more customers if they dropped the prices by 20% for good.

I mean, for hells sake, they're plastic. the kits cost around 5 to make. [plastic is cheap.] and most of that goes into making the box and the little transfers. [paper is more expensive then plastic.]

In case you didn't know, even with the ridonkulous prices, they are still only made a 10% profit last Business Quarter. As said before, it's not MAKING the plastic that costs them, it's design and molds that rip GW a new one. Yes, they still overprice, but not as bad compared to how much they lose as an initial investment making your kit. That's why unpopular armies have a higher concentration of metal figs, and why armies like Space Marines are practically all plastic.

It's not just the plastic they have to pay for you know... the staff, the buildings, heating, water, electricity, moulds, etc, etc...

Edit: Ninja'd

Just use Maelstrom, then we get to pretend we're paying the same amount as Americans

Well did you expect anymore than a 10% profit considering how they are dedicated to driving away every last customer? If the stores are such a burden maybe they should cut them out of the equation? It is true that the molds are quite costly ($50,000 was probably the best estimate) that doesn't necessitate expensive prices and cutting of sales. I'm sure they would make it up much faster if they did run sales or cut some prices. Let's be real, Dragon models can afford to price a kit at $20 that was made with a three-way sliding mold. Way more advanced then anything GW has done and they are a less popular company.

Captain Solon wrote:Well, I logged onto my e-mail,and when I was in about five minutes, I got an email saying they had a sale of 15%.

I was like whoa wtf? and When I went ont [all of 3 minutes later] There was nothing.

Is this normal?

Let's see a screen shot of that e-mail, please.

Haddi wrote:In case you didn't know, even with the ridonkulous prices, they are still only made a 10% profit last Business Quarter. As said before, it's not MAKING the plastic that costs them, it's design and molds that rip GW a new one. Yes, they still overprice, but not as bad compared to how much they lose as an initial investment making your kit. That's why unpopular armies have a higher concentration of metal figs, and why armies like Space Marines are practically all plastic.

A company as large as GW should be able to benefit from economy of scale even if they do have their shops and other overheads, otherwise all that expense isn't working in theif favour. The fact that lots of other smaller companies are producing plastic armies for considerably less than GW would suggest that GW's approach is flawed. Really, products from smaller niche companies should cost more not a lot less than their mainstream rivals.


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reds8n wrote:Many years back ( 97 IIRC) when they changed the "recipe" of their metal models ( got rid of the lead) they had a sale in which all the old metal models were sold off.

Similarly when they made the jump from 5th edition WFb to 6th edition ( I think) all the army books were reduced to half price -- note that the army books weren't compatible in the way that they are today and were all really only of use for fluff/addiction purposes.

I recall the lead sale as being 50% off everything that had a metal component containing lead. Bear also in mind that when the white metal stuff hit the shelves the following week the prices went up along with it making the half price stuff even tastier. When they went from 5th to 6th edition the Warhammer boxes were half price (£25) and the army books 3 for £10, so I grabbed them all. In fact that is probably the last sale I recall them having so filbert is right, it has been a while and I'd just hadn't realised how long.

Dont over estermate the margin on there plastics. i work for a very sucsesfull company and once all our costs are returned we make 5p out of every £1 that go's in to the till . i would be suprised if there kits have more that a 25% margin..

Howard A Treesong wrote:

Haddi wrote:In case you didn't know, even with the ridonkulous prices, they are still only made a 10% profit last Business Quarter. As said before, it's not MAKING the plastic that costs them, it's design and molds that rip GW a new one. Yes, they still overprice, but not as bad compared to how much they lose as an initial investment making your kit. That's why unpopular armies have a higher concentration of metal figs, and why armies like Space Marines are practically all plastic.

A company as large as GW should be able to benefit from economy of scale even if they do have their shops and other overheads, otherwise all that expense isn't working in theif favour. The fact that lots of other smaller companies are producing plastic armies for considerably less than GW would suggest that GW's approach is flawed. Really, products from smaller niche companies should cost more not a lot less than their mainstream rivals.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

reds8n wrote:Many years back ( 97 IIRC) when they changed the "recipe" of their metal models ( got rid of the lead) they had a sale in which all the old metal models were sold off.

Similarly when they made the jump from 5th edition WFb to 6th edition ( I think) all the army books were reduced to half price -- note that the army books weren't compatible in the way that they are today and were all really only of use for fluff/addiction purposes.

I recall the lead sale as being 50% off everything that had a metal component containing lead. Bear also in mind that when the white metal stuff hit the shelves the following week the prices went up along with it making the half price stuff even tastier. When they went from 5th to 6th edition the Warhammer boxes were half price (£25) and the army books 3 for £10, so I grabbed them all. In fact that is probably the last sale I recall them having so filbert is right, it has been a while and I'd just hadn't realised how long.

No no, I agree that GW is overpricing by a ridiculous amount. They'd probably make more money, while offending less people, if they priced the kits differently, and in the next edition encouraged much larger games.

Seriously, the most the should be able to justify for a 10 man kit is 30$, not this 37$ BS. (I know they were once 30$, I came in when they were 35$.) If they encouraged larger points values (Possibly increasing the minimum amount of squads, perhaps 1 HQ 3 Troops, or something along those lines) increased the max size of squads for most armies across the board, etc, and lowered the prices on the kits a good amount, they'd probably make MORE money, and we'd probably end up happier. I mean, you don't want to buy a Tactical Squad, or a set of Chaos Warriors for almost 40 out of hand do you? When it's around 30 or so for 10 men, 20 for 5, you can think of it as a good enough price to buy as a bit of a out of the blue purchase, instead of "Does my army REALLY need this? It costs almost 40$ for chrissakes!" And whilst you may end up spending more money in the end, the entry barrier for getting into the game would seem less steep, and still allow GW to make a profit based on the influx, and the dedicated Hobbyists buying more for what they perceive to be a much more reasonable price, while actually spending more, but being more satisfied! The profit margin on each kit sold would be lower, yes, but in the end they'd end up getting more money based on the amount sold. I mean, let's say I walk into a GW on a whim, and look at what I want to get. I might buy 1 Tactical squad, and leave. They've made 37.25 dollars off of one purchase, but due to costs of production, design, pay, made (I'm pulling numbers out of my ass in case you didn't notice) 20-25. With reduced price, I walk in, look at the Tac Squads, and get 2, spending 60 dollars. While I don't THINK I spent that much for how much I'm getting (Still costing me 3$ a mini) I walk out, and while my wallet may be grumbling, I'm not. And assuming the production costs are the same as the earlier made up numbers, they've made 35-45 on this.

Back to the topic, the only sale I have ever seen was a couple years ago, when for a limited time at Xmas if you bought $300 worth of stuff you got a free blister off the rack. Oh boy.

CURNOW wrote:Dont over estermate the margin on there plastics. i work for a very sucsesfull company and once all our costs are returned we make 5p out of every £1 that go's in to the till . i would be suprised if there kits have more that a 25% margin..

Huh.

I'd be surprised if this figure was correct.

In fact, I'd be surprised if their margin wasn't between 40% an 50%.

EVERY company I've worked for is aiming for figures in that range, and if they aren't there, they are working VERY hard to get there...

Alpharius wrote:

CURNOW wrote:Don't over estermate the margin on there plastics. i work for a very sucsesfull company and once all our costs are returned we make 5p out of every £1 that go's in to the till . i would be suprised if there kits have more that a 25% margin..

Huh.

I'd be surprised if this figure was correct.

In fact, I'd be surprised if their margin wasn't between 40% an 50%.

EVERY company I've worked for is aiming for figures in that range, and if they aren't there, they are working VERY hard to get there...

Could be tesco/asda. Those guys don't need or have a large margin.

Anyway we still haven't seen this screen shot, whats that I smell?

No idea at all what the profit margin is for GW, but supermarkets operate at around 5-6% if I remember my figures correctly (and I usually do). Now, they do that by having a very very high turnover, so GW will surely have far higher profit margins.


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Hmmm... according to this, GW is at a 12.7% profit margin.

http://www.thisisbusiness-eastmidlands.co.uk/latestnews/Flab-free-Games-Workshop-boosts-profits-plots-growth/article-2462915-detail/article.html

Sorry, I should have clarified and mentioned that I've always worked for companies that were making goods to sell, either to market or other companies that would then sell them in larger components, etc.

So, much like GW.

Retail stores and grocery is another thing entirely, and no where near what GW is, and what GW is doing.

In fact, isn't there something about their GM in their annual report?