Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

GW do appear to have learned the folly of that; supposedly from now on we'll be getting everything new inside a month or two. Whether this change was intended to counteract the rise of third parties making Thunderwolves, Trygons, et al., or just another random change in commercial strategy by the bean-counters, however, who's to say?

frozenwastes wrote:

Pacific wrote:So, like I say the 'no information' policy works OK if you are king in a marketplace of one, and the customer base has no option but to wait for whatever comes next, but not if there are other alternatives out there to spend your hobby budget on.

I still think the majority of GW's customers only really know about GW. They get recruited in a GW store or by word of mouth from a friend. They don't discover other miniatures until after they have already started buying their 40k or WFB army. Anyone who goes on to become a life long gamer who is aware of the larger industry isn't really their target market. They want the teenager who will only really ever be their customer, even if they end up quitting in a couple of years.

Were your flag a UK one, I could believe you a lot more, but GW's massive high street presence as the be all and end all of wargaming is purely a UK phenomenon. Other countries, from what I gather have a hell of lot more indies than official GW stores and thus more than likely someone's first wargaming exposure will be to everything, not just GW.

We have 3 local stores near my area that I know of, and none of them are GW stores. 2 highly promote WH40k and the 1(my fav.) just does it's own thing.

That being said, I've noticed alot of other games popping up in the local scenes such as FoW or Mal. Warmahordes is also very popular around here. Still, there are too many factors for me to say the GWs way of business is the sole reason for the shift.

Grimtuff wrote:
Were your flag a UK one, I could believe you a lot more, but GW's massive high street presence as the be all and end all of wargaming is purely a UK phenomenon. Other countries, from what I gather have a hell of lot more indies than official GW stores and thus more than likely someone's first wargaming exposure will be to everything, not just GW.

Excellent point.

GW has dried up locally. There used to be a GW store in a local mall. Then it moved to a building right next to the mall. Then it switched to a one person operation and reduced gaming space. On the independent front, there were 5 independent stores 7 years ago. They all had a majority of their shelf space dedicated to GW. Only one remains as a GW seller and has only a four foot wide section for all GW products (and it's mostly filled with Fantasy Flight Games licensed products). Another local comic shop started selling GW. It made up about a third of it's shelf space, but now GW makes up about a tenth, with large amounts of the shelf space now full of Warmachine, Flames of War, Spartan Games and the balance being rededicated to comics and collectibles.

Those stores (including the GW corporate store) used to have regular gaming nights for GW's games. Now none of them do. They do have open tables, but if you show up on a given day, you'll likely not find another opponent for 40k or WFB, but you will find one for Warmachine/Hordes.

I think the GW game playing has largely moved into people's houses and their purchases have largely moved online. GW's "Screw Canada" pricing means I can get a GW product shipped to my door by ordering from the US for less than the local store pays at wholesale.

So I will concede the point to a degree. GW claims in their financial reports that the number of trade accounts have grown in North America over the last year, but I'm not so sure it's still up above the 2007 level. I've heard of tons and tons of gaming stores shutting down in the US as the economy worsened and I don't think they've been replaced with new ventures that signed up for GW trade accounts quite yet (if ever).

I still maintain though, that while GW is interested in selling to independent stores in the US and Canada, they still approach their communication with their end customers as if their customers have never had any contact with other manufacturers. I think GW still behaves as if it were in the late 1990s when it pretended to not only be the only company in the industry, but even redefined the hobby of miniature wargaming as "The Games Workshop hobby."

GW had a virtual monopoly and they gave it away. Competing games popped up every now and again in the 90s, but NONE had staying power. Some stores would stock them, but they'd invariably fail and end up in the bargain bin while their maker disappeared. That changed in the 00s. Now there is more room than ever for competition and GW keeps giving away more and more market share.

So what does this whole secrecy policy mean for a local independent? Classic salesmanship is the way to go. You've got a much smaller window of time to build up your pre-orders. So you've got to sell more the old fashioned way. Face to face while putting the product in their hands. And you need to decide whether or not it's worth the effort given your margins to put in that leg work vs. other game lines where you can take aggressive pre-orders because you know what's coming months away.

I still maintain though, that globally speaking, GW's target customers are ones they recruit through their store or through word of mouth. These people are largely teens who will quit before playing the rules, or simply never get around to playing. GW jacked up the price of the starters precisely because they know that their customer base is churned and replaced so rapidly that they need to get more money up front. It's been in GW internal manuals for the last decade. Kids! Kids! Kids!

Those who end up buying their products in a Canadian or US retail store make up the minority of GW's customers. Probably in the neighborhood of 10-15% given the revenue numbers in GW's financial report. Though it could be upwards of 30% if you believe 100% of their US revenue comes from independents.