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I found this video while digging around youtube for 40k-related videos. Its interesting, and makes sense. See what you think of it, dakkanauts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZPqPWC5aQs

I realize it's pretty long, but if you have an hour to do nothing, I think its worth a look- If for entertainmaent value at the least.

Basically (if you can't get the video to run) this guy is saying that since the late 1990's to early 2000's, GW has been pushing to completely internalize their business (i.e., you can only get GW stuff from GW). He goes on to say that this is being done in small pieces with the more fequent price increases and limiting 3rd party sales of their product, and that this "master plan" isn't yet complete.

Interesting indeed.

Mind giving us a brief idea what its about? I cant get to youtube while at work.

Grix wrote:Mind giving us a brief idea what its about? I cant get to youtube while at work.

At about 16:00, it's a fairly standard "cut out the middleman (FLGS) and keep the profit for yourself" rant. I will add more he goes anywhere else with this.

LOL!!!


Zietgast. for miniatures.

DOOOOOM!

Take my money!!! NOW!!

There is stretching it, and then there is stretch Armstrong Pretzel Logic.

WTF

Mr Potatohead could have done a better job of crying over pricing.

Never before has someone said so little with so many words.

So, im going to try to look at this from the stance of a high schooler taking an economics course. Specifically, lets look at the Price Elasticity of Demand. This is a measure of how sensitive a product/service is to price increases. Flu Vaccines are very Price Inelastic, because even if pharmaceutical companies double the price, there would be plenty of people willing to still pay for a vaccine, Where as a company that makes fancy ketchup, probably would be more price elastic because if the price rises that much, people would leave and buy normal ketchup.

So, are GW minis price elastic, or not?

The main determinants of Price Elasticity are
1) Availability of substitutes: is there something people can use instead of this product if the price rises.
2) Necessity VS Luxury: Price elasticity will be higher on a necessity because people cannot live with out it, and so will still pay for it, even if the price rises.
3) the share of your income spent said item/service: If the product/service only accounts for a small portion of your income, it is going to be more inelastic, because it will not have as big an effect on your life, so people are more willing to keep buying it, even if price rises.
4) Time: As time passes, Goods become more price Elastic, because this gives consumers time to find substitutes, and in general, adapt, so in the long run, most products are more elastic, but in the short run, most products are more inelastic.


So, with this knowledge in hand, lets look at GW minis.

1) Availability of substitutes.
There are not really any substitutes. On the one hand, many people convert other models to fill in for others, and companies like pig iron and what not add bits, but for the majority of GW consumers, we would be hard pressed to play this game without consuming their products. so that makes it Elastic:0 Inelastic: 1

2) Share of Income spent on the good.
For the overwhelming majority of people who consume GW products, the minis do NOT make up a particularly large % of their income. Some people will stop playing as the price rises, and all of us will bitch and moan, but as long as it remains a hobby to us, in this aspect, GW minis are inelastic. Bringing the score up to Elastic:0 Inelastic: 2

3) Necessity VS Luxury.
This one is pretty obvious, I hope that most people do not consider GW products a necessity, and if you do, I humbly advise you to rethink your priorities. Elastic:1 Inelastic:2

4) Time.
This one is a bit more complicated. Most people would assume that we all have a lot of time, so this one would go to elastic, BUT, the guy in the you tube video makes a good point. A HUGE market for GW is new players, who come into the hobby and buy a lot. As they are just starting, and want to get into it, they dont have a lot of time, and from what i have heard from store clerks, new entrants to the hobby are driving GW, even if they only buy a few things and forget about it. Elastic:1 Inelastic:3.



so, with a final score of 3 to 1, i would conclude that GW minis are relatively price inelastic, which means that GW can get away with quite a few price increases before they have to get worried about losing a substantial part of their market. The disclaimer here is that I am a High school student taking AP Economics, which means that my knowledge is very circumspect, but here it is anyways, make of it what you like.

Conspiracy implies being sneaky, clandestine or underhanded. There’s nothing subtle about what GW does or how they do it, so it cannot be a conspiracy.

At worst GW has a cynical ‘what me worry’ attitude towards their pricing structures, but not a malicious one.

uh..... no.

There is no conspiracy here. Bottom line is someone went wacky with a Rube Tube video for the sake of being too cool for school.

This subject has already been whipped like a government mule to paste, and then put in a blender.

As was said by Agamemnon2, This guy continued to blab on and on about ... nothing.

The cat should run for public office.

What a waffler.

"Umm, I dunno, you guys ummm, tell me, ummm what you, ummm think"

"Comments have been disabled for this video"

Waste of time and Bandwidth..

Whole lot of talkin' and nothing being said.

Alright, I'm about half way through and it's pretty clear this guy doesn't really know what the heck he's talking about.

Normally this would be the area where i make an argument as to support my first sentence but I'm pretty sure everyone in this thread already agrees with me so I won't waste your time.

edit: ok, he gets a little better in the second half.

The Horus Heresy was an inside job!

Hmmm, the conspiracy is failing. I think GW US isn't going along with the plan.)

I can order anything a GW store can at this point, and this last year they started letting us carry the IA and WF books. There isn't a single item on the GW website I can't order for a customer, or carry in the store.

With US trade sales selling product to about 1000 FLGS, I wouldn't think GW would be too eagre to cut us off. GW likes money. Independent stores make them money, with a lot less work than opening stores. )

Conspiracy implies a measure of behind the scenes control that GW simply cannot demonstrate.

Clearly with them it's a case of not only does the right hand not know what the left hand is doing, it is clearly not aware of any other extremity than itself.

Hell, Apple doesn't have enough of a monopoly to only sell its products through its own outlets (which are scary in their own clone way.) GW can't even approach that level yet.

chromedog wrote:Conspiracy implies a measure of behind the scenes control that GW simply cannot demonstrate.

Didn't I just say that?

chromedog wrote:Clearly with them it's a case of not only does the right hand not know what the left hand is doing, it is clearly not aware of any other extremity than itself.

Hey! Get your own tired old analogy! That one's mine!!!!!!

oh its that VERY annoying guy vids again... 30 secs and I'm off

H.B.M.C. wrote:

Hey! Get your own tired old analogy! That one's mine!!!!!!

Sorry, had it in common usage at UPS when I worked for them - adequately described the local management.

The most worrying thing for me, was that someone advised him to repost this drivel.

Agamemnon2 wrote:Never before has someone said so little with so many words.

hmmm interesting. You know around the mid 1930s and onwards there was a very good Mexican commedian who went by the name Cantinflas. He was the epidemy of speaking for hours without saying anything significant. To the point where his comedy name became a word in the spanish dictionary "Cantinflar"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantinflas


Automatically Appended Next Post:
That said this guy apparently went to the school of Cantinflas, just does not have the comedic value.

Agamemnon2 wrote:Never before has someone said so little with so many words.

I agree wholeheartedly, after 2 minutes I wanted to grab the guy by the shoulders and get him to speak even just one succinct, and to the point sentence.

DoctorZombie wrote:
Basically (if you can't get the video to run) this guy is saying that since the late 1990's to early 2000's, GW has been pushing to completely internalize their business (i.e., you can only get GW stuff from GW). He goes on to say that this is being done in small pieces with the more fequent price increases and limiting 3rd party sales of their product, and that this "master plan" isn't yet complete.

Isnt this called "running a business" ?


*edit* no, im not even opening that video

At least he isn't wearing one of those horrid Hawaii shirts I've seen him wear in his past videos.

Oh lord, this was bad. I knew it would not be a shocking documentary but damn son!

Umm, I ummm, think you, Ummmm... are being, ummmm. somewhat... ummm... y'know? Ummm. well, umm...

Ummmm.. Yeah.

Troll post is Troll.

mikhaila wrote:Hmmm, the conspiracy is failing. I think GW US isn't going along with the plan.)

I can order anything a GW store can at this point, and this last year they started letting us carry the IA and WF books. There isn't a single item on the GW website I can't order for a customer, or carry in the store.

With US trade sales selling product to about 1000 FLGS, I wouldn't think GW would be too eagre to cut us off. GW likes money. Independent stores make them money, with a lot less work than opening stores. )

Necessary evil is what I would label you, rather then GW likes money(given some of their business decisons, its debatable if they really like money).. If GW could get away with you they would, like in the UK for the most part. But as been said time and time again, the US market isnt the UK market. Independent stores are necessary, as GW cant cover the entire country even remotely by themselves.