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I'm curious.

Lately (In the last week) GW has cancelled all product support for tournaments and whatnot to our FLGS. I wonder if they've done this everywhere?

We are in a very successful shop that sells a lot of GW product, so it doesnt seem to make sense that they would try and hamstring our store. Furthermore, on OKJOBS.. a job listing site in Oklahoma, GW has began searching for store managers ... 6 in fact... for Oklahoma City, Midwest City, Yukon, Edmond, Norman and Mustang.

I'm curious. Has GW been known to support a FLGS and monitor their sales numbers, then cut their retailer discounts and prize support, then move into town as direct competition and try to undersell them by 20-25%?

I guess the real proof is in the pudding if only Oklahoma Stores have had their prize support cut and other non-GW targeted areas have not.

Supposedly, they do monitor sales numbers. I can't see them moving into town and underselling by any discount--as GW just doesn't seem to do discounts, period.

However, my understanding is that product support for tournaments and whatnot is based upon the partnership "level" the retailer is at. Mikhaila would be able to explain it better.

Thunderfrog wrote:I'm curious.

Lately (In the last week) GW has cancelled all product support for tournaments and whatnot to our FLGS. I wonder if they've done this everywhere?

We are in a very successful shop that sells a lot of GW product, so it doesnt seem to make sense that they would try and hamstring our store. Furthermore, on OKJOBS.. a job listing site in Oklahoma, GW has began searching for store managers ... 6 in fact... for Oklahoma City, Midwest City, Yukon, Edmond, Norman and Mustang.

I'm curious. Has GW been known to support a FLGS and monitor their sales numbers, then cut their retailer discounts and prize support, then move into town as direct competition and try to undersell them by 20-25%?

I guess the real proof is in the pudding if only Oklahoma Stores have had their prize support cut and other non-GW targeted areas have not.

Yes and No...

GW has largely cut their prize support to all stores, so don't be super surprised by that.

GW absolutely follows how well FLGS stores are doing as a part of their market analysis. Its a sound idea, but implemented very poorly if I do say so myself. They look at the number of sales in an area and try to determine if the volume of sales will support a store. Problem is that they are often diluting whatever base is in the area by dividing sales over yet another location. Lets say greater Orlando does 250k a year in 40k sales and there are 5 stores who do roughly the same volume within that area. GW's new store will likely steal a reasonable amount of business but not enough to justify the expense of a new store, and possibly just enough to shut down a FLGS. 2-3 years later the GW store closes and we suffer a net loss of 1 store.

It is a poor business model. GW stores just don't have a wide enough market base to justify brick and mortar stores in the US.

That's the thing. New World is not only a top level partnership, but also hosts Ard' Boyz in the like and has the largest turnouts from both Oklahoma and Texas.

That's why I wonder if the loss of prize support is targeted at Oklahoma specifically because GW is moving in..

And by moving into town and underselling.. what I mean is that if they cancel our stores basic 15% discount that they give to retailers, then they'll be selling 15% cheaper than our store at the mimimum.

If the retailer discount is more than 15%, GW will be underselling them by an even larger margin.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

CageUF wrote:

Thunderfrog wrote:I'm curious.

Lately (In the last week) GW has cancelled all product support for tournaments and whatnot to our FLGS. I wonder if they've done this everywhere?

We are in a very successful shop that sells a lot of GW product, so it doesnt seem to make sense that they would try and hamstring our store. Furthermore, on OKJOBS.. a job listing site in Oklahoma, GW has began searching for store managers ... 6 in fact... for Oklahoma City, Midwest City, Yukon, Edmond, Norman and Mustang.

I'm curious. Has GW been known to support a FLGS and monitor their sales numbers, then cut their retailer discounts and prize support, then move into town as direct competition and try to undersell them by 20-25%?

I guess the real proof is in the pudding if only Oklahoma Stores have had their prize support cut and other non-GW targeted areas have not.

Yes and No...

GW has largely cut their prize support to all stores, so don't be super surprised by that.

GW absolutely follows how well FLGS stores are doing as a part of their market analysis. Its a sound idea, but implemented very poorly if I do say so myself. They look at the number of sales in an area and try to determine if the volume of sales will support a store. Problem is that they are often diluting whatever base is in the area by dividing sales over yet another location. Lets say greater Orlando does 250k a year in 40k sales and there are 5 stores who do roughly the same volume within that area. GW's new store will likely steal a reasonable amount of business but not enough to justify the expense of a new store, and possibly just enough to shut down a FLGS. 2-3 years later the GW store closes and we suffer a net loss of 1 store.

It is a poor business model. GW stores just don't have a wide enough market base to justify brick and mortar stores in the US.

True. Especially considering most GW stores only have 1 table for demonstrations, it really blows for the gamers to lose a full blown FLGS with 8 tables and gobs of terrain. I just hope the customer loyalty is worth more than the 15% discount. Granted, they haven't cut New Worlds retailer discount yet, but the owner fears it's the next step before GW invades Oklahoma.

Thunderfrog wrote:That's the thing. New World is not only a top level partnership, but also hosts Ard' Boyz in the like and has the largest turnouts from both Oklahoma and Texas.

Is the shop actually doing well though?

Not to insinuate anything, but it might very well be that the shop is just not doing well and they're making up an excuse to justify going from ordering direct from GW--which has minimum stock level requirements--to a third party distributor.

CageUF wrote:

Thunderfrog wrote:I'm curious.

Lately (In the last week) GW has cancelled all product support for tournaments and whatnot to our FLGS. I wonder if they've done this everywhere?

We are in a very successful shop that sells a lot of GW product, so it doesnt seem to make sense that they would try and hamstring our store. Furthermore, on OKJOBS.. a job listing site in Oklahoma, GW has began searching for store managers ... 6 in fact... for Oklahoma City, Midwest City, Yukon, Edmond, Norman and Mustang.

I'm curious. Has GW been known to support a FLGS and monitor their sales numbers, then cut their retailer discounts and prize support, then move into town as direct competition and try to undersell them by 20-25%?

I guess the real proof is in the pudding if only Oklahoma Stores have had their prize support cut and other non-GW targeted areas have not.

Yes and No...

GW has largely cut their prize support to all stores, so don't be super surprised by that.

GW absolutely follows how well FLGS stores are doing as a part of their market analysis. Its a sound idea, but implemented very poorly if I do say so myself. They look at the number of sales in an area and try to determine if the volume of sales will support a store. Problem is that they are often diluting whatever base is in the area by dividing sales over yet another location. Lets say greater Orlando does 250k a year in 40k sales and there are 5 stores who do roughly the same volume within that area. GW's new store will likely steal a reasonable amount of business but not enough to justify the expense of a new store, and possibly just enough to shut down a FLGS. 2-3 years later the GW store closes and we suffer a net loss of 1 store.

It is a poor business model. GW stores just don't have a wide enough market base to justify brick and mortar stores in the US.

At least not for the number of stores that they want. Another thing hurting them is their policy of keeping their customer base in the dark.

Also, if anyone remembers, before GW became a factory direct manufacturer, they did this to their distributors as well, cutting them out of the loops sometime in the mid 90's.

The distributors tried to sue in a class action filing, but GW set the case in Arizona somewhere and kept using legal delays until the plantiffs had to fold.

Didn't GW just announce changes to their support structure where they provide MORE support to FLGS? Could have sworn that came out recently. (It may have just been extending the US support model to the rest of the world.)

Kanluwen wrote:

Thunderfrog wrote:That's the thing. New World is not only a top level partnership, but also hosts Ard' Boyz in the like and has the largest turnouts from both Oklahoma and Texas.

Is the shop actually doing well though?

Not to insinuate anything, but it might very well be that the shop is just not doing well and they're making up an excuse to justify going from ordering direct from GW--which has minimum stock level requirements--to a third party distributor.

It's a valid query. That's the thing I've been saying but not clear enough I suppose.

They move more GW product than anyone in the state and probably better than anyone else in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas or the rest of the midwest. They are well above GW's minimums and highest tier requirements at that. I'm a personal friend of the store owner, so I don't think he would mislead me on this one. He was boggled. I thought I'd investigate a little for him.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

pretre wrote:Didn't GW just announce changes to their support structure where they provide MORE support to FLGS? Could have sworn that came out recently. (It may have just been extending the US support model to the rest of the world.)

They came out with a product reclamation thing, which isn't cancelled, but is vastly different from prize support.

That program allows retailers to trade in their old (so many years) and metal mini's for swaps on new stuff or store credit to offer as prize support at a reduced value. That's more aimed at stores updating their inventory than it is store support, although the half hearted reduced rate for prize support thing is in there.

It is highly unlikely that that is what they are doing. Chances are that it may be a side effect of changes to the personnel in the US sales offices. Did GW official cancel it, or is he assuming that is cancelled based on other factors?

I hate to light the mikhaila signal again, but he's the goto guy for insight into the US GW store relationship.

I've invited Mikhaila to the thread via PM. Hopefully he sees the bat signal and replies.

It's officially canceled though, by our GW sales rep.

Thunderfrog wrote:

Kanluwen wrote:

Thunderfrog wrote:That's the thing. New World is not only a top level partnership, but also hosts Ard' Boyz in the like and has the largest turnouts from both Oklahoma and Texas.

Is the shop actually doing well though?

Not to insinuate anything, but it might very well be that the shop is just not doing well and they're making up an excuse to justify going from ordering direct from GW--which has minimum stock level requirements--to a third party distributor.

It's a valid query. That's the thing I've been saying but not clear enough I suppose.

They move more GW product than anyone in the state and probably better than anyone else in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas or the rest of the midwest. They are well above GW's minimums and highest tier requirements at that. I'm a personal friend of the store owner, so I don't think he would mislead me on this one. He was boggled. I thought I'd investigate a little for him.

Moving more product does not necessarily mean the shop is doing well though, at least in my experience.

I can't see GW just up and singling out stores in one specific state for the hell of it.

From what I know (very little) they have just stopped prize support across the US. It seems to be an attempt on GWs part to get away from being seen as a touniment game and more in to being a friendly game in some areas.

I doubt they will cut your discount. That would be a very silly thing to do.

Question a bit related to the topic: is GW the only company in the hobby (and other geeky hobbies that are not tabletop wargaming) that has their own stores? I'm only familiar with another company, WotC, and as far as I know they don't have their own stores and rely on third party stores to sell their products, and they still do well. At least on the M:tG front.

heartserenade wrote:Question a bit related to the topic: is GW the only company in the hobby (and other geeky hobbies that are not tabletop wargaming) that has their own stores? #
...

Yes, as far as wargames goes.

There are a few specialist toy soldier shops still around but they tend to be selling the high end kind of historical miniatures for collection and display, and they aren't selling rules and games.

GW fell into this situation by accident.

They started in the 1970s as a role-playing shop selling 3rd party games. By the late 70s, they branched out to publishing licensed games and then started their own brand figures (Citadel) then started to publish their own rules and games during the 80s.

As time went by the 3rd party and licensed games were dropped. Then the own published board games and RPGs were dropped. Finally the specialist games were effectively dropped a few years ago.

GW came to where it is now, selling WH/40K and LoTR, plus the model kits to support them.

GW retail stores are not ever intended to be competition for a FLGS. GW literally never sells for less than thier suggested retail price. There was a manager doing it here in LA and he was promptly fired. They go as far as monitoring the employees to make sure they are not purchasing stuff with their employee discounts and selling it on eBay. GW's prices should never be lower than your stores unless you are selling for over the MSRP, which puts your store into a very very weird place considering the availability of "The Internet."

GW specifically builds its stores to spread the hobby to new players.

GW stores (Aside from Bunkers) are not supposed to be running tournaments or campaign, as they are not staffed to do so. Most of the the stores in the US are 1 person shops.

The are a lot of reasons for GW to track their 3rd party vendors sales, but I can assure you, all companies that sell any real amount of products track all types of information, its not a GW specific thing.

As far as GW cutting tournament support, it's a weird move, but its happening all over.

Kanluwen wrote:

Thunderfrog wrote:

Kanluwen wrote:

Thunderfrog wrote:That's the thing. New World is not only a top level partnership, but also hosts Ard' Boyz in the like and has the largest turnouts from both Oklahoma and Texas.

Is the shop actually doing well though?

Not to insinuate anything, but it might very well be that the shop is just not doing well and they're making up an excuse to justify going from ordering direct from GW--which has minimum stock level requirements--to a third party distributor.

It's a valid query. That's the thing I've been saying but not clear enough I suppose.

They move more GW product than anyone in the state and probably better than anyone else in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas or the rest of the midwest. They are well above GW's minimums and highest tier requirements at that. I'm a personal friend of the store owner, so I don't think he would mislead me on this one. He was boggled. I thought I'd investigate a little for him.

Moving more product does not necessarily mean the shop is doing well though, at least in my experience.

I can't see GW just up and singling out stores in one specific state for the hell of it.

Thats the thing. I don't think it's for the hell of it. I think it's because they previously had no presence in Oklahoma and now they will. The loss of a discount would be very calculated and with purpose.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
@ BloodlordSoldado.

For the sake of my friend and FLGS, I hope you are correct.

Thunderfrog wrote:
Thats the thing. I don't think it's for the hell of it. I think it's because they previously had no presence in Oklahoma and now they will. The loss of a discount would be very calculated and with purpose.

GW just opened up their first shop in North Carolina for like 10 years. No shops here in NC have reported a "loss of discount", at least that I have heard tell of.
Hell, they haven't even reported issues with their stock chain--which is reputedly how GW will "compete" with the established locals.

It really sounds like it's an issue with the store, not GW.

Thunderfrog wrote:I'm curious.

Lately (In the last week) GW has cancelled all product support for tournaments and whatnot to our FLGS. I wonder if they've done this everywhere?

We are in a very successful shop that sells a lot of GW product, so it doesnt seem to make sense that they would try and hamstring our store. Furthermore, on OKJOBS.. a job listing site in Oklahoma, GW has began searching for store managers ... 6 in fact... for Oklahoma City, Midwest City, Yukon, Edmond, Norman and Mustang.

I'm curious. Has GW been known to support a FLGS and monitor their sales numbers, then cut their retailer discounts and prize support, then move into town as direct competition and try to undersell them by 20-25%?

I guess the real proof is in the pudding if only Oklahoma Stores have had their prize support cut and other non-GW targeted areas have not.

Cancelling product support for tournaments - GW has pulled out of the tourney scene all together I do believe. Giving your gaming shop prize support actually seems kind of weird TBH. Your local FLGS should be providing their own prize support, no? I know that proper GW stores have little to no prize support and don't give stuff away for free or have $ tournaments at all (they give free trinkets on store bdays or special events though). I guess their POV would be...how does giving your FLGS prize support for tournaments they run make them any $? it actually costs them $...

GW Underselling - GW NEVER discounts any of their products, ever....this is the one thing that FLGS have over GW stores...they can and do.

GW expanding - it's what they do. The GW stores, from talking to store managers and such...are there to recruit primarily and give a face to the company. If there are untapped areas with $ and potential hobbyists, GW probably plans to eventually be there. I know also, MANY/MOST FLGS's violate their release agreement constantly...like every time. When I wanted to buy some Texture paint to try it out...I called the GW store near my office, "No, it's released on Saturday" (this was on Thursday)...called my local game shop "Oh Yeah, it's here..come get it". The product was set to be released on Saturday. Oh, I went there today...frigging wraiths and tomb spiders for sale....GW store "that product will be available Saturday".

Not hating, just saying....GW has it's reasons, some financial and some because FLGS' have little to no respect as they just resell and don't create anything.

There are 3 FLGS that sell GW within an hour from my residence. Everytime they have posted a tourney or event, the prize support was provided by the store and not from GW.

When it comes to miniature games, the only ones I have ever seen prize support from the company have been Monsterpocalypse, Star Wars, and WoW Miniatures (when they were around).

@Havok210: At the very least, you missed 'Ard Boyz from GW then. Not to mention older events actually run by GW and their previous programs of providing prize support to FLGS.

To set the record straight: No, GW has not cancelled support to FLGS.

In the past you had a choice to be classified 2 ways, Partner or Stockist. Partner stores basically got 150 a month in support, and Stockists got 150 a quarter. Plus free shipping on all orders.

Currently, they are breaking their range into 5 catagories. Catagory 1 is basicallly plastics, like the old stockist program. Catagory 1-5 includes what a Partner account used to stock.

This becomes official in June, until then it's the old system. Under the new system I get pretty much the exact same support as I used to.

All a store has to do to get the support is carry the product, same as always.

If the store became an official "GW stockist outlet" since April, he has a certain budget for free merchandise (including a tournament price kit) per year which he can use for whatever he likes. "GW stockist outlet" is subdivided into 5 levels:
1st level: basic program. You stock about 50 basic products 2 each. Gives you a budget of 200-300$ or so for free merchandise.
2nd level: half the colours and some hobby products. A small half-free budget where everything has to be accepted by the GW sales representative.
3rd level (not yet implemented, wait for June): You get all new stuff. not sure if any budget at all.
4th level (not yet implemented, wait for June): You stock a big selection of GW products, as always GW provides a list of must-haves, but generally the selection is sound and doable. Biggest budget of 500+$ for free merchandise.
5th level: All colours. Small half-free budget requiring okay by GW.

This is what I remember, details and $-amounts may differ. Budget is always from June to may next year (financial year).
So in principle all stores worldwide will have enough money for price support (starting with June or July). But of course their budget is also needed for other things, like sending back Dreadfleet boxes

That said, every store can demand a tournament fee and buy all prices from this. No need to get free stuff.

deggreg@yahoo.com wrote:

Thunderfrog wrote:I'm curious.

Lately (In the last week) GW has cancelled all product support for tournaments and whatnot to our FLGS. I wonder if they've done this everywhere?

We are in a very successful shop that sells a lot of GW product, so it doesnt seem to make sense that they would try and hamstring our store. Furthermore, on OKJOBS.. a job listing site in Oklahoma, GW has began searching for store managers ... 6 in fact... for Oklahoma City, Midwest City, Yukon, Edmond, Norman and Mustang.

I'm curious. Has GW been known to support a FLGS and monitor their sales numbers, then cut their retailer discounts and prize support, then move into town as direct competition and try to undersell them by 20-25%?

I guess the real proof is in the pudding if only Oklahoma Stores have had their prize support cut and other non-GW targeted areas have not.

Cancelling product support for tournaments - GW has pulled out of the tourney scene all together I do believe. Giving your gaming shop prize support actually seems kind of weird TBH. Your local FLGS should be providing their own prize support, no? I know that proper GW stores have little to no prize support and don't give stuff away for free or have $ tournaments at all (they give free trinkets on store bdays or special events though). I guess their POV would be...how does giving your FLGS prize support for tournaments they run make them any $? it actually costs them $...

GW Underselling - GW NEVER discounts any of their products, ever....this is the one thing that FLGS have over GW stores...they can and do.

GW expanding - it's what they do. The GW stores, from talking to store managers and such...are there to recruit primarily and give a face to the company. If there are untapped areas with $ and potential hobbyists, GW probably plans to eventually be there. I know also, MANY/MOST FLGS's violate their release agreement constantly...like every time. When I wanted to buy some Texture paint to try it out...I called the GW store near my office, "No, it's released on Saturday" (this was on Thursday)...called my local game shop "Oh Yeah, it's here..come get it". The product was set to be released on Saturday. Oh, I went there today...frigging wraiths and tomb spiders for sale....GW store "that product will be available Saturday".

Not hating, just saying....GW has it's reasons, some financial and some because FLGS' have little to no respect as they just resell and don't create anything.

GW stores release product saturdays. FLGS are totally free to release product as soon as they recieve it. I put wraiths and spiders on the shelf on Wednesday. Been this way for over a decade. There is no release agreement to violate.

And depends on the store, as far as 'Just reselling'. There are many stores that recruit new GW stores, provide hobby support, leagues, tournaments, and other events. Some do, some don't. The ones that do get some respect and sell a hell of a lot more models.

mikhaila wrote:

deggreg@yahoo.com wrote:

Thunderfrog wrote:I'm curious.

Lately (In the last week) GW has cancelled all product support for tournaments and whatnot to our FLGS. I wonder if they've done this everywhere?

We are in a very successful shop that sells a lot of GW product, so it doesnt seem to make sense that they would try and hamstring our store. Furthermore, on OKJOBS.. a job listing site in Oklahoma, GW has began searching for store managers ... 6 in fact... for Oklahoma City, Midwest City, Yukon, Edmond, Norman and Mustang.

I'm curious. Has GW been known to support a FLGS and monitor their sales numbers, then cut their retailer discounts and prize support, then move into town as direct competition and try to undersell them by 20-25%?

I guess the real proof is in the pudding if only Oklahoma Stores have had their prize support cut and other non-GW targeted areas have not.

Cancelling product support for tournaments - GW has pulled out of the tourney scene all together I do believe. Giving your gaming shop prize support actually seems kind of weird TBH. Your local FLGS should be providing their own prize support, no? I know that proper GW stores have little to no prize support and don't give stuff away for free or have $ tournaments at all (they give free trinkets on store bdays or special events though). I guess their POV would be...how does giving your FLGS prize support for tournaments they run make them any $? it actually costs them $...

GW Underselling - GW NEVER discounts any of their products, ever....this is the one thing that FLGS have over GW stores...they can and do.

GW expanding - it's what they do. The GW stores, from talking to store managers and such...are there to recruit primarily and give a face to the company. If there are untapped areas with $ and potential hobbyists, GW probably plans to eventually be there. I know also, MANY/MOST FLGS's violate their release agreement constantly...like every time. When I wanted to buy some Texture paint to try it out...I called the GW store near my office, "No, it's released on Saturday" (this was on Thursday)...called my local game shop "Oh Yeah, it's here..come get it". The product was set to be released on Saturday. Oh, I went there today...frigging wraiths and tomb spiders for sale....GW store "that product will be available Saturday".

Not hating, just saying....GW has it's reasons, some financial and some because FLGS' have little to no respect as they just resell and don't create anything.

GW stores release product saturdays. FLGS are totally free to release product as soon as they recieve it. I put wraiths and spiders on the shelf on Wednesday. Been this way for over a decade. There is no release agreement to violate.

And depends on the store, as far as 'Just reselling'. There are many stores that recruit new GW stores, provide hobby support, leagues, tournaments, and other events. Some do, some don't. The ones that do get some respect and sell a hell of a lot more models.

Im going to take the new category info into our FLGS manager today. Hopefully this info brightens his mood a little. Maybe it's something his rep neglected to mention.

Thanks Mikhaila and Kroothawk!

I'm going to bookmark this thread so I can stop getting you involved and just link it next time this comes up.

Thunderfrog wrote:

I'm curious. Has GW been known to support a FLGS and monitor their sales numbers, then cut their retailer discounts and prize support, then move into town as direct competition and try to undersell them by 20-25%?

I've seen them move into an area because a local store sold enough product per month to be viable then push them aside.
They've been here 17 years now. We have one of the two stores in the state located outside of Sydney ( a city of 5 million that has 11 stores).

I've never seen a GW store try to undercut its competition.
Do they make it harder and harder to reorder stock - yes.
Apply specific numbers of each product to a re-order - yes. You sell out of SM box A, but can't re-order x boxes of A without y boxes of LOTR boxes x,y and z.
Reduce the number of times you can re-order per month? Yes. They do this to all of their resellers.

chromedog wrote:

Thunderfrog wrote:

I'm curious. Has GW been known to support a FLGS and monitor their sales numbers, then cut their retailer discounts and prize support, then move into town as direct competition and try to undersell them by 20-25%?

I've seen them move into an area because a local store sold enough product per month to be viable then push them aside.
They've been here 17 years now. We have one of the two stores in the state located outside of Sydney ( a city of 5 million that has 11 stores).

I've never seen a GW store try to undercut its competition.
Do they make it harder and harder to reorder stock - yes.
Apply specific numbers of each product to a re-order - yes. You sell out of SM box A, but can't re-order x boxes of A without y boxes of LOTR boxes x,y and z.
Reduce the number of times you can re-order per month? Yes. They do this to all of their resellers.

They don't do it in the US.

chromedog wrote:

Thunderfrog wrote:

I'm curious. Has GW been known to support a FLGS and monitor their sales numbers, then cut their retailer discounts and prize support, then move into town as direct competition and try to undersell them by 20-25%?

I've seen them move into an area because a local store sold enough product per month to be viable then push them aside.
They've been here 17 years now. We have one of the two stores in the state located outside of Sydney ( a city of 5 million that has 11 stores).

I've never seen a GW store try to undercut its competition.
Do they make it harder and harder to reorder stock - yes.
Apply specific numbers of each product to a re-order - yes. You sell out of SM box A, but can't re-order x boxes of A without y boxes of LOTR boxes x,y and z.
Reduce the number of times you can re-order per month? Yes. They do this to all of their resellers.

Maybe it's different in Oz, but that's strange for a vertically integrated business with a global strategy, to have someone focus on messing up a stores' orders.)

Not to say I don't know of several stores that had GW cut off their orders. Of course, that was because the retailer didn't pay his bills, and owed them several thousand dollars that was past due a couple of months.) Easier to blame GW for the lack of stock on the shelf, than to admit you're going downhill financially.
I've never encoutered any of these things, in 20 years of dealing with them.

Who would be behind such a scheme? My trade sales rep gets evaluated on his job by what his stores order. He's not going to mess up or limit orders. All his bosses want me to order more. To mess up the order, it would have to be at the Warehouse level. The only people who'd care would be their own Retail division. Retail, Trade, and Warehouse are separately run sections, with their own managers. It's going to take a fething conspiracy of a dozen people to deliberately limit my orders in the way you describe. You're just repeating some old urban myth.

I know when GW finally opened a store in my local city, the other local stores started getting delays on new releases and their orders in general.

One of the stores even was told flat out that if he takes on GW's product (it was primarily a comic book shop) that they would not open a location in the city. He should have got it in the sales contract as less than 6 months later, they opened one in a major mall.

Since then, the number of stores selling GW product went from 5 down to 2 (none of the original 5 have closed and sell other lines and 2 new ones that sell GW have opened) and the GW was moved to a smaller location and became one of their single person operations.