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Lots of game producers are offering their products at prices that retailers cannot match. Is this the future of business, to buy direct from the manufacturer? Where does this leave the FLGS? Do you think that these strategies will backfire, as the games will not have a presence in stores?

Businesses have to adapt to changes in the market and they way things are sold. You either adapt or die off.

So, we will either see LGS's adapt their in store policies to promote in house sales and gaming, or they will close up.

What does that mean to the gamer? Well if you enjoy playing at your LGS, then you need to support them by buying in store at a higher price than online. If you just want to play, you can buy online, and use the money you saved to make your own table to play on. Either way, the difference in money spent on models will still be spent on gaming space, you just decide if that space is at your own house or at a store. Sometimes that decision is made for you, as some people don't have the room for a table.

Now, if you still want to play at a store, but insist on buying cheap online, then you have no right to complain when that store shuts down and you lose your tables. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

LGS's need to learn new ways to market in store products. This could be done with tourneys, beginner exhibition games, bundle deals, or price breaks on larger orders.

Also, LGS's need to supplement their retail income with paid events. FNM is quite popular and generates money, as well as drafts which are direct retail sales. Many stores run tourneys where the entrance fee is you buying X amount of product in store, which is a win win as the customer gets some product and entrance into the event, and the store makes a sale.

MY $0.02,
For some time now I have been reading the FLGS as FAILING local game store. In my daily job I deal with small business owners and I see a trend. MOST small business owners don't know that they are incapable of running a business and will fail. Small businesses fail at an incredible rate in general. Now add to that the fact that most game stores are ran by gamers with a love of the hobby that have no business sense it compounds the issue. Now there are exceptions to the rule Mikhaila has a good grasp and runs a store that is growing in a bad economy, but most LGS owners are in business for the wrong reasons and grossly under-capitalized.

In my 20+ years gaming I have seen well over 15 stores come and go usually lasting less than 2 years each, and I have seen one store make it now for 17 years.

If you like having a LGS support them by shopping there, help them keep an eye out for shoplifters, help with tourneys and events, and help promote the hobbies. I hate smelly D&D/Larpers but I understand that they bring a source of revenue into the store. I dislike 10 Y.O. pokemon players but they bring $ in, Thing is the stores need all the revenue sources they can get just to keep the lights on, because I promise you no one is getting rich by owning a local games store.

Ask your store if they can get the dIrect buy items in? if they can and you want the items then be prepared to prepay your store to place the order. That takes a lot of the risk off of their shoulders and helps you to be able to negotiate towards the online direct price.... I would add that Pre-Paying in cash is a great incentive for the owners because they often pay up to %3-%4 per credit card transaction (another bite out of the potential profits)

Gaming is a tough market to get into, it always seems like the only LGS that survive are the ones that have been around the longest. I'm in the chicago land area so I've got Games Plus, Plus has been in business forever but in the last 15 years I can prolly name at least 20 sundry gaming stores that have opened and closed in this area. Need a loyal following of people coming to your story to stay a float. Also need to carry a large enough selection of product to ensure your not expecting one company to generate all your cash

spaceelf wrote:Lots of game producers are offering their products at prices that retailers cannot match. Is this the future of business, to buy direct from the manufacturer?

Most of the companies that I've seen doing this sort of self-selling are small operations. Companies such as Khurasan, Old Crow, EM4, etc. Aside from certain special deals and pre-orders, most retailers that sell direct and in FLGS's or other online retailers sell their products at or above the price that their other dealers do.

For those small independents that don't do any distribution, by eliminating the distributor/retailer markup, they are free to specialize in more niche markets, while still making enough money to survive. This isn't really a new thing. Small independent makers of miniatures have always existed outside the traditional FLGS distribution system. I don't think is the future of all gaming, but it seems to me that the future will have as many or more of these dealers as the internet, printing, and 3d modeling make it easier to go it alone. Still, the big dogs in the gaming world will continue to sell their product at FLGS and other online retailers.

One thing I have noticed is a select few dealers who tried distribution and then went back to mostly self-selling. EM4, and Mega Mins for example once had distribution, but now self-sell almost exclusively

spaceelf wrote: Where does this leave the FLGS? ?

Most FLGS's have never been in the business of selling the kind of indie and boutique items that are sold by small indie companies. These companies are no danger to the FLGS.

Except for pre-order and the occasional sale or bundle, all these dealers self-sell at or above the cost of the FLGS. It's the online retailers who sell these products (at a discount) not the online self-sellers who sell their own product who are a danger to the FLGS.

The danger to the FLGS comes from Online retailers that sell the same mass-produced games that the FLGS does, but at a much lower cost.

spaceelf wrote: Do you think that these strategies will backfire, as the games will not have a presence in stores?

These indie self-sold games and minis already don't have a presence in stores. As an example, in the Chicagoland area only one or two stores (Games plus being one of these) carry many minis besides GW, PP, Malifaux, Flames of War, Battletech and Reaper with a few also selling Mantic. Except for pre-order and the occasional sale or bundle, all the makers of games that most FLGS carry self-sell at or above the cost of the FLGS.

The small companies on the other hand will live or die as they always have, on the strength of their products, reputation, show presence and how well they reach the online and mail owner gamer. It's an established enough way of doing business that I don't think that the term "Backfire" is applicable.

Op can you give some examples/links of long term items you're talking about? I agree with the major points made here already, but at the same time I've not seen first hand where a retailer has been denied competitive sales with the manufacturer themselves. Other than kickstarters or small indie projects or where the manufacturer doesn't have a good means of distribution.


In the meantime my answer to your question is that yes a game, especially a new one, that doesn't get representation in a store setting, is rather crippled when compared to that same game being displayed, opened for content viewing, and demonstrated at a store. Brick and mortars provide a valuable function in that respect. They're an exchange center where word of mouth is a hugely important factor. They bring like minded individuals together and allow us to meet the newbs.

Yeah, internet is unfair with the poor FLGS, who must pay for physical space and such... But busines are not fair ground.

spaceelf wrote:Lots of game producers are offering their products at prices that retailers cannot match. Is this the future of business, to buy direct from the manufacturer? Where does this leave the FLGS? Do you think that these strategies will backfire, as the games will not have a presence in stores?

Yes, this is the future of business. This leaves all retailers in the lurch, and requires them to drastically rethink their business model. This applies entirely across the retail sector, not just gaming.

nb: not all manufacturers will offer direct sales. Not all retailers will feel the pinch equally. Many retailers already offer value for money through other services.

Any brick-and-mortar store has needed to adapt to the Internet for a long time, now. There is a term called "Value Added", which they must embrace, and they have to match JUST ENOUGH prices to keep people at the store.

An important fact: People, in general, want to buy something RIGHT NOW. They don't want to wait. This is a powerful urge/drive, and when catered to, will result in increased sales, customer loyalty, etc. etc.

MightyGodzilla wrote:Op can you give some examples/links of long term items you're talking about? I agree with the major points made here already, but at the same time I've not seen first hand where a retailer has been denied competitive sales with the manufacturer themselves. Other than kickstarters or small indie projects or where the manufacturer doesn't have a good means of distribution.

Certainly Kickstarters and sales came to mind when I made the post. Aside from these there are some Mantic army deals that seem to be exclusive to their site. There are also items that are exclusive to the manufacturer. These are increasingly not simply limited edition items, but crucial units.

Kaldor wrote:
Yes, this is the future of business. This leaves all retailers in the lurch, and requires them to drastically rethink their business model. This applies entirely across the retail sector, not just gaming.

nb: not all manufacturers will offer direct sales. Not all retailers will feel the pinch equally. Many retailers already offer value for money through other services.

It may be the future of business, but it may not be smart business. Apple seems to be doing well by opening stores. This certainly goes against the grain of online business. I think that miniature games need stores to provide a place for a community to form.

spaceelf wrote:It may be the future of business, but it may not be smart business. Apple seems to be doing well by opening stores. This certainly goes against the grain of online business. I think that miniature games need stores to provide a place for a community to form.

Apple stores are not retail outlets though. They add value to the product by wowing the customer with an incredible building, staff expertise, functionality, and tech displays. Basically, they're doing what other retail outlets need to in order to survive.

Up till now, a retail outlet has been able to survive by importing things, adding value to them, and selling them to you. Up until now, that's been enough. But we can do that for ourselves now, we don't need someone else to do it for us. So what can a store offer us instead? An experience. A way to sate our desire to buy something and take it home with us that day, without feeling like we had our pants pulled down over the price. That's what Apple does marvelously, and it's an approach game stores need to adopt if they want to remain relevant.

I also agree with you that the local store is an important nucleus for gaming communities to form around. Even someone who never games at a club probably owes the existence of at least some of their gaming buddies to a store that got them into the hobby in the first place.