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If it means not going to the Wollongong GW, then it's absolutely worth the 45 minute drive.

I personally haven't stepped foot in a GW in Australia for about a decade (although I have been to a few overseas). I have walked past the apparently much-disliked GW Wollongong a few times, and passed GW Woden every lunch time for a year or so a few years back.
To me the GW store is just not an attractive place to be. All the services they offer are available at other hobby stores or were available online; without the requirement of talking to one of those horrible GW employees, or being force-fed a space marine battleforce whilst being covered in paint by hypo 10-year olds.
Going by the discussion thus far, it is obvious not everyone has a FLGS let alone a LGS nearby. So I am lucky in this sense, but I can't see anything short of a miraculous turn around in merchandising that will get my custom back at a GW.



In an attempt to send this topic back in the direction of the OP:

-What do GW Australia need to do now to reverse the sales situation? Is there anything they can do short of a massive price drop?

mal wrote:-What do GW Australia need to do now to reverse the sales situation? Is there anything they can do short of a massive price drop?

Right at this point, we don't know if they need to do anything further. This current discussion is based on the last financial report. It's entirely possible (although I can't help thinking rather unlikely) that the imposed restrictions on international sales will fix the problem. We'll have to wait for the next financials to find out.

insaniak wrote:Right at this point, we don't know if they need to do anything further. This current discussion is based on the last financial report. It's entirely possible (although I can't help thinking rather unlikely) that the imposed restrictions on international sales will fix the problem. We'll have to wait for the next financials to find out.

My experience lies in POS strategy, and so I am not really qualified to comment on this but I can't really see the current measures making any real positive impact (the general feeling I think is that they will only encourage both new and existing clients away from the business).
Insaniak: What is your stance? Is there any relevant point of reference we can consider re. the impact of distribution restrictions?

We really don't have enough information to say. There's no way of knowing whether the restrictions were put in place because there was an actual problem with too many customers ordering from overseas, or if it was simply a perceived problem with no actual basis to it.

If it was only a perceived problem rather than an actual one, than the actual change as a result would be minimal... If only a small percentage of sales were going overseas, then stopping them won't have a huge impact. You just lose that small percentage of sales from the discontented minority, but keep the independant retailers in Oz happy.

If there actually were a large number of sales going overseas, then again stopping them potentially forces some of those customers back to the Oz market... but if there were that many people that unhappy with the Oz prices, I think it's more likely in most cases to just push them to different systems.

So to me, either way it seems like a short-sighted move, because the end result is either a small loss in sales... or a large loss in sales. And the added bad press resulting from making such a hard-headed move in the first place in the face of the stark disparity in pricing.

When I first got introduced to GW in Australia during the mid-1980s, there were over 200 locals listed in UKWD (for Australia) as selling the product, numerous wargaming clubs, and thousands of veteran wargamers (having grown up with Airfix et al, Micro Armour et al, Battle Tech et al, and others through D&D et al).

With not one GW staff member, let alone a shop, in sight.

We, the veterans introduced our friends, our family, our children, and a few strangers to the GW world.

We, the veterans, created and built the GW following in Australia.

We, the veterans, created the thriving market in Australia.

GW saw the money, and moved in with their shops… now numbering 34, while the original 200+ were reduced to 42, because, while GW were building their retail empire, around 160 shops closed down… their reward from GW “helping and investing” in the local GW gaming world.

Although there are now around 140 locals listed in WD… that’s only 100 new shops, because they cannot compete with GW retail strategy (selling at GWUK factory cost not GWAU wholesale cost).

Why didn't GW sell world wide like Forge World... it's in GB pounds no matter where you live.

Oh, wait... theres no money to be made ripping off the LGS, hang on a minute... didn't Mr Wells say "we are a producer of miniatures, not a retailer... our shops are hobby centres to rip off children instead"... or words to that effect

Mik