Tau sold out?

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**NAVARRO**

Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:
Hold the front page. Ever since I've joined this site, people have been arguing on a daily basis about the decline of GW/falling sales/rivals overtaking it/long term decline etc etc

Now people are saying that there is no stock left and GW stuff is flying off the shelf.

Dare I say it, but could Dakka be wrong about GW's decline

Dare I say the sales numbers are not carved in stone for all eternity? I mean these things do fluctuate a lot depending on numerous factors... For all we know both claims are correct.
Again if its just a case of demand then good for GW.

**PhantomViper**

Kingsley wrote:
PhantomViper wrote:
filbert wrote:
Or some sort of trick to restrict stick flow and artificially raise hype that way? Seems increasingly at odds with the exasperation demonstrated here and elsewhere at GWs business practises.

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!

Ladies and gentleman, we have a winner here!

Wow, you know the community here hates GW when news of a new release selling out is greeted by people claiming that GW is screwing their customers over again! To me it seems that the reason things like this are at odds with the "exasperation" demonstrated on these forums is that a lot of people here just plain hate GW and can't admit that they do things right once in a while, and these forums-- or at least the Dakka Discussions and to a lesser extent News and Rumors boards-- are generally far more negative about GW than the wargaming community as a whole is.

Nope, sorry. It doesn't have anything to do with "hate", its just a logical analysis of what we are being told by GW on one hand and the retailers on the other.

If it was the case of demand outstripping supply then we would have the online sellers saying so. But they aren't, they are just saying that GW won't send them ANY of the new models.

So where are these massive orders that are stripping the warehouses bare coming from?

That leaves 2 obvious options:

1st: GW is artificially restricting the sale of the new models to their own stores both physical and online;
2nd: Someone, somewhere along the supply chain has messed up and there really won't be any new stock available anywhere until the 15th...

You can now place your bets on which one is correct.

**Flashman**

I say again... GWs own website states that the Riptide will be take one to two weeks to be delivered.

I think they genuinely underestimated demand.

**Backfire**

Flashman wrote:

They may well be getting interest from general sci-fi model enthusiasts and I wouldn't be surprised if they see another sales boost off the back of Pacific Rim.

It's depressing that so many are willing to fork out £50 for it though.

It's good for the economy!

**Spyral**

Grimtuff wrote:
filbert wrote:
Facebook update from Wayland:

Games Workshop Plc have informed us that there will be a delay to all UK retail outlets in receiving stock of the New Tau release.

We expect to receive stock around the 15th April and will dispatch it upon its arrival.

We are pleased that Tau have been such a successful release but surprised and puzzled that UK retail outlets are receiving no stock, and disappointed on behalf of our customers.

We are trying to work closely with Games Workshop to resolve the situation as soon as possible.

I hate to be a cynic but this seems to be less and less to do with demand and more to do with GW trying to prevent discount selling and force customers to shop via GW online/in-store. They can't pull the same trade restriction shenanigans that they pulled in the US here in the UK/EU so they are trying a different method.

This.

GW obviously didn't like people buying codexes with 30% off from Wayland, which put it at a significantly more reasonable price. Wonder how many more they sold at that price point.

With the 30% off the hobby is just about affordable - 2 riptides, pathfinders, a flier, codex and 2 broadsides would be over £250 from GW, that's not affordable or value for money.

**nosferatu1001**

Phantom - false dichotomy there. Option 3) is that GW sold a hell of a lot from their own site (people do buy from there) and THAT has caused issues.

**Backfire**

Flashman wrote:
I say again... GWs own website states that the Riptide will be take one to two weeks to be delivered.

I think they genuinely underestimated demand.

If you look at what they (allegedly) run out of, it's almost entirely suits (including old Crisis suits! Crazy, you put out a cheaper bundle deal and people will buy it!) and "bundles" which contain suits. The flyer is notably absent from this list.

**filbert**

Kroothawk wrote:Has been posted in the Tau thread 9 hours ago.

I don't read the 100+ page news threads, especially when they degenerate into people arguing rules/build etc ad infinitum. Regardless, I think this deserves it's own thread for discussion.

Flashman wrote:I say again... GWs own website states that the Riptide will be take one to two weeks to be delivered.

I think they genuinely underestimated demand.

Who knows? Its a little tinfoil-like but it certainly wouldn't shock me if GW had deliberately restricted all internet sales including their own (but obviously to a lesser extent) to 'encourage' people into GW stores which apparently do not have a stock problem (or so I assume - I guess if they run out of kits we will soon find out).

nosferatu1001 wrote:Phantom - false dichotomy there. Option 3) is that GW sold a hell of a lot from their own site (people do buy from there) and THAT has caused issues.

Again, who knows? It just seems so weird that GW would significantly underestimate demand to the extent that everything is delayed. They have never done so before (at least, not to my memory) and have never suffered capacity or production issues before so why now? Tau aren't that major a release, surely?

**Ravenous D**

filbert wrote:
Awoke this morning to find an email from Dark Sphere saying that new Tau stuff is on severe delay from GW and that even GW themselves have had to remove stuff from their website and push release dates back. Text here:

Part of the Tau launch has been delayed by up to two weeks due to stock shortages.

Dear Customers,

Late yesterday afternoon we were informed that due to an unpredicted level of demand, Games Workshop are unlikely to be able to supply many of the new Tau models due for launch this Saturday.

According to a conversation we had with Games Workshop's Trade Department, virtually the entire range of Tau is now out of stock. Games Workshop's own site has removed the launch date and put an expected one to two week wait on these products.

A small part of the range (mainly the new Tau Codex) are unaffected and we should still receive significant quantities of these in time for Saturday; some of the others (e.g. Hammerhead) we still expect to receive this week but we will be unable to reorder additional stock for a small period. Unfortunately, the most popular new products (e.g. Riptide Battlesuit, new XV8 Commander and Commander Shadowsun) are in such high demand that instead of the hundreds that we requested we are likely to only end up with a handful, if any, for release day.

Based on current Games Workshop estimates we expect Riptides to be available in proper numbers around 19th April. In the mean time we have shifted the release date for those products to the 19th April since the stock shortage effectively pushes the release back to then. Any stock we receive in the meantime will be allocated in date order, so the earliest orders get the priority since they will be the customers who have been waiting the longest.

We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience that this delay may cause and assure you that any frustration or disbelief you are experiencing is matched by all the staff at Dark Sphere.

Best wishes,

Alexi Tingey

I wonder exactly where the problem lies? Too much demand? Under estimation of demand? Or some sort of trick to restrict stick flow and artificially raise hype that way? Seems increasingly at odds with the exasperation demonstrated here and elsewhere at GWs business practises.

Im sure their stores will be fully stocked though if you catch the meaning. They are just laying the boots to retailers.

Its either that or its another attempt to make a product seem like its massively popular by reducing the numbers much in the way they do with the LE dexs and WD. Some people call BS on that but I noticed it with the chaos book and again with the daemon books that they will sell out on the website, only to show up in local GW stores with the accompanying facebook post of "We some how managed to get one! they are sold out! Get it before its gone!".

Honestly, they just need to put Limited Edition on something and then say "YOU CANT HAVE IT!" and people will foam at the mouth to get it. GW is apparently learning a lot from drug dealers.

**AlmightyWalrus**

Ravenous D wrote:

Im sure their stores will be fully stocked though if you catch the meaning. They are just laying the boots to retailers.

Yes, I'm sure they will, that's why they've limited preordering from their website in Europe...

**Ravenous D**

Sure bud, walk into a GW later today and ask them about the 12+ boxes of riptides they got in their shipment.

**WarOne**

Ravenous D wrote:
Sure bud, walk into a GW later today and ask them about the 12+ boxes of riptides they got in their shipment.

Does anyone think this is a disturbing trend where GW believes they do not need the LFGS to push their product anymore?

**AlmightyWalrus**

Ravenous D wrote:
Sure bud, walk into a GW later today and ask them about the 12+ boxes of riptides they got in their shipment.

Not everything GW does is pure evil. Why would they feth their own web store over? This is just silly.

**Yodhrin**

AlmightyWalrus wrote:
Ravenous D wrote:

Im sure their stores will be fully stocked though if you catch the meaning. They are just laying the boots to retailers.

Yes, I'm sure they will, that's why they've limited preordering from their website in Europe...

I hate to tell you mate, but retailers enacting policies to drive foot traffic into their brick&mortar stores is common as muck, GAME used to pull crap like that all the time(despite their actual store managers telling them how bloody stupid it was); instructing the staff to tell everyone coming through the door how rare and special and limited and popular something was going to be, limiting the number of pre-orders that could be taken, plastering "LIMITED STOCK" all over the website, and guess what - the stores always got bloody crates of stock. Hmm, now, what happened to GAME again....?

**SickSix**

This makes me sad because it means there are still enough GW sheep out there that will gobble up anything they sell regardless of price or business practices. This sends a very bad affirmation to GW that they are still on the right track.

**Krinsath**

It's also likely that GW looked at the past few 40k releases which had flyers and a few "big units" that were, in my opinion, out of left field and didn't really fit with the army's existing aesthetic. The DA units were normal Imperial-ish designs with cathedrals mounted on top, and the Heldrake and Forge/Maulerfiends were somewhat out there design-wise as well. Not to say that they're bad per se, but that they deviate from the established norms of the forces quite heavily. Seeing perhaps reduced sales of those kits, GW in their myopic way decide to make fewer kits for the Tau because warehousing is hurting them and in their vision of events, the Tau were never that popular.

The Tau release comes along with big shiny battlesuits which 1) are the iconic unit of the Tau and 2) are a natural development of the army's look. Those sell like hotcakes because they fit in with what people wanted to see. This meets GW's smaller production run because "Xenos don't sell" and "Marine kits were selling less through CSM and DA" and suddenly "Huh, we don't actually have any battlesuits left..." It could also be that GW UK didn't hold back enough stock on their shipments overseas figuring the Pacific Rim and NA would need more as larger bastions of mecha-lust and 40k, respectively.

Do I have any information that leads me to say this is the one true telling of events? No, but I subscribe to Hanlon's Razor that tells me to never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity.

**Polonius**

As always, "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

GW is a business that can barely eke a modest profit out of a recession proof product that dominates its market share. I think it's far more likley that they made an error in their supply chain, and are claiming excess demand, rather than intentionally pushing out online retailers. Even GW has to realize that most people don't have ready access to a GW shop.

Of course, I'm not willing to rule out the possiblity that GW did try to understock Tau to screw third party retailers, but there actually was an influx of demand that made even GW itself sell out. Highly unlikely, but possible.

**MeanGreenStompa**

SickSix wrote:
This makes me sad because it means there are still enough GW sheep out there that will gobble up anything they sell regardless of price or business practices. This sends a very bad affirmation to GW that they are still on the right track.

Or they simply produced a low number of them, so that they can include 'we sold out due to the overwhelming demand!' in the shareholder reports.

"What's for supper Tom Kirby? Shadows and lies?"

**Medium of Death**

Maybe people are underestimating the pull of the Tau. They're they first army that lured me into 40k, not to mention that a lot of veteran Tau players will have been waiting for this release.

While GW prices can make me cringe quite substantially, I find ordering one or two pieces from online retailers really mitigates this.

**rich1231**

Though demand has been high we are seeing approximate sales equivalent to Grey Knights when the were released a while ago. So nothing beyond GW's ability to anticipate demand and supply.

**boy wonder**

why would gw push away flgs? gw actually makes more money selling to flgs and webstores due to the lack of overheads.. yes I worked for gw and had to sit in on a very very boring meeting about it.. I will admit that was a few years ago now and gw has done a lot to reduce its own overheads but they aren't in any way 'losing' money by supplying flgs and webstores.

also their own website is out of stock.. im pretty sure they just fluffed this one up.

**lunarman**

Yeah, I think the tau models are probably the best / most original models GW has produced in years, even decades.

I think they legitimately sold out.

**Kilkrazy**

Flashman wrote:
I say again... GWs own website states that the Riptide will be take one to two weeks to be delivered.

I think they genuinely underestimated demand.

Cock-up not conspiracy.

Of course that means we can h8 on GW for not having good stock control. They really ought to have had a good idea of the quantity required from sales history, through POS information.

I am sure it will all come back into stock in a few weeks, though. It is quite usual to have stock problems with a new launch.

**Grimtuff**

MeanGreenStompa wrote:
SickSix wrote:
This makes me sad because it means there are still enough GW sheep out there that will gobble up anything they sell regardless of price or business practices. This sends a very bad affirmation to GW that they are still on the right track.

Or they simply produced a low number of them, so that they can include 'we sold out due to the overwhelming demand!' in the shareholder reports.

"What's for supper Tom Kirby? Shadows and lies?"

Probably this too. Have an exalt for The Fast Show reference.

**NAVARRO**

rich1231 wrote:
Though demand has been high we are seeing approximate sales equivalent to Grey Knights when the were released a while ago. So nothing beyond GW's ability to anticipate demand and supply.

Interesting... There's more to this than meets the eye then... Also the timings just after the new policies makes this not an isolated event... Future will tell.

**Kanluwen**

rich1231 wrote:
Though demand has been high we are seeing approximate sales equivalent to Grey Knights when the were released a while ago. So nothing beyond GW's ability to anticipate demand and supply.

Except for the whole thing about the release being Tau.

When I look at the list of things which are affected by this, it makes me curious as to if the shortages are because of the "bundles" or because the individual components were hot tickets.

**AlmightyWalrus**

Also, with Grey Knights you have 2 boxes that build six units (Strike/Interceptor/Purgator/Purifier and Terminator/Paladin). You're far less likely to run out that way, since you don't run into the problem of having 124501245120406215064125105410245 Stealth Suits go unsold while the Riptide is completely sold out.

**JWMarines**

Or the "wow we sold out so fast, OMG, hurp durp" is just a PR way of saying... "frak! our containers haven't cleared customs yet and our production is behind schedule."

Though, honestly, the business reason to have a pre-order is so that: a. you get an influx of cash to support your next production immediately, and b. you get a sense of how much you need to get on an immediate replenishment production/resupply schedule. But, since GW is so worried about people's wallets closing up on any existing stuff as soon as they announce pre-orders for the new and improved merch, they don't allow for a long enough pre-order cycle to really be able to do anything about unexpected demand. Now, if they would move up their announcement schedule by 1 month (also meaning they move up their expected obsolescence time table by 1 month), they could probably take MORE preorders and have an extra month to work on additional production if the preliminary numbers exceed their projections.

Might be too much to ask for GW to follow sound business logic, even if it would help the bottom line.

**Krinsath**

Also, Grey Knights = super cool marines, which naturally sell. GW would have made loads of them.

Tau = Filthy Xenos, and nobody wants to play anything other than Marines, so GW accordingly probably made fewer.

**Kanluwen**

Walrus has a good point. There were considerably fewer kits with Grey Knights. You had the Strike Squad and Terminator Squad boxes along with the Dreadknight and some metal characters.

The vehicles (excepting the Dreadknight and Stormraven) were just the generic Space Marine stuff.