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I know Games Workshop stores have a finite area to fill, however I find it really annoying when you pop into a store, scout out that small area of shelving where your army is located, only to find they're not stocking instore the majority of what you came to buy. The clamshells are the worst, i'm lucky to find one, possibly two things to do with my army.

I feel that they would make more sales if they stocked more figures, maybe not directly on shelves, but kept out the back. Now I know there's the online store, but if you're itching to buy something there and then, and it's not there, it's kinda annoying. And if you take to their website, you can generally find other sites that do the products around 15-30% cheaper.

It's largely about return on the expense for the shelf space. Largely, the new releases sell well and the various forms of space marines sell well. And then, it's largely the core stuff like tactical squads, transports, tanks, etc., that sell well. So why would they want to use up their shelf space for products that don't sell as well? If the employee was on the ball, he should have taken a special order for you so you'd have a reason to come back into the store when it came in.

 frozenwastes wrote:
If the employee was on the ball, he should have taken a special order for you so you'd have a reason to come back into the store when it came in.

As opposed to simply ordering it off ebay or the warstore or something for a sizable discount? I've never understood that "offer", ever.

If you don't have the stuff I want, there is no reason for you to order it for me to "bring me unto the store" (instead of just having it sent directly to my home) presumably so you can continue to not have the stuff I want and we can continue this pointless cycle.

If they shipped to your house instead of the store, without charging you for shipping, at least it's not a wasted trip: that's a better premise. But I guess GWS is also supposed to be a place to hangout and play games, so the vibe is a little different too.

I agree that it's sub optimal to special order stuff in through a local store compared to getting it online.

My point was though, that GW's current approach is in their own commercial interest. And they shouldn't have someone leave the store without that customer's needs be met or at the very least, attempted to be met. And what else can you do if you don't have something in stock but to offer to bring it in for them?

I went into my local (a first in 3 years) GW.

They had SFA on the shelves that wasn't Space marines or "other army of the month" for fantasy. The redshirt suggested I use their instore ordering terminal to order it online.

If I wanted to order it online, I wouldn't be using the GW website, now would I? Not when I can get it discounted through other vendors who even manage to get it to me quicker.

Sales fail.

It's about attitude, not ability is right. The manager of the local can't even tie his shoelaces without help.

A few years ago GW decided they were only going to stock the top 5000 (or 3000) lines instore. Everything else went to direct.

Seems like a good idea, but us gamers are a bit of an instant gratification lot and it definitely backfired at my local when it was implemented. It seems to have balanced itself out now with it being considered the norm, but it was a bit of a shock to the system for most customers.

It makes no financial sense whatsoever to stock stuff that doesn't sell in sufficient volume to merit the shelf space.

The other issue here is SKU bloat. Having too many different products to the point where stocking them all is impossible. There's a limited amount of shelf space and a huge number of products.

Given that, how would you choose what to put on the shelves? What criteria would you use if you did not use sales volume?

 frozenwastes wrote:
It makes no financial sense whatsoever to stock stuff that doesn't sell in sufficient volume to merit the shelf space.

The other issue here is SKU bloat. Having too many different products to the point where stocking them all is impossible. There's a limited amount of shelf space and a huge number of products.

Given that, how would you choose what to put on the shelves? What criteria would you use if you did not use sales volume?

I'm not saying it was a bad idea, it's just that the model for some reason (in what I personally witnessed) does not seems to gel with the gamer's penchant for instant gratification. I'd say it is seen as normal now due to the prominence of online stores; something which were not exactly in massive numbers 6 or 7 years ago when I recall this policy coming in.

The direct only stuff is a bit of a pain. We don't all want to mail order stuff because you have to pay postage unless buying a over certain amount, otherwise you have to go back to the store to pick up, which is fine - if you have a local store.

Last time I went in GW was quite a while ago and it was to get the Imperial regimental advisors pack. Even though it was a fairly recent release at the time I was told I'd have to mail order it. I didn't have a local GW and having to pay postage just to buy figures I thought I could get off the shelf in GW's own shop was a bit off-putting. I still haven't got them, now they're over £10 and I'd still have to pay postage which is just daft.

What the point in having a chain of your own shops if you're not going to carry your own stuff? GW stores look sparse now, when I was younger they were full of stuff.

Sorry! My "you" wasn't meant to be specific but general.

I think GW has painted themselves into a corner. Raise prices = sales volume falls = more and more products won't be stocked in favour of the ones that still sell well = customers unhappy they can't get what they want when they stop in their local store.

GW stores are a shadow of what they once were. Now they are sales outlets for the latest releases and space marines (or even better, when the latest releases are some sort of space marine!) and if you want to do anything other than buy what they want to sell you, maybe you can use that self serve kiosk thing or something. Oh, and get out if you're not buying anything right now.

GW is famous for their aggressive anti-marketing to artificially lower their sales.

 Grimtuff wrote:
A few years ago GW decided they were only going to stock the top 5000 (or 3000) lines instore. Everything else went to direct.

Seems like a good idea, but us gamers are a bit of an instant gratification lot and it definitely backfired at my local when it was implemented. It seems to have balanced itself out now with it being considered the norm, but it was a bit of a shock to the system for most customers.

I dunno about it being a case of unusual "instant gratification" (or "entitlement", etc) when someone goes into a B&M retail outlet to buy an available product. Isn't getting the product immediately kind of the point of B&M retail these days?

GW hates:

1.) Dedicated consumer base over the age of 14
2.) Advertising
3.) Women
4.) Maximizing profits

All of this influences the problem you describe.

 Azazelx wrote:

 Grimtuff wrote:
A few years ago GW decided they were only going to stock the top 5000 (or 3000) lines instore. Everything else went to direct.

Seems like a good idea, but us gamers are a bit of an instant gratification lot and it definitely backfired at my local when it was implemented. It seems to have balanced itself out now with it being considered the norm, but it was a bit of a shock to the system for most customers.

I dunno about it being a case of unusual "instant gratification" (or "entitlement", etc) when someone goes into a B&M retail outlet to buy an available product. Isn't getting the product immediately kind of the point of B&M retail these days?

That and decent advice... which means that GW stores generally lose twice.... ('Buy this! How about this?! Oooh! You can't live without this!' 'But I don't play those armies....' 'Buy them anyway! And here, buy the Instant Greenstuff!....')

The Auld Grump, not sure if that is any better than 'I can't ring you up right now, I am using the computer for WoW....'

I really wish that I was making that up - but at least it is something that GW doesn't do.... *EDIT* Worse, it was the manager of the place that was too busy playing WoW to log off so that he could use the register... The other employees were much better at actual customer service.

I understand that they have to prioritise for the best sellers but that doesnt stop them from keeping other things in stock, like keeping them in the stock room, at least then all they have to do is pop out the back and have a happy customer. Its not like itll be holding up vital space for the next big release or owt.

And with the bad advice, one guy in my local GW told me to use nail varnish remover on a resin figure after I asked for advice, it ruined the figure and I went in and was like why did you tell me that, and cus the manager was there he denied ever telling me that and was getting proper arsey with me about it.

Our local GW does not even sell flying bases. It's horrid. I needed a pack and they told me you'd have to directly order them. Yeah, awesome. Because that box takes SO MUCH previous shelf space. How about you dumb all that LotR stuff nobody buys anyway and thus free up space for actually useful stuff? Gnarf.

I've heard there's conditions to the LOTR license that demands a bunch of things of GW. They might have no choice in the matter.

What it reminds me of is when the local (non-gaming) hobby store died. Sales were bad so they couldn't afford to buy new stock and had to keep spreading out the remaining stuff to make it look like the shelves weren't empty, and eventually walled off the back of the store just to get rid of all the empty shelves. The local GW store looks exactly the same, not very much inventory spaced out across the entire store, and nobody buying it. So I'm going to guess the reasons are very similar, GW can't afford to have excess stock sitting idle in all of their pointless retail stores so they just put a few battleforces on the walls for the newbies (their target market anyway) and accept that veterans won't ever be paying full retail price.

And no, I don't understand why GW acts like offering to let you come pick up your stuff at the store is supposed to be helpful.

Some of the smaller stores (Truro) are absolutely stacked with stock. But it does seem bizarre that many stores have only a basic range of Elites, HQs and other Finecast figures, ruling out impulse purchases and therefore possibly sending people to online sellers (presuming they can actually get them).

There's a rationale for many GW actions, but not this one. THe inventory cost of having the items in the shelves is minimal or non-existent - they might as well be on the shelves of a shop, as in the warehouse.

It's been discussed in the forums before - their store managers no longer manage their own inventory - it's managed by computer at their local regional HQ.

Hivefleet Oblivion wrote:
There's a rationale for many GW actions, but not this one. THe inventory cost of having the items in the shelves is minimal or non-existent - they might as well be on the shelves of a shop, as in the warehouse.

Not really true for lower-volume items. To keep, say, a squad of Tau vespids (a rarely used unit) in stock you need to manufacture and ship at least one for every store. If, on the other hand, you make it direct-only you just need to manufacture and ship the one box that someone is going to accidentally buy and can skip all the redundant ones that will just sit on shelves and never sell. It only becomes "free" to have models in stores instead of in the warehouse if it's a high-turnover item that you can be very confident of selling within a reasonable amount of time.

This is also one of the reasons why GW stores don't sell FW kits, the sales volume just isn't high enough.

 Peregrine wrote:

Hivefleet Oblivion wrote:
There's a rationale for many GW actions, but not this one. THe inventory cost of having the items in the shelves is minimal or non-existent - they might as well be on the shelves of a shop, as in the warehouse.

Not really true for lower-volume items. To keep, say, a squad of Tau vespids (a rarely used unit) in stock you need to manufacture and ship at least one for every store.

This is also one of the reasons why GW stores don't sell FW kits, the sales volume just isn't high enough.

Which is why I was commenting specifically about the basic elites and HQs, in the previous line. No one is suggesting they stock every obscure item in every store. A lot of stores don't stock, say, the Ork Big Mek with KFF - they've cut down over the last 24 months.

Finecast items are small in size but high in cost and it would make business sense to stock a wider selection of the core items in the shops that have space.

I just noticed my FLGS posted on facebook that the dwarf battalion box and the imperial guard basalisk have gone direct only.

The batallion I can see not moving but it's still a starter set, I'd have thought it would remain and the basalisk has to sell enough to justify the shelf space surely?

Small stores look better stocked than bigger ones, as they all have exactly the same stock....
Back when I started around RT, every store (mostly FLGS) had racks of 1-3 model blister-packs. There was almost every model in every shop. Now though, with big boxes, and 10-model boxes, they can't do that.

How about, they have a rack in every store with a range of less-popular models.
They keep a stock for each district, instead of per-store.
If they don't have it, it's easy enough to tell the customer which store has it, and drop it in the post for the next day if not.
Impulse buys are a big thing here, and standardised stock is not helping with that.
But, smaller items are more easily shoplifted.

 randomtoaster wrote:
I understand that they have to prioritise for the best sellers but that doesnt stop them from keeping other things in stock, like keeping them in the stock room, at least then all they have to do is pop out the back and have a happy customer. Its not like itll be holding up vital space for the next big release or owt.

Exactly, and with the general downsizing there should be plenty of stock room. It does yield some new problems: 1-man stores means visits to get stock means an unattended store, and there is a stock cost for having unsold products in the stores.

But the stores need to be providing a value-add over internet shopping to get people to use them, and that value-add is that you can walk in, buy something, and leave with it in your hand.

If you know the store is likely to not have it in, you're less likely to make a trip there and will order online (probably from a reseller with a discount) and they'll lose out on opportunity sales and the full RRP.

So again there are business reasons for the reduced stock, but it's woefully shortsighted.

 Howard A Treesong wrote:

What the point in having a chain of your own shops if you're not going to carry your own stuff? GW stores look sparse now, when I was younger they were full of stuff.

That would be my response as well. If all you're going to carry is your own lines, it's a good idea to stock the heck out of them. With limited shelf space it's still possible (Higher shelves, floor level drawers, keeping stuff in back, etc) to keep rarer items on hand even if they can't be on display. In fact, GW is probably a store where folks are highly likely to ask about a certain product, so keeping some stuff "in back" could work.

Honestly though, I'm kind of surprised it has come to this. I could be remembering wrong, but it seems to me that a few years back, when I was still buying GW, you could go into their stores and find virtually everything they made. There was a time when you could even find specialist games at the Bunker.

But now they make more products and have a trend to smaller stores. Understandable as rates and rent are horrendous.

Is this really a problem?

I've never been to any shop before and expected them to have everything. If I am desperate for something I phone ahead and check availability. Is this not true of any FLGs? Cripes even Wayland don't have everything in their store and its a flipping warehouse!

I have used GWs deliver to store facility. It was quite handy, it allowed me to get what I wanted and pay cash.

I have the biggest Tesco in Europe near me (it used to be anyway) even in there you can not guarantee that they will have everything, they appreciate this and have the Tesco.com/TescoDirect arms to forfill every product they sell. Those barstards will deliver to store as well!

You fellers just seem to be complaining for the sake of complaining. There is nothing unusually about this.

I'd not expect a smaller FLGS to have a full range in stock, but I'd expect a company to generally stock most of it's stuff in it's own stores. Logistically it should be possible, even if it's more of a catalog thing.

I get that they stock a huge range of stuff, and have small stores, but even the Edinburgh store only had 1 of each blister last time I looked (last summer), and with weekly re-stocks that's pitiful.

Maybe it's because I remember the GW's of old, where the racks were bursting with blisters 5+ deep, there was no visible wall space and a lot of rummaging to be had. But now the same stores have 1 blister deep (with blanks behind) and half the number of racks it's somewhat disappointing. I appreciate they must have had serious shoplifting problems though, but the current stores seem to only hold a fraction of the stock of the old ones.

No-one is expecting them to have everything, there being some order-only stuff is fine, but flagship stores barely stocking a lot of the core range is pretty poor from both a customer satisfaction point of view and a retailer point of view (you want to avoid customers coming in to give you money and them leaving empty handed because you don't have any).

Tesco sells their own-brand stuff, but sells other brands too.
GW's only reall outlet is tehir own stores, with FLGS and online as add-ons.

So, as their main way to sell their own stuff, GW has its own problems, unlike almost anyone else.

As Herzios points out, there's no advantage to half-empty shelves. If you're paying rents and rates in your shops, you might as well keep them stocked.

We play often in GW stores - if we've been there for a couple of days in succession, we usually buy something. In Truro we picked up those cool resin barricades that are hard to find; more items like that, a Deathleaper or a Big Mek, would make us part with more of our £££.