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Just out of morbid curiousity to anyone with retail know-wots are there some retail / marketting theory or dogma that doesnt approve of sales* ?

This just seems an odd, albeit scary effective it seems, way to clear stock

* and im sure way way back early 90s GW did have store sales, explains my vyper and warwalker backlog

Privateer Press has done this successfully for a few years now. Kinda wanted the Warhammer Underworlds one, but they've already sold out for US. Teach me to check Warhammer Community earlier in the morning

Wow...sold out most everywhere already and not available in the US. Not interested myself but just interesting how fast GW can push product.

Too much gambling involved for my taste - especially with the "theme" of Imperium. That is less a theme and more a statement that the possibilities are stupidly varied.

I'd be more ok with it if they were less of a gamble, and hell, if it had a list of "this is what you might get, and the chances of it" listing. Like trading card games that have boosters with X common items, Y uncommon, and Z rares. At least then you know roughly what you are getting into and the odds of getting X Y or Z kits.

As is, the themes need to be more...helpful. Considering how much fluff they have to work with, GW could easily narrow the focus down enough to actually be helpful to players. I mean, if they don't want to go into the distant past they could even theme it off of Psychic Awakening campaign books and still have big option lists - each book had what 2-4 factions featured? Ok, lootbox is themed on Genestealer Cults, Tau, and Imperial Guard - "Common" units are the basic infantry of the factions, along with some of their oldest plastic kits (Cadians, Scions, Fire Warriors, Neophytes, etc), "Uncommon" is maybe a bigger toy, like a Sentinel, Broadside, the new biker kits, and HQs, and then rare would be the centerpiece model - a Riptide, Leman Russ, Deathstrike, Goliath, etc. The buyer gets the list of possibilities, along with the rarity tier for each and a rough idea of how many of each tier are guaranteed per box. At least that way it isn't just a complete guesswork. And bonus points it isn't a selection tier of half of the factions in the game.

 Turnip Jedi wrote:
Just out of morbid curiousity to anyone with retail know-wots are there some retail / marketting theory or dogma that doesnt approve of sales* ?

I think maybe you want to look at the idea of Veblen Goods.

There are/were companies that forbid sales on their items. In the old days, for example, Bose items were always exempt from any store sales, but they did occasionally run sales of their own.

I think the general idea though is that if you are a Veblen good, you do not want people to get the idea that you could get that good for cheaper, because the desirability (and thus demand) is tied to the high price of the good itself. That being said, you still do need to move product at some point, especially low-selling stuff.

But I am not some business wizard, so take this all as strictly my opinion, not in any way, shape or form a fact of that matter.

Not really fussed with this one either way.

People have been given a choice and either voted with their wallet or not. Given the quick, no notice, sell outs this has obviously been a success.

It is valid to complain about the practice in of itself, but there is no point complaining about the contents until these are delivered to those that bought them and we have an idea of what has been sent out.

ListenToMeWarriors wrote:
Not really fussed with this one either way.

People have been given a choice and either voted with their wallet or not. Given the quick, no notice, sell outs this has obviously been a success.

It is valid to complain about the practice in of itself, but there is no point complaining about the contents until these are delivered to those that bought them and we have an idea of what has been sent out.

Well said. I'm sure your comment will be rapidly drowned out.

angryboy2k wrote:

ListenToMeWarriors wrote:
Not really fussed with this one either way.

People have been given a choice and either voted with their wallet or not. Given the quick, no notice, sell outs this has obviously been a success.

It is valid to complain about the practice in of itself, but there is no point complaining about the contents until these are delivered to those that bought them and we have an idea of what has been sent out.

Well said. I'm sure your comment will be rapidly drowned out.

GW mail order used to do stuff like this in the early 2000s. Once they had racks of metal bits fall over in the US warehouse, so they bagged them up and sold them by the pound as grab bags. I really don't understand the big deal here. If you don't like the offer, don't buy.

 gorgon wrote:

angryboy2k wrote:

ListenToMeWarriors wrote:
Not really fussed with this one either way.

People have been given a choice and either voted with their wallet or not. Given the quick, no notice, sell outs this has obviously been a success.

It is valid to complain about the practice in of itself, but there is no point complaining about the contents until these are delivered to those that bought them and we have an idea of what has been sent out.

Well said. I'm sure your comment will be rapidly drowned out.

GW mail order used to do stuff like this in the early 2000s. Once they had racks of metal bits fall over in the US warehouse, so they bagged them up and sold them by the pound as grab bags. I really don't understand the big deal here. If you don't like the offer, don't buy.

To be fair, with regards to bitz, a big grab bag of random stuff is often exactly what people are looking for to begin with. I feel that's an important distinction.

The loot boxes I've gotten from other companies have been pretty good.

However, this being GW I'm sure it's full of old Dark Eldar models.

 Undead_Love-Machine wrote:

 Wha-Mu-077 wrote:
The intent is to provide players with a sense of pride and accomplishment for unboxing different Cadians.

As for cost, we selected initial values based upon data from the 8Ed and other adjustments made to stimulus checks before launch. Among other things, we're looking at average yearly wage on a daily basis, and we'll be making constant adjustments to ensure that players have kits that are impossible to put togather, 20 years old, and of course attainable via paying us absurd prices.

We appreciate the candid feedback, and the passion the community has put forth around the current topics here on Dakkadakka, our forums and across numerous social media outlets.

Our team will continue to make changes and monitor community feedback and update absolutely never.

What?

Boring "joke" trying too hard to be funny so failing at it epic time.

 Irkjoe wrote:
This isn't a good sign, privateer press did the same thing to unload all the crap that wasn't selling. Watch it be a crate of finecast.

PP's situation was totally different. They'd had very slow sales before and were moving their head office. So coupled to a slump in sales and a slump in new customers they were also moving sites. So they had a lot of excess stock to dump onto the market. GW isn't having a slump in sales (they are booming) and GW isn't moving site so they are clearly not looking to shift most of their inventory in one go.

GW is in exceptional growth at present so yeah the difference is night and day between their position and PP's. Furthermore PP was dumping metals and resins not just plastics; GW is likely only dropping plastics and perhaps some finecast. One being a product that is dirt cheap to produce en-mass once the mould is made; the other being a material they are steadily phasing out.


Again the situation is very different; plus GW has only done two boxes and might not do many more or might only do them at random in random territories as needed. PP Was doing basically everything they sold.

I wonder if the quick sellout was primarily due to scalpers, or if it was indeed picked up by the community at large.

Hoping the latter, but fearing the former...

 Turnip Jedi wrote:
Just out of morbid curiousity to anyone with retail know-wots are there some retail / marketting theory or dogma that doesnt approve of sales* ?

This just seems an odd, albeit scary effective it seems, way to clear stock

* and im sure way way back early 90s GW did have store sales, explains my vyper and warwalker backlog

Sales depend on the product, and mostly apply to seasonal clothing and other goods.

In the tech world, a bleeding edge TV is pricey. But, give it a couple of years, and said bleeding edge is somewhat dulled. You may have leftover stock for numerous possible reasons. Now, stock isn’t money in that realm. You’ve had to buy it wholesale, and whilst the units sit in your warehouse, it’s costing you to store them, and reducing space for possibly more profitable lines.

So you announce a sale, Mark them down, and get shot of them.

Clothing much the same, especially as your stock predictions can be upturned by crap, unseasonable weather.

GW? Don’t really have any of these concerns. First, they produce the vast majority of product in house. And GW know when a new kit is about to replace a new one - so they’ve far more control over production levels. Err on the side of caution and arguably underproducing isn’t a massive hassle, as they can always cast up more if needed.

That removes much of the motivation for a sale, as they’re far less likely to have literal Old Hat lurking around.

These? Well, it could be a toe in the water. It could be related to sales impact from COVID-19, and a need to get stock shifted from the warehouse.

Yes, 50% is a hefty discount. Especially when you consider the often reported wholesale price of 60%. But it’s still freeing up inventory, and making at least some money.

As covered, I went for the Underworlds box, as I’ve an interest in the game, but only the Nightvault starter set. So come what may, I’m in a good position to juice maximum value from whatever goodies are coming to me. The “Imperium” one? No interest, as it’s such a catch all term for 40k, and my fear is it’ll be a hodgepodge of stuff I just won’t use.

With Underworlds? It’s entirely possible it’ll be the hook not just for me, but my gaming club. Almost certainly £65 well spent on my behalf, potentially multiple new recruits to that system for GW.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Stormonu wrote:
I wonder if the quick sellout was primarily due to scalpers, or if it was indeed picked up by the community at large.

Hoping the latter, but fearing the former...

Seems a risky purchase for Scalpers to be honest. They rely on low availability, high desirability products. Blind buying goes against that.

 Stormonu wrote:
I wonder if the quick sellout was primarily due to scalpers, or if it was indeed picked up by the community at large.

Hoping the latter, but fearing the former...

or there just wasn't that many of them in the first place.

 Stormonu wrote:
I wonder if the quick sellout was primarily due to scalpers, or if it was indeed picked up by the community at large.

Hoping the latter, but fearing the former...

Then eBay is going to be flooded with models that are readily available on the GW webstore.

kurhanik wrote:
Wow...sold out most everywhere already and not available in the US. Not interested myself but just interesting how fast GW can push product.

Too much gambling involved for my taste - especially with the "theme" of Imperium. That is less a theme and more a statement that the possibilities are stupidly varied.

I'd be more ok with it if they were less of a gamble, and hell, if it had a list of "this is what you might get, and the chances of it" listing. Like trading card games that have boosters with X common items, Y uncommon, and Z rares. At least then you know roughly what you are getting into and the odds of getting X Y or Z kits.

As is, the themes need to be more...helpful. Considering how much fluff they have to work with, GW could easily narrow the focus down enough to actually be helpful to players. I mean, if they don't want to go into the distant past they could even theme it off of Psychic Awakening campaign books and still have big option lists - each book had what 2-4 factions featured? Ok, lootbox is themed on Genestealer Cults, Tau, and Imperial Guard - "Common" units are the basic infantry of the factions, along with some of their oldest plastic kits (Cadians, Scions, Fire Warriors, Neophytes, etc), "Uncommon" is maybe a bigger toy, like a Sentinel, Broadside, the new biker kits, and HQs, and then rare would be the centerpiece model - a Riptide, Leman Russ, Deathstrike, Goliath, etc. The buyer gets the list of possibilities, along with the rarity tier for each and a rough idea of how many of each tier are guaranteed per box. At least that way it isn't just a complete guesswork. And bonus points it isn't a selection tier of half of the factions in the game.

that is a completely different business model to what is happening here. this is getting rid of a large surplus of a small number of sets. the contents of every box (for a given region) is the same. they aren't trying to do this to drum up sales, just to move stuff that they no longer want a load of. if they don't have an excess of 'centre piece' models then there isn't going to be one in there, and there certainly isn't going to be anything new in there. going with your idea and then selling it at 50% off would be a terrible business decision for them.

 Stormonu wrote:
I wonder if the quick sellout was primarily due to scalpers, or if it was indeed picked up by the community at large.

Hoping the latter, but fearing the former...

If any scalpers bought this, they aren't very bright.

The most likely products in these boxes are overstock- stuff that isn't popular and isn't selling. This is especially true since the products that are selling are either out of stock or are now being tracked in the 'selling fast' section of the website (which are unlikely to be in these boxes).

Odds are pretty good that this is low demand stuff with the occasional gem that will tickle the buyer (because they like the model, it fits with a project or just appeals for some other reason). Scalpers want something they can reliably turn around at an obvious profit. Limited boxes are ideal, OP meta choices are bread and butter, but blind boxes are one of the worst possible gambles.

 Stormonu wrote:
I wonder if the quick sellout was primarily due to scalpers, or if it was indeed picked up by the community at large.

Hoping the latter, but fearing the former...

How would this matter? If picked up by 'scalpers', then they're going to appear on UK Ebay, and shipping will make it unaffordable for those in the US. They couldn't be picked up by those in the US, cause they're not available here at all.

I don't understand the hand-wringing about this. They already have the cheapest prices in the UK, by virtue of pricing in GBP + discounts, plus the magazine subscription thing, plus now these boxes. What 'scalper' is going to make money in that market, for things no one wanted in the first place, or were flooded into the market (i.e. chainrasps)?

Remember its not "stuff no one wants" its more likely "stuff that GW overproduced on". There might even be some popular stuff in there which GW just over-estimated on.

Was this even available in the US?

I don't see an Email about it anywhere, which is odd since I usually get 3-4 Email on everything GW does, lol

It wasn't done in the USA. Furthermore content at each region was different; which highlights that this was clearing inventory which the USA warehouse likely didn't have.

Dealers at conventions have been doing Mystery Boxes for years. Customers love them because they feel they're getting a deal and the dealers make money on stock that wasn't selling at full retail and wasting space at their actual stores. You can't go anywhere at GenCon without seeing at least 2-3 people carrying one around.

 Inquisitor Gideon wrote:
Interesting and certainly out of left field. If and when they do an AoS and possibly Middle-Earth one, i may take a punt.

Middle-earth could be interesting. Thing is, are they packed with only plastic stuff? Because the majority of the LOTR and Hobbit is metal and Finecast. I guess we'll have to see what's in these first boxes

I bet the Underworlds one is gonna be counters, dice, card sleeves, and such trash, with one actual warband in it. The worst-selling one, perhaps.

 Wha-Mu-077 wrote:
I bet the Underworlds one is gonna be counters, dice, card sleeves, and such trash, with one actual warband in it. The worst-selling one, perhaps.

I’ve got one on order.

£10 says you’re just complaining for attention, and are therefore wrong.

Mildly interested but my personal bet is the Underworld one is the Mortal Realms warbands.

 Platuan4th wrote:
Dealers at conventions have been doing Mystery Boxes for years. Customers love them because they feel they're getting a deal and the dealers make money on stock that wasn't selling at full retail and wasting space at their actual stores. You can't go anywhere at GenCon without seeing at least 2-3 people carrying one around.

Yeah, at PAX Unplugged they sell board game mystery boxes and they sell like crazy. That's even more of a crapshoot than anything GW is doing here, since you have no idea what kind of board game you're getting.

But carry on with the outrage, folks.

It would seem fools and their money are indeed easily parted.

Enjoy your new shiney box of soon to be squatted firstborn.

Underworlds, will just be season one or two warbands, the older harder to shift ones or something.
Fine for new starters.

Why everyone is saying it’ll be 5xthis box and 3x this.
It obviously won’t be.

And yeah, much more like loot crate. It isn't a loot box with unknown quantity. Will I get a rare, or just a common.
Just a what will my £150 value be (yes it might not be amazing things, but it will be £150 of stuff)...


I remember when my store did a £5 old white dwarf, bundled with a load of old metal and plastics in a bag, as a way of clearing stuff.
They were awesome value (like £30/40 in each rrp, plus the mag.
Obviously it’ll never be that good now. I bought about 10 of them, some were things I only sold in the last year or so as well sought models..
It must have been around 5th ed fantasy..

 Stormonu wrote:


However, this being GW I'm sure it's full of old Dark Eldar models.

Dark Eldars are part of the Imperium, now ?

Otherwise, yes, it's a lootcrate. And this is an old trick that always worked - using the mystery and telling about perceived value of what you could have.

Not really glorious, sure, but there is a reason why it sells so good for others companies. It's a bit alike to gambling, in the end.

Anyway, it sold out in a flash. We'll see if we'll get something else later on other themes.