I think a lot of this comes down to business 101; know your customers, know your market and demographics. Be organized, follow up and manage people’s expectations. Be honest with them. Yes you might lose some walk ins and casuals but you can also retain some being a fair operator. GW is just a convenient target, to cover up for bad decisions and practices for shop owners. We want to support you, but if you can’t control your controllables? You reap what you sow.
I mean withholding shipments, sending stuff that was ordered that people want 2-3 months later claiming "item shortage" (but not on their own site or for stores in a country just across the border" . Forcing stores to order starters (which don't sell) to be able to order specific items. But l think the best one was when FLGS chains were build up here, build a buyer market , helped intreduce the (VERY EXPENSIVE) hobby to eastern europe to follow it up with the opening of GW stores in two prime location in the country, ban on ordering stuff from Germany (UK direct orders only) followed by NINE MONTHS of being late with shipments mid edition switch for w40k (no shipment problems to the two GW stores) . 27 stores went down that year. Right now it is less direct stuff they do (although scuming shipments still happen, then DA sfuff fir example came 4 months later) and more 3d printing/l get my rules for free thing. CCG , board games, paints and own 3d printing is what keeps the local stores a float.
The "use your franchise to find the profitable locations" era of the 80's and 90's was insane. Never forget that the name of the person you speak to there has not been there as long as the corporation has existed and the corp will exist long after every employee saying good thing about them for the moment.
I do the GW ordering for a small store here in Australia. The only two issues we have had were, 1. Just a bad rep, didn't place orders, or got things wrong like sending an order out twice (which GW let us keep at no cost). The rep was fired pretty quickly and we haven't had an issue like that since. 2. The other issue is having preorder allocations halved. We aren't a large store, so we would order maybe 10 or 15 of a new release only to find out that we get half or below. You would then see the big GW discount store put up a photo of them receiving pallets of that item you only received half of. I understand that they want to keep their biggest customer happy but it is tough to deal with.
The only general problem that my FLGS has had from GW is lack of product availability. Both in terms of ridiculously short runs of FOMO boxes and general long term stock outs of popular items. I’m certain this is a real problem because even GW can’t sell you the item you want, when you want it. There was a huge problem, last winter, with the main warehouse in Tennessee, supposedly due to weather. Which caused my FLGS big problems.
I left a comment on another video about this. But GW has a 3 week delivery time to my LGS. Which is crazy. Dude sits with his rep on Monday, every Monday. Every other distributor delivers within 3-4 days.
I have a local GW, I also have two local hobby stores (different parts of the city) who are both franchises of a larger chain. The LHS's both lean heavy towards Magic cards, the staff in both say that GW products (or anything non-magic) just don't sell because we have a GW in the city, but they both only stock a tiny selection of non-magic card products, their GW range consists of a rarely restocked paint rack, months old White Dwarfs, and a handful of miniature boxes. If you want anything else they direct you to their website (that supplies the chain) where you can buy products at MSRP plus postage. When I purchase products I buy them from hobby shops on the other side of the country (Australia) as they offer discounted prices and often free shipping with a low $ target. The LHS's can push the GW bad all they want, but it's very clear they just don't want to push anything but Magic cards in those stores.
Now I wonder if you get Boomhower type complaints occasionally. I am amused that I watched this the day after completing a Malifaux tournament. There were four of us, of course.
When I was a FLGS owner I found GW frustrating but not impossible to deal with, but to be fair they were far less frustrating than dealing with other distributors, eg. stock levels for 'smaller' sellers, FFG (particularly getting stock for X Wing when it was hot) or CMon for ASOIAF. One of my GW reps did a crap job and would lie about what I ordered/said. His boss asked if I wanted a different rep and the next one was excellent. GW was at their worst when they didn't have enough stock of a hot new release, and at their most annoying when they had to much of a new release no-one wanted.
"Keep the Line alive, or let the cash flow decide." A common question all store owners must think about. also on a serious note. If you ever see yourself turning into Krusty crab. ( for my store I Hired a part time only remote worker to handle E mails / Customer service ) maybe you as owners need to put someone who's less attached to the business and can absorb the nonsense in a non personnel way.
Love it. The more you all talk about the easier it is to understand. Many people are ignoring these things however. Fascinating business prospective. Keep up the good work telling the truth ! 🖤
Are you saying James Workshop DIDN"T kick my dog!? Out of curiosity, is it a common industry practice to reduce stores' orders based on a high demand release (ie other mini manufactures, pokemon, etc)
I sad one of the bigest lgs who sels evrythink Is not respeting embargo days And same guy just walk in to ofical gw store with scenven tide before poree order start......
I've never had an issue getting any product even the pain ones like the recent Dark angles box or veterans of the long war box for chaos with my LGS. I also call my store usually during the announcement at this point and the convo now is, hey its _Name_ put me down for this box for whenever it actually goes for pre order lol.
Business acumen and logistics management doesn't come naturally to most people. Logistics is the lifeblood of any business. GW's ability to survive for so many decades despite having rubbish operational practices is because their profit margins are so high, it makes up for any incompetence in between. It goes the same for LGS too.
Feels out of place but, I have to ask what your experiences have been with the gamer edition battletomes for AoS4? To me they seem like poor financial decision for the average consumer and like the complete opposite of what most people have been asking for (better more lore filled limited books and free online rules). Then again I realize I may not be the target demographic. Have you stocked any? Have they sold? Everything I understand about the hobby is that the competitive community is like less then 5% of the entire ecosystem, and that they understandably look for good deals which these books don't really seem to be. So while a paperback book may be preferable for them, Im not sure if the inclusion of the inevitably going to be outdated cards makes them worth forking over the extra cash.
For my favourite FLGS, they open an EOI for new releases on the proviso they get sufficient stock, if not….its the normal unfortunate webstore free for all….and are very clear about it.
I wouldn’t say it’s artificial scarcity. They don’t have the manufacturing capacity to keep up with the boom in popularity. I think their new warehouse is expected to be done in 2025.
This year with the ordering delays and or canceled orders for TOW was a nightmare. The Tomb Kings and Bretonnian models you couldn't get during the firat wave for months. Im not even going to get into the Magic Cards.
Black primer? Seriously? You can get the same or better stuff at any auto/hardware store for a fraction of the price... Yeah, I get that everyone buys it regardless of which game or army they have, but still... I'd guess Citadel PVA glue is #2, but they have changed all their basing instructions to use their bottled gunk so many years ago I'm not sure they even sell PVA anymore...
I am always amazed at just how angry people get about packages taking too long.. These are not life saving items. Chill out people. Things happen, and stores can not always be responsible. I wish people would out this all in perspective. I order from those I trust, and if I trust them, I will get them when I get them. Store owners deserve some slack.
Guys, GW is not the bad guy because they are big. They're the bad guy because they are bad. As in not good, nice or kind. Being big is a sideproduct of being the bad guy, not the reason why people think they are bad. Amnisty, WHO, the red cross, doctors without borders are all big organisations, but they are not percieved as bad at least not compared to GW. The reason GW gets so much hate is because 1) the price of their products compared to their yearly profit, and 2) because they are taking advantage of small businesses by not letting them sell the more profitable items in their range. A good version of GW would close their webstore, lower their prices, only make enough profit to reinvest in the company and they would be the ones that call the FLGS and ask how they can be of service. They would also set up a childrens hospital in Nottingham and plant some rainforrests in the south pole to save the african swallow or something. And NO, I am not saying that is what they should do. I'm only explaining that the reason for GW's image problem is not the size of the company but that they are behaving like a typical british imperialist greedy corporation. They are basically the high elves of Ulthuan controlling the trade of half the Old World. I mean honestly, what's not to hate?!
This also sounds good and noble, but remember they’re a publicly traded company. They take money from investors to grow their business and have a fiduciary responsibility to make to profit for that investment. They’re never going to make just enough money to reinvest in the company. Unfortunately GW can continue to increase their prices because as a community we have shown that we’ll pay the increase, myself included. Honestly I wish Mantic for the cost made better miniatures and had a stronger community, because then maybe some of what you’d like to see would actually happen. Here’s hoping. 🤞🏼 Happy Holidays! 🎄
@@mikemartell365 Oh, I understand this completely, but GW has chosen to be publicly traded and it is also up to them how much money goes back to the investors. Since both the price of a box of space marines and GWs annual reports are public, well, they have chosen to forgo the good graces of their customers for better profit margins. They could change this over night if they wanted to, even though we all know that will never happen.
@@lordsofwargamesandhobbies3905 It's not a problem! I don't have a problem with capitalism at all. I'm just saying the statement in the video, that GW gets hate because they are a big company, is wrong.
@@lordsofwargamesandhobbies3905 The author exaggerated his example for clarity. But GWs are really disliked because of their actions both in trade and in-game.
All I want for Christmas is a Lords of War Batrep playing Trench Crusade.
lmao!!! I second that!
If only someone had power over them to make that happen.
This
That's a game people play? I thought it was like, an art movement?
I'm convinced that this game exists solely on this channel lol
I think a lot of this comes down to business 101; know your customers, know your market and demographics. Be organized, follow up and manage people’s expectations. Be honest with them. Yes you might lose some walk ins and casuals but you can also retain some being a fair operator. GW is just a convenient target, to cover up for bad decisions and practices for shop owners. We want to support you, but if you can’t control your controllables? You reap what you sow.
I mean withholding shipments, sending stuff that was ordered that people want 2-3 months later claiming "item shortage" (but not on their own site or for stores in a country just across the border" . Forcing stores to order starters (which don't sell) to be able to order specific items. But l think the best one was when FLGS chains were build up here, build a buyer market , helped intreduce the (VERY EXPENSIVE) hobby to eastern europe to follow it up with the opening of GW stores in two prime location in the country, ban on ordering stuff from Germany (UK direct orders only) followed by NINE MONTHS of being late with shipments mid edition switch for w40k (no shipment problems to the two GW stores) . 27 stores went down that year. Right now it is less direct stuff they do (although scuming shipments still happen, then DA sfuff fir example came 4 months later) and more 3d printing/l get my rules for free thing. CCG , board games, paints and own 3d printing is what keeps the local stores a float.
The "use your franchise to find the profitable locations" era of the 80's and 90's was insane. Never forget that the name of the person you speak to there has not been there as long as the corporation has existed and the corp will exist long after every employee saying good thing about them for the moment.
I do the GW ordering for a small store here in Australia. The only two issues we have had were,
1. Just a bad rep, didn't place orders, or got things wrong like sending an order out twice (which GW let us keep at no cost). The rep was fired pretty quickly and we haven't had an issue like that since.
2. The other issue is having preorder allocations halved. We aren't a large store, so we would order maybe 10 or 15 of a new release only to find out that we get half or below. You would then see the big GW discount store put up a photo of them receiving pallets of that item you only received half of. I understand that they want to keep their biggest customer happy but it is tough to deal with.
It’s okay, you can say. Most LGS owners don’t have skills, experience or money to run this type of store 😂
We like to practice self harm on this channel 🤣
The only general problem that my FLGS has had from GW is lack of product availability. Both in terms of ridiculously short runs of FOMO boxes and general long term stock outs of popular items. I’m certain this is a real problem because even GW can’t sell you the item you want, when you want it. There was a huge problem, last winter, with the main warehouse in Tennessee, supposedly due to weather. Which caused my FLGS big problems.
I left a comment on another video about this. But GW has a 3 week delivery time to my LGS. Which is crazy. Dude sits with his rep on Monday, every Monday. Every other distributor delivers within 3-4 days.
I have a local GW, I also have two local hobby stores (different parts of the city) who are both franchises of a larger chain. The LHS's both lean heavy towards Magic cards, the staff in both say that GW products (or anything non-magic) just don't sell because we have a GW in the city, but they both only stock a tiny selection of non-magic card products, their GW range consists of a rarely restocked paint rack, months old White Dwarfs, and a handful of miniature boxes. If you want anything else they direct you to their website (that supplies the chain) where you can buy products at MSRP plus postage.
When I purchase products I buy them from hobby shops on the other side of the country (Australia) as they offer discounted prices and often free shipping with a low $ target.
The LHS's can push the GW bad all they want, but it's very clear they just don't want to push anything but Magic cards in those stores.
Now I wonder if you get Boomhower type complaints occasionally.
I am amused that I watched this the day after completing a Malifaux tournament. There were four of us, of course.
10:25
And still you are not geting resin cheaper... in lgs.
I want to watch these dudes play some 40K matches, it’d be sick!
You really don't lol
@@lordsofwargamesandhobbies3905 lol
When I was a FLGS owner I found GW frustrating but not impossible to deal with, but to be fair they were far less frustrating than dealing with other distributors, eg. stock levels for 'smaller' sellers, FFG (particularly getting stock for X Wing when it was hot) or CMon for ASOIAF. One of my GW reps did a crap job and would lie about what I ordered/said. His boss asked if I wanted a different rep and the next one was excellent. GW was at their worst when they didn't have enough stock of a hot new release, and at their most annoying when they had to much of a new release no-one wanted.
"Keep the Line alive, or let the cash flow decide." A common question all store owners must think about.
also on a serious note. If you ever see yourself turning into Krusty crab. ( for my store I Hired a part time only remote worker to handle E mails / Customer service ) maybe you as owners need to put someone who's less attached to the business and can absorb the nonsense in a non personnel way.
Love it. The more you all talk about the easier it is to understand. Many people are ignoring these things however. Fascinating business prospective. Keep up the good work telling the truth ! 🖤
Love your videos... i am following them for a couple weeks now... i allways enjoy to listen to your storys
Are you saying James Workshop DIDN"T kick my dog!? Out of curiosity, is it a common industry practice to reduce stores' orders based on a high demand release (ie other mini manufactures, pokemon, etc)
I sad one of the bigest lgs who sels evrythink
Is not respeting embargo days
And same guy just walk in to ofical gw store with scenven tide before poree order start......
I've never had an issue getting any product even the pain ones like the recent Dark angles box or veterans of the long war box for chaos with my LGS. I also call my store usually during the announcement at this point and the convo now is, hey its _Name_ put me down for this box for whenever it actually goes for pre order lol.
Business acumen and logistics management doesn't come naturally to most people.
Logistics is the lifeblood of any business. GW's ability to survive for so many decades despite having rubbish operational practices is because their profit margins are so high, it makes up for any incompetence in between.
It goes the same for LGS too.
I feel a little bit concerned for Timmy and his marriage. I love running away from my problems too, but it doesn't always work.
Your primary fallback position is always, always blame the "supplychain".
Feels out of place but, I have to ask what your experiences have been with the gamer edition battletomes for AoS4? To me they seem like poor financial decision for the average consumer and like the complete opposite of what most people have been asking for (better more lore filled limited books and free online rules). Then again I realize I may not be the target demographic.
Have you stocked any? Have they sold? Everything I understand about the hobby is that the competitive community is like less then 5% of the entire ecosystem, and that they understandably look for good deals which these books don't really seem to be. So while a paperback book may be preferable for them, Im not sure if the inclusion of the inevitably going to be outdated cards makes them worth forking over the extra cash.
For my favourite FLGS, they open an EOI for new releases on the proviso they get sufficient stock, if not….its the normal unfortunate webstore free for all….and are very clear about it.
Crusty store owner? There's definitely one in downtown Ottawa.
You can never have too much black primer
Look into Artificial Scarcity to understand why stores can't get as much of a product as they want.
I wouldn’t say it’s artificial scarcity. They don’t have the manufacturing capacity to keep up with the boom in popularity.
I think their new warehouse is expected to be done in 2025.
dont know how to integrate this one in but need to do my underworlds mention
11:25.
One of 2 bf for hrismas got tau box.....
He think that the wors ome of 40 k ones.
Please talk about AoS 3E Dominion more. It'll never stop being funny to me.
This year with the ordering delays and or canceled orders for TOW was a nightmare. The Tomb Kings and Bretonnian models you couldn't get during the firat wave for months. Im not even going to get into the Magic Cards.
Omg the magic cards, they printed enough for like 1% of their customers, they clearly didn’t make enough and are not interested in selling more
Black primer? Seriously?
You can get the same or better stuff at any auto/hardware store for a fraction of the price...
Yeah, I get that everyone buys it regardless of which game or army they have, but still...
I'd guess Citadel PVA glue is #2, but they have changed all their basing instructions to use their bottled gunk so many years ago I'm not sure they even sell PVA anymore...
I’m sorry are you saying people avoid uncomfortable conversations and situations by blaming someone else for the problem?
That can’t be true.
On the topic of FLGS owners maybe not knowing what they are doing, a video on what it takes to own an FLGS would be cool.
Starting off by being independently wealthy would help.
I think the reason yall aint having problems with GW or distributors is because yall are too goddamn nice and Canadian
its all an elaborate trick :)
Black primer!? Everyone knows cool kids prime with Ice Yellow
The enlightened!
Games Workshop ruined my wallet!
oohhh spicey..
and first
"flying by the seat of their pants" I feel attacked. :D
We also practice self harm on this channel lol
Lol cruise missiles
I am always amazed at just how angry people get about packages taking too long.. These are not life saving items. Chill out people. Things happen, and stores can not always be responsible. I wish people would out this all in perspective. I order from those I trust, and if I trust them, I will get them when I get them. Store owners deserve some slack.
If you think GW isn’t sketchy just look at the preorder system.
Buy it.
Wait.
Order cancels.
Or buy it.
Wait.
Wait.
Wait 6 months.
That’s a problem.
they have a real problem on the backend. Its a lot of systems taped together unfortunately.
Less Trench Crusade content and more Turnip 28 please!
Guys, GW is not the bad guy because they are big. They're the bad guy because they are bad. As in not good, nice or kind. Being big is a sideproduct of being the bad guy, not the reason why people think they are bad. Amnisty, WHO, the red cross, doctors without borders are all big organisations, but they are not percieved as bad at least not compared to GW. The reason GW gets so much hate is because 1) the price of their products compared to their yearly profit, and 2) because they are taking advantage of small businesses by not letting them sell the more profitable items in their range.
A good version of GW would close their webstore, lower their prices, only make enough profit to reinvest in the company and they would be the ones that call the FLGS and ask how they can be of service. They would also set up a childrens hospital in Nottingham and plant some rainforrests in the south pole to save the african swallow or something.
And NO, I am not saying that is what they should do. I'm only explaining that the reason for GW's image problem is not the size of the company but that they are behaving like a typical british imperialist greedy corporation. They are basically the high elves of Ulthuan controlling the trade of half the Old World. I mean honestly, what's not to hate?!
This also sounds good and noble, but remember they’re a publicly traded company. They take money from investors to grow their business and have a fiduciary responsibility to make to profit for that investment. They’re never going to make just enough money to reinvest in the company. Unfortunately GW can continue to increase their prices because as a community we have shown that we’ll pay the increase, myself included. Honestly I wish Mantic for the cost made better miniatures and had a stronger community, because then maybe some of what you’d like to see would actually happen. Here’s hoping. 🤞🏼 Happy Holidays! 🎄
It sounds like your problem isn't with GW, it's with Capitalism.
@@mikemartell365 Oh, I understand this completely, but GW has chosen to be publicly traded and it is also up to them how much money goes back to the investors. Since both the price of a box of space marines and GWs annual reports are public, well, they have chosen to forgo the good graces of their customers for better profit margins. They could change this over night if they wanted to, even though we all know that will never happen.
@@lordsofwargamesandhobbies3905 It's not a problem! I don't have a problem with capitalism at all. I'm just saying the statement in the video, that GW gets hate because they are a big company, is wrong.
@@lordsofwargamesandhobbies3905 The author exaggerated his example for clarity. But GWs are really disliked because of their actions both in trade and in-game.
love a 50 box GW delivery on a friday. Love it.