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Retailer's Stance on PDF Deals
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<blockquote data-quote="Nyarlathotep" data-source="post: 4746864" data-attributes="member: 1799"><p>I guess my response to the retailer would be something along the lines of "If you sell PDFs in your shop, then yes, I agree. You're getting shafted". </p><p></p><p>Otherwise.... the business is changing and the retail sector is changing. Old models and manners of doing business aren't going to work as well anymore. PDFs are (almost certainly) here to stay, Amazon is here to stay and independents are going to have a harder time of it. The only way they are going to make it is to offer an experience that can't be obtained by buying PDFs/from Amazon. To address this particular issue (and to keep with the outrage of the day) the retailer should/could be far more concerned with the easy availabilty of pirated PDFs. Those are an even better price* than the sale prices offered!</p><p></p><p>From Paizo / White Wolf's point of view, this is an opportunity to reach potential customers. If these potential customers can be persuaded to try a product that they wouldn't have before, this will help retailers in the end, as the sales on the PDFs won't last forever and they'll soon return to their regular prices. Hardcopy will always have a place at the game table and that's where retailers will make their money. Without knowing industry specifics, I would hazard a guess that the PDF market is magnitudes smaller than the hardcopy market is. I would also guess that those who are buying PDFs tend to be voracious fans, the kind that would pick up a PDF and if they liked the product be willing to spend more money in a game store on future purchases. I also think that this group of consumers is more likely to continue buying online if confronted with a less than satisfactory shopping experience in a brick and mortar store.</p><p></p><p>In the end, I think retailers need to look at this as an opportunity to gain new customers.</p><p></p><p>*Obviously I'm not condoning piracy, but I think the point stands. Almost all of the books a hobby shop sells are available online for free if one knows where to look. How does that affect sales?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Nyarlathotep, post: 4746864, member: 1799"] I guess my response to the retailer would be something along the lines of "If you sell PDFs in your shop, then yes, I agree. You're getting shafted". Otherwise.... the business is changing and the retail sector is changing. Old models and manners of doing business aren't going to work as well anymore. PDFs are (almost certainly) here to stay, Amazon is here to stay and independents are going to have a harder time of it. The only way they are going to make it is to offer an experience that can't be obtained by buying PDFs/from Amazon. To address this particular issue (and to keep with the outrage of the day) the retailer should/could be far more concerned with the easy availabilty of pirated PDFs. Those are an even better price* than the sale prices offered! From Paizo / White Wolf's point of view, this is an opportunity to reach potential customers. If these potential customers can be persuaded to try a product that they wouldn't have before, this will help retailers in the end, as the sales on the PDFs won't last forever and they'll soon return to their regular prices. Hardcopy will always have a place at the game table and that's where retailers will make their money. Without knowing industry specifics, I would hazard a guess that the PDF market is magnitudes smaller than the hardcopy market is. I would also guess that those who are buying PDFs tend to be voracious fans, the kind that would pick up a PDF and if they liked the product be willing to spend more money in a game store on future purchases. I also think that this group of consumers is more likely to continue buying online if confronted with a less than satisfactory shopping experience in a brick and mortar store. In the end, I think retailers need to look at this as an opportunity to gain new customers. *Obviously I'm not condoning piracy, but I think the point stands. Almost all of the books a hobby shop sells are available online for free if one knows where to look. How does that affect sales? [/QUOTE]
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