MUKid said:At GenCon this year, I spent maybe $150 on various gaming products. Some of these were available at my local store, and some aren't. A couple things I bought because they aren't available in the store yet, a couple because I wanted to play them with friends at the con, and a couple just because they were impulse buys.
My local store (I'm friends with the owners) gets really upset with publishers who offer special deals at Cons. They feel that this undermines the store, and is especially low when they (the store) try to support the games with tournaments and demos of the very games being undersold at GenCon. They point out several examples of $100+ sales lost simply because a customer was able to save a few bucks by purchasing directly from the manufacturer at GenCon.
Which manufacturers were selling at discounts at the con? Most of them, for exactly the reason you cite, sell at retail at conventions. Other than the occasional "buy all our books and save $5", i didn't see any discounts from manufacturers. just from retailers with booths. And even those manufacterer deals i only saw at two booths.
Myself, i mostly only buy stuff at GenCon that i [expect i] can't get from the FLGS. Partly out of respect for the FLGS, but also because i only have so much money--i only buy at GenCon what i "have" to, figuring i can buy the rest later. Not that i haven't burned myself now and then by doing this (i still wish i'd bought Shattered Sky at Gen Con, but i expected it to get into distribution and show up at the store).