D&D 5E BAM: Where's 5E??

[Dungeoneer]

Let's play a fun game. It's like "Where's Waldo/Wally" except instead of a guy in a stupid hat you have to spot the 5e D&D books on the roleplaying games shelf at my local Books-A-Million this morning.

Ready...

Set...

Go!



Follow up questions: imagine you don't closely follow tabletop gaming news and you are just casually browsing the shelves at this store, what version of D&D do you think is the latest one? What game do you think is most popular?

Tongue-in-cheek games aside, I'm quite curious about what is going on here. When I was in store it took me about five minutes to spot ANY 5e books. They are obviously not being given priority shelving or prominent placement even relative to the 4e books. Is this because of sales? Is this because the distributor has dropped the ball? Is this a vast conspiracy perpetrated by the Pathfinder-loving staff at BAM?!?*

* Hahah just kidding. The staff at BAM probably thinks Pathfinder "is kinda like Magic".

 

[wedgeski]

My local (new) FLGS at least put the Starter Set on the top shelf...then flooded the second and third shelves with 3E remainders which I'm pretty sure they bought from the Waterstones over the road, which no longer stocks RPG stuff.

Once I know the proprietor a little better I shall point at the shelf and utter the immortal word: "WTF?"

 

[Nebulous]

Well, duh, obviously a newbie needs to start with the yellow Dummies Guide to Dungeons and Dragons and work their way up from there to the top shelf

 

[Sigbjorn_86]

This isn't surprising. BAM only pays attention to merchandizing few things: Big Bang Theory paraphernalia, WWII histories, books by Fox News broadcasters, and tween book series. Everything else sits, unsold, until the end of time (or the store closes - have you seen how much cheaper Amazon is?).

 

[Dungeoneer]

This isn't surprising. BAM only pays attention to merchandizing few things: Big Bang Theory paraphernalia, WWII histories, books by Fox News broadcasters, and tween book series. Everything else sits, unsold, until the end of time (or the store closes - have you seen how much cheaper Amazon is?).

And, apparently, Pathfinder.

Nothing you see in a retail store is there by accident. Shelf space is expensive. It costs money for your product to appear on shelves AT ALL. It costs more money to get prominent, face out placement and more money still to have a shelf with your brand featured prominently (Paizo is clearly spending that money).

If your product is buried on the bottom shelf that's because you're not paying the stores that carry it enough money to make them care.

 

[darjr]

I found the starter set in the Walmart checkout line.

 

[Sigbjorn_86]

And, apparently, Pathfinder.

Nothing you see in a retail store is there by accident. Shelf space is expensive. It costs money for your product to appear on shelves AT ALL. It costs more money to get prominent, face out placement and more money still to have a shelf with your brand featured prominently (Paizo is clearly spending that money).

If your product is buried on the bottom shelf that's because you're not paying the stores that carry it enough money to make them care.

I would usually agree, but that shelf at the local BAM hasn't changed in years. I get the feeling it's neglected.

 

[Jester David]

Pathfinder was king. 5e needs to reclaim its crown. And that will take time and demand from the audience. WotC can't just put out books and expect everyone to dump their current stock and change all their displays, not when they've been costing game stores money.

 

[Mistwell]

Nothing you see in a retail store is there by accident.

As a generalization, sure. For Books A Million, a company likely to go bankrupt in the next couple years (they're already slowly starting to close stores) that's been badly mismanaged for years? Naw...most of the stuff on their shelf is there by accident or default or laziness or random luck.

 

[Umbran]

Tongue-in-cheek games aside, I'm quite curious about what is going on here.

That would depend on the store. But, in the post-X-mas season? It is possibly a stock thing. If you have a lot of something in stock, you make it visible, so maybe it will move. If you don't have much of it in stock, you don't need to worry so much about highlighting it to move it out before the next season's materials start coming in.