"Exclusive deals suck!" - James Mathe's rant about the tabletop industry

[Umbran]

For me, the rant is kinda "I don't like it when others do what I do".

Well, that's kind of my point. However successful the guy may have been, there seems to be an inherent contradiction in his position.

If he cannot keep the very first sentence of his piece in order, I should expect the rest of his thoughts on this matter are in order? Probably not. And that's fairly borne out in that inherent contradiction. Now, perhaps that contradiction can be dispelled, but the writing doesn't indicate that he's done so, either in content or style. His lack of verbal discipline continues beyond that first sentence, mirroring the lack of disciplined thought on the matter.

You want to be taken seriously? Write like you're serious. That's all I'm saying.

 

[Morrus]

Well, OK. I'm far more interested in the subject of exclusive deals than his grammar.

 

[shaylon]

I would say that although things might be tougher on him, what this does for the industry would most certainly be beneficial. I know when the people from North Star Games (Wits and Wagers) got into Target it was a very big thing for them which allowed them to produce several more games and see success in a tough market to maintain success in.

I know this is a passion for many people, they work hard to get product out, so if getting into big box stores gets them in the faces of people who would never have gone into an FLGS isn't the money and buzz they generate a good thing?

If Barnes and Noble contacted EN Publishing with intent to sell your product in their stores, wouldn't that be a great success?

 

[Morrus]

If Barnes and Noble contacted EN Publishing with intent to sell your product in their stores, wouldn't that be a great success?

Of course. But then my books aren't sold in small stores, either.

 

[Thondor]

I dislike anything that chokes competition and reduces availability of product on principle, it increases prices due to artificially-reduced supply and reduces support by narrowing the market, diminishing support and forcing customer "loyalty" by giving them no other option.

Agreed. Exclusive offers/deals are problematic for a number of reasons. Exclusive deals are usually a policy decision that creates a false competitive advantage.

*Disclaimer: I have a masters in Retail geography and studied Canadian FLGS for my thesis. That being said my thoughts on this are fairly off the cuff, and may be somewhat tangential to the topic at hand.

"Big Box stores" primary advantages over FLGS and other independent retailers are tax evasion (due to international/inter-state status and accounting resources), staying power, purchasing power (which is what lets them make exclusive deals), and manipulating price flags.

Staying power is simply having deep pockets. A large retailer can operate at a loss for years, supported by its other stores, in order to drive out local retailers. It can deliberately sell particular products at a loss so people will perceive it as having "the best price."

Purchasing power is what allows them to strike 'exclusive' deals with distributors and producers. Because they can buy (or sell in the case of digital goods) a huge number of products, they can negotiate special terms. Most game companies (producers) should realize that this is not ideal, as it hurts their company because the Big Box will only carry one or two top-selling items, and won't expose the consumer to their other offerings. Online sellers should realize that this potentially hurts themselves by not allowing them to meet the customer where they are.

Manipulation of Price Flags is when a retailer lowers the price of a few specific items that most people know the approximate price of, in order to create the (false) perception that they sell all products at lower prices. Often they offset the loss on price flags by having higher prices for more unknown items.

A gaming related anecdote: This Christmas, I received the board game Diplomacy. The large book retailer Chapters/Indigo had put Settlers of Catan at a discount, notably lower than my local FLGS was able to sell it. Diplomacy however was $10 cheaper at my FLGS.


So what are the advantages of a FLGS over a Big Box store or online retailer?

1. Diversity of Inventory
2. Customer service and Product knowledge (caveat: online, a savvy consumer can become more knowledgeable than the staff about specific products)
3. Game space
4. Striking a balance between Customer needs and Store needs

I'd like to elaborate on the last point. At its heart, a Big Box retailer does not have the customer/cultures needs in mind. It only has the customers perceptions in mind. The price fixing analogy above displays this. Large corporations goal is the bottom line, often they achieve this by offering the "cheapest price". This often means that they also offer the lowest wages, send their funds to overseas suppliers (ultimately this drives down the local quality of life). They spend their charity money on well-known national organizations in order to improve their "customers perception" and let local charities that would be more likely to improve their customers lives fall through the cracks.

Independent retailers have more incentive to strike a balance between customer needs and store needs. Part of this is simply due to having a direct dialogue with their customers. But also because they are local and think local. They also want to win you as a returning customer, not just sales that financial quarter. An example of this is a number of Canadian FLGS offering (the lower) $US MSRP when our dollar rose above the US dollar. How many Big Box stores have I seen do this? None, except for a few short term and highly publicized sales.


What is the appropriate response of a FLGS to these 'exclusive' agreements? Simple focus on their strengths.

There is another intriguing thought that struck me: independent stores could form an organization to set policy that puts local stores on firmer footing with big corporations. A strong association of Hobby stores would likely be able to encourage distributors and producers to either not provide such exclusive deals to big box stores, or negotiate their own exclusive terms.

 

[Thondor]

If Barnes and Noble contacted EN Publishing with intent to sell your product in their stores, wouldn't that be a great success?

Of course. But then my books aren't sold in small stores, either.

We'd all be happy if more games were in stores. (I would be happiest if this was achieved by having more Game Stores, and not simply having games in more 'types' of stores, but I digress.)
If a item is carried for years in a specialty store, and then suddenly a Target or Walmart aquires exclusive rights to sell a product, wouldn't those specialty stores and their customers have a right to be upset?
That essentially is what is being discuss, specail pricing and stocking priority for large retailers.

Personally, I would hope that if I ever found myself in that position I would offer the same terms to the large retailers as to the small retailers, who are what made my product popular to begin with.

 

[Morrus]

If a item is carried for years in a specialty store, and then suddenly a Target or Walmart aquires exclusive rights to sell a product, wouldn't those specialty stores an their customers have a right to be upset?

Sure. You have a right to be upset at anything you want. Would you agree the same holds true for small online PDF retailers being upset with RPGNow's policies?

 

[Moon_Goddess]

That's a good point, especially since for some reason related to my ISP, I can't even buy from RPGNow, so I am simply locked out of the store, ...

I had a similar problem with my old bank, RPGNow wouldn't accept payments from my debit card, simply rejected all of them. I worked with my bank on it and it went all the way to me sitting in the office of one of the bank VP's on the phone with the payment processing company trying to get him to see where the problem was and the representative from the payment processor yelling at the lady from he bank telling her she didn't know how banks or credit cards worked. She finally muted him and asked me "Is there any other company you can buy this stuff from."

 

[Ahnehnois]

IMO big box stores are far more important to the gaming hobby than FLGS's are.

An FLGS is occupying a really small niche. It's not generally suitable for beginners. It's an intimidating environment full of long-time and fairly hard-core gamers. On the other hand, those gamers are mostly there out of habit at this point, since they know perfectly well that they can get things cheaper online. The only real function for an FLGS is to serve as a meeting place, but the internet is pretty good at bringing people together. Meaning that (like many retailers), the FLGS is an anachronism. If I were trying to open a business, I wouldn't even think about rpgs as an option.

Personally, my own experiences in this regard were a WotC store that closed ages ago, and the one FLGS in my general region (highlighting a notable dearth of such stores in the area). The latter was, to be fair, within walking distance of where some of my players lived for a while, but I never bought anything there. I tried once and it didn't strike me as worth my time.

OTOH, I spent many long hours at big box book stores reading up on gaming books during my youth. That's where new players can come from. That's where someone who isn't actively seeking out an rpg can have a D&D book catch their eye. That's where a gift shopper can buy a book for a child without really knowing what it is. That's where you can get access to the many people who don't have a gaming store in their area.

If I were in a position to do so, I'd be negotiating the best deal I could for those bigger retailers, especially since the strength of that deal could really influence what they carry (i.e. they don't really need D&D, they just kind of want it).

 

[Morrus]

An FLGS is occupying a really small niche. It's not generally suitable for beginners. It's an intimidating environment full of long-time and fairly hard-core gamers. On the other hand, those gamers are mostly there out of habit at this point, since they know perfectly well that they can get things cheaper online. The only real function for an FLGS is to serve as a meeting place, but the internet is pretty good at bringing people together. Meaning that (like many retailers), the FLGS is an anachronism.

FLGS's are often touted as being the core of the RPG community. I'd love to see some statistics on that; they played no part in my RPG background, but then there isn't an FLGS any nearer to me than, I think, London. I would suspect that there are many, many like me who have never had access to an FLGS and who grew up with RPGs just fine anyway. I think they are important, in the same way that online communities like this and many others are. I don't think they're vital, though I suspect that those who are lucky enough to have grown up in an area with one may see things differently.