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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Thondor" data-source="post: 6072400" data-attributes="member: 31955">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?<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Diversity of Inventory</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Customer service and Product knowledge (caveat: online, a savvy consumer can become more knowledgeable than the staff about specific products)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Game space</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Striking a balance between Customer needs and Store needs</li> </ol>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.</blockquote>

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