New D&D Spinner Rack

[FATDRAGONGAMES]

Having just bought a smaller version of this type of fixture for our con displays I can see $350 being fairly accurate (perhaps a tad high, but not overly so-I'd rate it at around $300 or so from the pic)

 

[Catavarie]

Perhaps a better way to encourage and entice new players would be to have these large chain stores such as B&N host Game days where they invite in experienced gamers and the general public in to do some gaming in the stores. Set up tables and chairs for them in the middle hall near the RPG books so that when people walk by and see how much fun the players are having they would become more interested. I know that there is not a single time that I've been gaming in public that we have not had atleast a few people come up and have been genuinely interested in what we were doing.

 

[Hussar]

I'm sorry to say that a "fancy" rack is not going to make me want to buy more gaming material. Good material makes me want to buy more. I'm sure the spin rack, if placed properly in the stores, will draw more people's attention to the books and may even entice a few people ont eh fence about getting into gaming to pick up a book, but for established gamers I don't see this as having any effect at all.

But, I believe you're missing the point. It's the difference between having the books on a spinner or having no books at all. If the books aren't in the stores at all, then no one can buy them. This allows stores with limited shelf space to carry D&D books rather than replacing RPG books completely.

 

[Moon-Lancer]

I actually think it's pretty dead on. I work for a company which produces in store displays and mall kiosks, and it's amazing how much some of the most basic stuff costs. You have to factor in all sorts of things beyond the materials used - the labor to assemble the finished product, account services to take orders, arrange shipping, etc, actual shipping costs, a fraction of the design costs to create the initial design, overhead, and the producing company's margins.

I will take your word for it. I just assumed, because I can get a couch for $350, and a book shelf for $30 that the price was a tad off.

 

[Hussar]

I went to Library Suppliers.com and took a look at their Catalogue and 350 bucks seems about right.

 

[Greylock]

I've seen the rack at Barnes & Noble, and at a local book chain. The local book chain [a full service bookstore], uses it to stock only WotC new releases, and has since removed all back catalog and all third party publishers. When they got the rack, they wiped out the old RPG section. The B&N has also removed most third party books. I was there yesterday, and the only RPG publishers they now stock are WotC and White Wolf. They used to have quite the range, and recently at that.

It seems to me that the motivation for using the rack is to ensure that only WotC books are prominently marketed.

 

[FATDRAGONGAMES]

Perhaps a better way to encourage and entice new players would be to have these large chain stores such as B&N host Game days where they invite in experienced gamers and the general public in to do some gaming in the stores. Set up tables and chairs for them in the middle hall near the RPG books so that when people walk by and see how much fun the players are having they would become more interested. I know that there is not a single time that I've been gaming in public that we have not had atleast a few people come up and have been genuinely interested in what we were doing.

This is a fantastic idea!

 

[w_earle_wheeler]

Believe it or not, RPGs are a shrinking part of the marketplace. Lots of new game stores don't even bother to stock them, and the preorders from distributors on most RPG product has been slipping pretty much annually over the last five years. I spoke with some fairly major-league RPG publishers at Origins, and I think the print runs some of them are down to would be absolutely shocking to your average EN World reader. So it's only a matter of time before RPGs are seen as a tiny part of the big gaming picture and are relegated completely to the side.

What this says to me is that most sales of RPG books are through online vendors, not that sales are necessarily down in the extreme.

In this quote, Erik says that pre-orders from distributors are down -- but does that include direct sales to online vendors such as Amazon.com?

Lower print runs sounds more like a correction of past mistakes. That is, publishers are more conservative and wary of printing too much stock, especially d20/3.5 compatible products which will be relegated to the gaming ghetto as soon as 4e comes out.

I'm not saying that RPG sales aren't down, just that less and less of them are through full-priced brick & mortar stores.

 

[Glyfair]

I'm sorry to say that a "fancy" rack is not going to make me want to buy more gaming material

I'm sure the point isn't to make you buy more gaming material. The main goal is to get retailers to buy it. A one step "get into selling D&D" cost can be attractive, especially with extras, such as the display rack in this case. Image you are one of the retailers Erik is talking about who is opening a store and not planning on carrying RPGs. This might make it more attractive to try. If a retailer tries, and it is succesful, WotC wins.

The secondary purpose is to attract new players. An attractive display might draw the eye of people who heard about it, but didn't explore it.

Sure, it's not a total solition. However, it is one tool.

 

[frankthedm]

i highly doubt the price of that book fixture ($350)

The price can be whatever some one claims it is. "Retail" price is often a joke on many products. IIRC a six pack of 12 oz. soda cans retailed for $3.00 even years ago, but supermarket sales sometimes had them priced at $0.99.

Plus custom fabricated crap does costs a lot. Clear plastic can get outrageous.