Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="satori01" data-source="post: 629427" data-attributes="member: 7859">I asked some questions in a related thread which were kindly answered by Ryan S Dancey, first though some quick thoughts:15k per month is not very much given overhead and start up expenses.  POS electronic systems are very expensive generally 2-3k for newer models, ( assuming IBM current prices), also dependent upon your region many metropolitian areas have a "scanner tax" for each electronic scanner you have, in Los Angeles it is I believe around $800 a year.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Originally posted by satori01 1) What are the Gross Maragins for retailers--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Almost universally in the hobby gaming industry the US retailers get between 40 and 45% off of SRP. Because most retailers can qualify to order directly from WotC and GW if they want to, most "real" game stores get up to another 5% off when they buy direct from the publishers or engage in special pre-release ordering programs and early payments. Call the "average" discount of everything in the game inventory about 47% off SRP.quote:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Originally posted by satori01 On the same thread what is the general Gross Maragin for books in general--------------------------------------------------------------------------------On average books have the same margins as games for hobby game retailers.Bookstores order books at a wide variety of discount based on the kind of book and the size of the order. Fantasy and Science Fiction hardcovers and softcovers usually sell into book stores at between 40% and 45% off SRP.quote:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Originally posted by satori01 2) Do the bulk of RPG sales come from small independents or from the major book chains,(Barnes and Nobles/ Borders).--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Half of all of WotC's RPG sales come from bookstores who order product through WotC's book trade distributor, Holtzbrink. Of those sales, 80-90% go to the biggest 10 book chains (including Amazon). Independent book stores don't sell a lot of RPG products, or if they do, they often order from a hobby game distributor to get additional points of margin.Originally posted by satori01 3B) How strict is inventory/sales ratio and OBO calculations?--------------------------------------------------------------------------------My opinion is that now that the new sales-tracking software is going into the chain stores that they will be astonished at how much money they make from WotC RPGs compared to how little inventory risk they take. Turns on D&D in the chain bookstores are ferocious.The top-down management of the orders in the system is really a function of persistence and isn't very automated. When a buyer or a salesperson really stays on top of the issue, inventory ratios can be kept quite high. When nobody's minding the store, they tend to get very spottyOriginally posted by satori01 4) Chris refrenced how novelty plays a large factor in the 'saleability" of a product, in a hobby industry like RPG do stores factor more for novelty than sales trend. Are sales trend models for RPGs a steep spike,(initial large sales boost followed by quick decline)? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------The answer to this question depends completely on whether your'e asking about an established top-selling game (D&D), an upstart new RPG, a supplement, an adventure, or some other subcategory.D&D earns huge sales every year from the "top of the order" products - the PHB, DMG, MM, etc. Other games show a spike when a new core book comes out, but then show successive, smaller spikes as follow on content is reduced.At the end of the day, most retailers make about half their RPG revenue from selling 50-100 products which have become "Evergreen" which means they sell at high, predictable volumes over a number of years. Exceptions of course for the years that D&D has a new release, and to some extent, when Vampire has a new release.sorry about the extensive post, but I hope the info helps.</blockquote>

Verification