The gaming industry is generally a very helpful and friendly place. But sometimes relationships can be strained between the very people whose partnership is the heart of the industry: producers and retailers. In the age of digital publishing and internet ordering, it has become harder and harder to do well as a games retailer. In this article I hope to offer some insight into where the difficulties in the industry lie to help customers support both retailers and games producers.
[h=3]The Problem with PDFs[/h]Digital products are brilliant and have actually saved me from serious injury. I used to carry a full set of 7th Sea books to my gaming sessions and now I just bring a core book and an iPad. My back has thanked me ever since. Bookmarking has made them really quick to use and they a much cheaper than a hard copy. But the problem is retailers can’t sell them very easily. I’ve noticed a lot of my purchases these days are digital and that doesn’t help my local game store.
Sadly, short of banning PDFs there isn’t much to be done, and you can’t put the genie back in the bottle even if you want to. Luckily most gamers want a hard copy book to actually play the game with, and PDFs have yet to make a dent in board game sales. But one thing that can make a difference is ‘Bits and Mortar’. This site carries a collection of PDFs and allows stores to duplicate the offer a lot of games companies make of ‘free PDF with the book’. If your local store doesn’t know about it, get them to check it out. If your favorite games company doesn’t use it, ask them to give it a try.
[h=3]The Giants[/h]Games can be very expensive, and it can be tough for many gamers to afford the books they want. It’s not surprising that Amazon does very well by offering the lowest price. But if there is only a couple of bucks difference, I encourage you to make your purchase from a games retailer or producer. Amazon isn’t offering lower prices out of the goodness of their heart, or because games retailers are mean and greedy. They can simply afford to cut their profit margin in a way retailers can’t. It has also been alleged that Amazon has also used its weight to push suppliers to offer lower prices too.
This is good for the customer, but not for the retailers and producers. If you want them to survive, they need your business, and cutting prices to match is often just a quicker way to see them fail. I’m reminded of a customer who asked a retailer I know at a convention about a game. The retailer spent quite some time explaining the game and detailing how it worked. To which the customer responded joyfully with ‘wow, you’ve really sold me on this. I’m going straight back to my hotel room to order it on Amazon’. It was like he thought the retailer got a cut. They don’t, they just spend less time helping customers who might buy stuff from them.
[h=3]Direct Sales[/h] What has been a godsend to producers is a problem for retailers. The internet means that most companies can offer their products to the customer directly. This might mean special deals although most do keep to retailer prices. While it helps producers make more money by cutting a layer out of the supply chain, it makes the supply chain a lot shorter.
There isn’t really a simple answer to this, as producers are in just as much need of your hard-earned dollars as retailers are. But if you can try and spread your purchases, it will benefit the industry as a whole. Retailers will always have the advantage of being able to talk to you about the games, so use that and get more value for money from your purchase. If you back Kickstarters, remind the creators to add retailer levels to get the books out in stores. Plenty of successful Kickstarters essentially hoover up all the potential sales. Retailer levels are a vital lifeline.
[h=3]Games Diversity[/h]There are a lot of games out there, and the best sellers are not always the best games. If people don’t talk to retailers about what they are playing, they won’t know to order it. This is one of the advantages retailers have over producers, and it’s the smaller producers getting hurt with fewer retail orders. While some large retailers can collect almost everything, many smaller ones have a very limited shelf space. If they are only stocking Pathfinder, it’s probably because that’s popular. If retailers aren’t stocking a game, it should be no surprise that people aren’t buying it very much. If you tell them you are playing Blue Rose, they may make a point of ordering a few copies. In this way, not only can you get the games you want locally, but someone else might see a new game on the shelf and try it out.
[h=3]Introduce New People[/h]Finally, the best way we can help the industry in every way is to find more gamers. Introduce more people to the hobby and help them get started. Then, like the rest of us, they will be looking to spend their money on more dice and books, and that’s good for everyone.
This article was contributed by Andrew Peregrine (Corone) as part of EN World's Columnist (ENWC) program. If you enjoy the daily news and articles from EN World, please consider contributing to our Patreon!
[h=3]The Problem with PDFs[/h]Digital products are brilliant and have actually saved me from serious injury. I used to carry a full set of 7th Sea books to my gaming sessions and now I just bring a core book and an iPad. My back has thanked me ever since. Bookmarking has made them really quick to use and they a much cheaper than a hard copy. But the problem is retailers can’t sell them very easily. I’ve noticed a lot of my purchases these days are digital and that doesn’t help my local game store.
Sadly, short of banning PDFs there isn’t much to be done, and you can’t put the genie back in the bottle even if you want to. Luckily most gamers want a hard copy book to actually play the game with, and PDFs have yet to make a dent in board game sales. But one thing that can make a difference is ‘Bits and Mortar’. This site carries a collection of PDFs and allows stores to duplicate the offer a lot of games companies make of ‘free PDF with the book’. If your local store doesn’t know about it, get them to check it out. If your favorite games company doesn’t use it, ask them to give it a try.
[h=3]The Giants[/h]Games can be very expensive, and it can be tough for many gamers to afford the books they want. It’s not surprising that Amazon does very well by offering the lowest price. But if there is only a couple of bucks difference, I encourage you to make your purchase from a games retailer or producer. Amazon isn’t offering lower prices out of the goodness of their heart, or because games retailers are mean and greedy. They can simply afford to cut their profit margin in a way retailers can’t. It has also been alleged that Amazon has also used its weight to push suppliers to offer lower prices too.
This is good for the customer, but not for the retailers and producers. If you want them to survive, they need your business, and cutting prices to match is often just a quicker way to see them fail. I’m reminded of a customer who asked a retailer I know at a convention about a game. The retailer spent quite some time explaining the game and detailing how it worked. To which the customer responded joyfully with ‘wow, you’ve really sold me on this. I’m going straight back to my hotel room to order it on Amazon’. It was like he thought the retailer got a cut. They don’t, they just spend less time helping customers who might buy stuff from them.
[h=3]Direct Sales[/h] What has been a godsend to producers is a problem for retailers. The internet means that most companies can offer their products to the customer directly. This might mean special deals although most do keep to retailer prices. While it helps producers make more money by cutting a layer out of the supply chain, it makes the supply chain a lot shorter.
There isn’t really a simple answer to this, as producers are in just as much need of your hard-earned dollars as retailers are. But if you can try and spread your purchases, it will benefit the industry as a whole. Retailers will always have the advantage of being able to talk to you about the games, so use that and get more value for money from your purchase. If you back Kickstarters, remind the creators to add retailer levels to get the books out in stores. Plenty of successful Kickstarters essentially hoover up all the potential sales. Retailer levels are a vital lifeline.
[h=3]Games Diversity[/h]There are a lot of games out there, and the best sellers are not always the best games. If people don’t talk to retailers about what they are playing, they won’t know to order it. This is one of the advantages retailers have over producers, and it’s the smaller producers getting hurt with fewer retail orders. While some large retailers can collect almost everything, many smaller ones have a very limited shelf space. If they are only stocking Pathfinder, it’s probably because that’s popular. If retailers aren’t stocking a game, it should be no surprise that people aren’t buying it very much. If you tell them you are playing Blue Rose, they may make a point of ordering a few copies. In this way, not only can you get the games you want locally, but someone else might see a new game on the shelf and try it out.
[h=3]Introduce New People[/h]Finally, the best way we can help the industry in every way is to find more gamers. Introduce more people to the hobby and help them get started. Then, like the rest of us, they will be looking to spend their money on more dice and books, and that’s good for everyone.
This article was contributed by Andrew Peregrine (Corone) as part of EN World's Columnist (ENWC) program. If you enjoy the daily news and articles from EN World, please consider contributing to our Patreon!
