Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
What SHOULD FLGS do?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Irda Ranger" data-source="post: 4250634" data-attributes="member: 1003"><p>The only retail businesses that do really well have a tactile or visual component that cannot be replicated online (shoes, clothes, TV screens, small electronics like phones or cameras, etc.) or economies of scale that are either too small (7-11) or too big (Costco, Wal-Mart) for shipping costs to make sense. RPG books really are right in Amazon's sweet-spot. The CCG's fit the 7-11 model though, which is why they sell OK.</p><p></p><p>They can do game meetups and host games. You competitors then are movie theatres, billiards halls and bowling alleys. None of those places are mints, but some manage to stay in business. This is better for large groups of semi-strangers looking for short-term games, rather than small groups of friends meeting regularly - which is again why you see more M:tG meets than D&D meets. The only D&D-like groups that meet in public places usually require some infrastructure that can't be reproduced in most homes - like a baseball diamond or a bowling lane. An FLGS simply can't compete on friends, price or convenience with my living room and a stack of order-out menus.</p><p></p><p>Games Workshop does well because it has the visual/tactile component that makes shopping online less thrilling than shopping in the store, it has the "meetup and paint" characteristics similar to a M:tG meetup, and it has the infrastructure requirements of large tables committed full-time to game use. D&D doesn't really have any of that - but it could.</p><p></p><p>A possible model might be stocking up on every mini Wizards of the Coast sells and all the Tact-Tiles (and its competitors) you can get your hands on, and then charging admission for an evening of gaming. For groups that really like the tactical battle-mat aspect of D&D, there might be a value proposition there. It wouldn't be my cup of tea, but then I'm not a very good customer even for Wizards - I buy very few books. My 3.5 library consists of the Core I books and Bo9S, and that's it.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Irda Ranger, post: 4250634, member: 1003"] The only retail businesses that do really well have a tactile or visual component that cannot be replicated online (shoes, clothes, TV screens, small electronics like phones or cameras, etc.) or economies of scale that are either too small (7-11) or too big (Costco, Wal-Mart) for shipping costs to make sense. RPG books really are right in Amazon's sweet-spot. The CCG's fit the 7-11 model though, which is why they sell OK. They can do game meetups and host games. You competitors then are movie theatres, billiards halls and bowling alleys. None of those places are mints, but some manage to stay in business. This is better for large groups of semi-strangers looking for short-term games, rather than small groups of friends meeting regularly - which is again why you see more M:tG meets than D&D meets. The only D&D-like groups that meet in public places usually require some infrastructure that can't be reproduced in most homes - like a baseball diamond or a bowling lane. An FLGS simply can't compete on friends, price or convenience with my living room and a stack of order-out menus. Games Workshop does well because it has the visual/tactile component that makes shopping online less thrilling than shopping in the store, it has the "meetup and paint" characteristics similar to a M:tG meetup, and it has the infrastructure requirements of large tables committed full-time to game use. D&D doesn't really have any of that - but it could. A possible model might be stocking up on every mini Wizards of the Coast sells and all the Tact-Tiles (and its competitors) you can get your hands on, and then charging admission for an evening of gaming. For groups that really like the tactical battle-mat aspect of D&D, there might be a value proposition there. It wouldn't be my cup of tea, but then I'm not a very good customer even for Wizards - I buy very few books. My 3.5 library consists of the Core I books and Bo9S, and that's it. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
What SHOULD FLGS do?
Top