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What Will Become of the FLGS?
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<blockquote data-quote="innerdude" data-source="post: 7697219" data-attributes="member: 85870"><p>While I agree with you in principle, @<em><strong><u><a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/member.php?u=16077" target="_blank">3catcircus</a></u></strong></em>, the difficulty lies in the business owner's dilemma --- do I stock things that are likely to sell, or take a risk on something that isn't likely to sell immediately, but may win me a "loyal" customer by catering to their unique tastes? </p><p></p><p>Your description of your game store sounds very much like the one closest to me (maybe 3-4 miles up the road). And I'm grateful at least that they carry Savage Worlds stuff. But I have to say that I think the super-niche-within-a-niche, extra-long-tail products are what internet retailing is strongest at promoting, not brick-and-mortar. All those little things we "didn't know we needed until we saw it" are what DriveThruRPG, Kickstarter, Amazon Marketplace, eBay, and home-grown digital storefronts are for. Yes, I absolutely love it when I wander in to my FLGS and see some little thing on the shelf that I suddenly recognize as being the perfect product for this "thing I've had on my mind for four or five months," but if I'm a game store owner really trying to run a profitable enterprise, I see myself as carrying less and less that kind of product.</p><p></p><p>The biggest problem to an FLGS is sales volume. RPGs, though we see them as being a "big deal," don't generate enough revenue throughput. The overall volume of RPG product sales WORLDWIDE is so small that to any major corporation it wouldn't even register as a line item. Wizards of the Coast couldn't even get D&D to hit Hasbro's $50 million annual revenue goal to be considered a "core brand." Paizo's not sharing their revenue numbers with any of us, but based on company size, they're probably in the neighborhood of a $6-$10 million annual revenue enterprise. How much in sales does Fantasy Flight generate in a year, and of that, how much of it can directly be attributed to its RPG lines (WHFRP, Dark Heresy, Star Wars) versus board games and card games? (I'd be willing to bet that Star Wars Imperial Assault generates 2-3 times as much revenue BY ITSELF as Fantasy Flight's entire RPG arm.)</p><p></p><p>Once you get past those three, it's a litany of other publishers of varying size, and we have no idea how well they're doing. How much in sales does Pinnacle Entertainment Games, makers of Savage Worlds, generate in a year? Green Ronin? Kobold Press? Goodman Games? Troll Lord? Kenzer? Steve Jackson Games?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="innerdude, post: 7697219, member: 85870"] While I agree with you in principle, @[I][B][U][URL="http://www.enworld.org/forum/member.php?u=16077"]3catcircus[/URL][/U][/B][/I], the difficulty lies in the business owner's dilemma --- do I stock things that are likely to sell, or take a risk on something that isn't likely to sell immediately, but may win me a "loyal" customer by catering to their unique tastes? Your description of your game store sounds very much like the one closest to me (maybe 3-4 miles up the road). And I'm grateful at least that they carry Savage Worlds stuff. But I have to say that I think the super-niche-within-a-niche, extra-long-tail products are what internet retailing is strongest at promoting, not brick-and-mortar. All those little things we "didn't know we needed until we saw it" are what DriveThruRPG, Kickstarter, Amazon Marketplace, eBay, and home-grown digital storefronts are for. Yes, I absolutely love it when I wander in to my FLGS and see some little thing on the shelf that I suddenly recognize as being the perfect product for this "thing I've had on my mind for four or five months," but if I'm a game store owner really trying to run a profitable enterprise, I see myself as carrying less and less that kind of product. The biggest problem to an FLGS is sales volume. RPGs, though we see them as being a "big deal," don't generate enough revenue throughput. The overall volume of RPG product sales WORLDWIDE is so small that to any major corporation it wouldn't even register as a line item. Wizards of the Coast couldn't even get D&D to hit Hasbro's $50 million annual revenue goal to be considered a "core brand." Paizo's not sharing their revenue numbers with any of us, but based on company size, they're probably in the neighborhood of a $6-$10 million annual revenue enterprise. How much in sales does Fantasy Flight generate in a year, and of that, how much of it can directly be attributed to its RPG lines (WHFRP, Dark Heresy, Star Wars) versus board games and card games? (I'd be willing to bet that Star Wars Imperial Assault generates 2-3 times as much revenue BY ITSELF as Fantasy Flight's entire RPG arm.) Once you get past those three, it's a litany of other publishers of varying size, and we have no idea how well they're doing. How much in sales does Pinnacle Entertainment Games, makers of Savage Worlds, generate in a year? Green Ronin? Kobold Press? Goodman Games? Troll Lord? Kenzer? Steve Jackson Games? [/QUOTE]
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