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Tau v3
nealhunt	Post subject: Tau v3 Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2004 7:54 pm
Purestrain Joined: Thu Feb 13, 2003 10:52 pm Posts: 9617 Location: Nashville, TN, USA	Hey Primarch: Unfortunately, I am afraid I must admit that you are dangerously close to being right with respect to GW's Epic release in the US. It appears that, at most, the GW stores will be carrying rulebooks but probably not, and independent stores are as far as I know unable to even do mail order.  Apparently, Canada has different rules and the indies can order so that's something.  Oz's problems are well-documented, of course. The UK is going to be the only market with a strong element of support.  I hope it remains sufficient to continue marketing the game. I have to admit that I am the most pessimistic about EAs chances of acceptance that I have been since I started playtesting over a year ago. _________________ Neal
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Hergrmir	Post subject: Tau v3 Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2004 7:58 pm
Brood Brother Joined: Sun May 04, 2003 7:30 am Posts: 445	Apparently the GW near where I live here in Canada will be stocking small amounts of everything available, at least for a little while. Supposedly that's what happened for Necromunda too, but that only had one shipment of rulebooks and apparently they can't get it in anymore for some reason.
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iblisdrax	Post subject: Tau v3 Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2004 8:13 pm
Brood Brother Joined: Mon Oct 13, 2003 10:54 pm Posts: 3381 Location: First star to the right, and straight on till morning.	Boy it is a good thing that the stuff is too expensive for me to afford, or I might have been majorly bummed out. my 2cents, iblisdrax _________________ "Have Leman Reuss, will travel" "Hallo. My name is Indigo Montoya. You killed my father prepare to die!"
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darkone26	Post subject: Tau v3 Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2004 8:32 pm
Brood Brother Joined: Thu Jan 23, 2003 2:34 pm Posts: 956	hmmm where did that intel come from?   Still US Mail order will just continue the way they did with the epic archives.  Although inconvenient its still a source right?
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primarch	Post subject: Tau v3 Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2004 8:55 pm
Brood Brother Joined: Fri Feb 14, 2003 12:46 am Posts: 27069 Location: Edmond, Oklahoma USA	Hi! Neal, the few retail contacts I still have back your observations. Decisions regarding what non-core games will be stock in GW stores in the US, has always been, in my experience, highly dependent on the store manager. Remember thier job depends on good sales so taking shelf space or other resources to promote or sell a non-core game is risky. Many store owners dont have the guts for that sort of thing and play it safe and sell 40k or fantasy. Now the REAL problem is not what GW stores do. The problem is that it won't be available through anyone BUT GW. Too little exposure will be given to the game. Will UK sales and support be enough? Don't know, but my guess is no. Remember each GW region (US, UK, Europe, etc) makes thier own decisions regarding what they make available. If it does well in the UK, it may mean anyone who wants epic has to order to the UK, since GWUS may decide not support it. While it good for old timers to have it available, even when it means mail order to the UK, it will kill local interest to any markets outside the UK. Also, since independent stores in the US cannot get it, what incentive does the store owner have to let you demo the game in his stores? He can't profit from it, thus he wont be interested. GWUS is making a lot of dubious decisions of late. The ban on internet sales and such issues like with epic show that GWUS is concentrating on high profitability ventures like 40 or fantasy of LOTR's. Good for business..... ...not so good for epic. Primarch _________________ Primarch The Primarchload Magnetized Titans Tutorial Net Epic Gold Heresy Rules
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nealhunt	Post subject: Tau v3 Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2004 9:03 pm
Purestrain Joined: Thu Feb 13, 2003 10:52 pm Posts: 9617 Location: Nashville, TN, USA	Quick update, according to a US retailer on the playtest boards, indies can get it, but they have to go through a different channel and the margins are considerably lower than on the standard retail distribution. Still, nearly the same. _________________ Neal
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primarch	Post subject: Tau v3 Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2004 9:12 pm
Brood Brother Joined: Fri Feb 14, 2003 12:46 am Posts: 27069 Location: Edmond, Oklahoma USA	Hi! Hmmm....interesting. I try to get more information on that point. But profit margins buying from GW direct are already getting lower, to make them even lower AND adding another distribution channel separate from regular GW, means not many store owners are going to bother. I used to retail and beleive me too many distribution channels, besides being a hassle, mean more minimums to meet for each order and more money in shipping costs. It seems they are going out of their way to make sure only GW gets to sell it in the US. Bummer.... Primarch _________________ Primarch The Primarchload Magnetized Titans Tutorial Net Epic Gold Heresy Rules
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Legion 4	Post subject: Tau v3 Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2004 6:20 am
Brood Brother Joined: Thu Feb 13, 2003 5:13 pm Posts: 36989 Location: Ohio - USA	Primarch has a pretty good record with this Epic/Retail stuff.  As long as I can call the Trolls (as I have been doing for over 10 years) and get Epic delivered to my door, I don't have a problem with it.  Very little G/W stuff is carried at the shops in my hometown, let alone Epic !   I don't think G/W believes E:A is going to be the "Main Event" or ever will ...  Just so they give it enough support to keep it alive and I (we) can get it through MO, I feel is the best we can hope for ...   _________________ Legion 4 "Cry Havoc, and let slip the Dogs of War !" ... "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."
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Mojarn Piett	Post subject: Tau v3 Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2004 8:08 am
Brood Brother Joined: Fri Feb 14, 2003 7:35 am Posts: 5455 Location: Finland	The local independet store here isn't going to stock any Epic minis. They got a couple of copies of the rulebook and that's it.    Of course, it's no problem for me to order from GWUK, but I was hoping to see _some_ activity around epic. I won't be seeing any. I don't know whether the GW store in Helsinki will be carrying Epic but I doubt it. And I don't much care; it's not going to save me much in postage over ordering direct from UK. I guess I'll try to cut my losses and try to buy any epic I can from locals who used to play it.   _________________ I don't know and I let who care. -J.S.
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vanvlak	Post subject: Tau v3 Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2004 10:36 am
Brood Brother Joined: Fri Oct 31, 2003 7:52 am Posts: 10348 Location: Malta	Quote (Mojarn Piett @ 19 2004 Feb.,08:08) The local independet store here isn't going to stock any Epic minis. They got a couple of copies of the rulebook and that's it. ? ?Of course, it's no problem for me to order from GWUK, but I was hoping to see _some_ activity around epic. I won't be seeing any. I don't know whether the GW store in Helsinki will be carrying Epic but I doubt it. And I don't much care; it's not going to save me much in postage over ordering direct from UK. I guess I'll try to cut my losses and try to buy any epic I can from locals who used to play it. ? Same here - the two local stores who get GW stuff seem to be uninterested. MO it will have to be - 2nd hand epic is practically nonexistent here. _________________ Back from oblivion (again)?
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CrimsonFury

Post subject: Tau v3 Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2004 2:41 pm

Brood Brother Joined: Wed Oct 29, 2003 2:04 pm Posts: 766

While Epic obviously won't sell as well in places without in-store support, IMO it will still do well enough for GW\Fanatic to continue producing and selling it (even in the US). I read some interesting points about GWs marketing strategy in the Appendix of their 2003 final results. You can find the full article here: http://investor.games-workshop.com/Resu ... endix1.htm Here are some quotes from the article (underlining added by me on points I thought were interesting) In short the model is that of a niche business and the story is that it appeals to a relatively small number of people devoted to the Games Workshop Hobby. Niche businesses are not widely understood. They do not, generally, follow accepted business norms. Much of what is written about business is written about varieties of mass-market activities; most of the day to day experiences we have are with mass-market companies. A niche business is a tightly focussed activity that knows that what it does is not for everyone, but for a narrow group of individuals. It knows that quality is more important than price, and that respect for the customer is paramount. It knows that mass-market advertising is expensive and for niche businesses ineffective compared to the power of word of mouth. These are a few examples of the differences, there are many others. This is what Games Workshop does; we create materials of the highest quality that appeal to a minority of the population. The challenge for us is not to try to get everybody to buy our products but to reach out and find the people who want them, anywhere in the world

Secondly, our future growth is dependent above all on maintaining product quality, continuing to introduce
more people to the Hobby, and keeping people in the Hobby longer. We do not need ?hit? lines, nor innovative packaging, nor cut-throat pricing.


Our customers are special and unusual people. They, like us, love their Hobby. Their main concern is with
quality and integrity. So our biggest challenge is to ensure we constantly provide a level of detail and service that is appropriate to and respectful of the devotion of our customers.

These are the keys to understanding Games Workshop: niche marketing and selling to a pre-selected, quality obsessed, narrow customer base.

As a Group we understand niche markets, providing excellent products and service to devoted gamers. That
is what we are good at, and that will continue to be our obsession.