Some interesting news cropped up on some of the other sites recently.
From my point of view this is comes across as a kick in the nuts for those of us that regard GW prices as too high and only remain in the hobby due to 20%+ discount internet sites. It could be that I have misjudged GWs aim, the proof in the trade documents remains to be seen, but it appears that GW are making an attempt to further control GW product resellers. 'If you have a 'hobby centre' and sell lots of GW product you get a nice discount, otherwise kindly get fucked'.
It would seem that this will really hurt the small independent shops and online stores that aren't just a facsimile of a GW hobby shop or don't have the required turnover to access a good tier. I am sure there will still be some discount shops, but a reduced market and more control over discounts and resellers by GW may (pessimistically perhaps) result in less discount for us, the playing and paying public.
If this proves to be the case, for me I suspect it will mean GWs bizarre approach to marketing in a recession will finally help me kick the habit, I mean hobby...
Our very own rich1231 also added later on:Bigbossogryn said:
rich1231 being the owner of a large online webstore, so obviously in a good position to comment on this particular topic. To summarise the content of some of the rumours and threads (full largely of the usual drumbeating posts that go with these topics), apparently GW intends to offer a tiered discount system to resellers. The idea being that GW rewards those with a brick and mortar presence similar to GW hobby shops and 'penalises' (or 'unrewards' if you like) those resellers who are less like a GW hobby shop, i.e. online only resellers and small LGS's that stock limited GW product.rich1231 said:
From my point of view this is comes across as a kick in the nuts for those of us that regard GW prices as too high and only remain in the hobby due to 20%+ discount internet sites. It could be that I have misjudged GWs aim, the proof in the trade documents remains to be seen, but it appears that GW are making an attempt to further control GW product resellers. 'If you have a 'hobby centre' and sell lots of GW product you get a nice discount, otherwise kindly get fucked'.
It would seem that this will really hurt the small independent shops and online stores that aren't just a facsimile of a GW hobby shop or don't have the required turnover to access a good tier. I am sure there will still be some discount shops, but a reduced market and more control over discounts and resellers by GW may (pessimistically perhaps) result in less discount for us, the playing and paying public.
If this proves to be the case, for me I suspect it will mean GWs bizarre approach to marketing in a recession will finally help me kick the habit, I mean hobby...