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Games Workshop Monopoly?

10K views 63 replies 21 participants last post by  the-ad-man 
#1 ·
I was thinking about the pricing of Games Workshop mini's and was trying to figure out why it was so high.

Is this because GW has virtual monopoly with WH and WH40k?

Or is there another reason for this? :unsure:
 
#5 ·
The prices charged by GW can't be boiled down to something so simplistic. There are a huge variety of reasons for why the price points are as they are. The money spent on the renting of stores, paying the wages of the staff who work there, making sure there is the stock available to fill those stores, transporting the stock to those stores and sundry others expenses I wouldn't know about- these are just a small portion of the money GW spends.
After that, or before it I suppose, you have the huge amount of cash that is spent on R&D for new plastics technology, the plants used to make the moulds/inject the plastic, the place where the kits are boxed-up, the money to pay the staff in these places, the cost of transporting the boxes to and from these sites to the stores...
Then there is the cost of the main studio and all of the creative people who work there. Probably the most onerous commitment is the interest the company will be paying on their bank loans.
It is a complex equation for the comany to work out how much they will charge so that the product remains affordable and, yet, turns a profit that allows the company to grow. The prices GW charge are, in my opinion, fair for what you get. Others don't think so and that is fine. But what would be really beneficial is for people to actually look into the economics of the GW situation, or just economics of markets in general, and get some idea of how the world works (price rises each year happen because of inflation and by the banks raising their interest rates, this latter being the one with the scope to cause the most harm). GW is far from having a monopoly on models, although I agree that, for the most part, they are some of the best.
If GW did have a monopoly (virtual or full), then there are laws that stop comapnies in this position from gouging customers with massively inflated prices. And no, you can't take advantage of these laws because they wouldn't apply to GW, partly because they don't have a monopoly and partly because the purchase of these items is competely volountary as it is a luxury item (IE one that is useful only for fun/recreation).

GFP
 
#6 ·
The money spent on the renting of stores, paying the wages of the staff who work there, making sure there is the stock available to fill those stores, transporting the stock to those stores and sundry others expenses I wouldn'
A few stores in towns near me have closed down because of little to no turn over.
Staff have been laid off in my local store, there is only the manager on e one other guy left from there being about 5 not including the manager.
The guy that does work there has to bring in all the stock himself, when they need it, which is rare because they aren't selling much anymore.... its the biggest one in the country :shok:
 
#8 ·
Actually GFP GW have been investigated and had action taken by the monopolies commission before today, this is one of the reason the company has several sub companies, though this was way back in the 90s.
They are certainly the dominant force in the market and rightly so in my opinion, they have literally carved this hobby out from nothing and none of there competition is anywere near them in sales or product. Granted they are not perfect and they could be quicker and better but all in all i prefer them to anything else on the market.



 
#9 ·
I think the closest threat is PP and even they are a few years, if not a decade, off being big enough to really start getting at GW.
 
#11 ·
Personally i dont think they are a threat, most people who discover PP do so via GW, GW has survived so long because it has shops and you simply cant argue against the benefit of providing a place to use the products you sell.

The stores are the one element that no other games company would dare to sink money into, but its the one think GW cant afford to give up because its the thing that separates them from the rest of the wargames companies.
 
#19 ·
never have and never will, sales are to clear seasonal stock to make space for new season products(this is why clothes shops have a sale every 12 weeks)
GW do not have seasonal or perishable products so no need to have a sale, last actual genuine sale i can remember was when they swapped from lead to white metal after the lead ban,anything after that has been to promote a new store.
 
#16 ·
As i said in an earlier post: even their biggest store is having trouble, laying people off and closing others down...
it smells of financial melt down
And also i'm good friends with the guys at my local GW

SGMAlice
 
#18 ·
One store does not melt a company, like i say there profits were up from 5.5 million for 2009 to 13 million for 2010 and they have cleared the debts caused by failing stores a few years back.

And no genhab you cant buy PP or play it in a GW store, infact if your GW store is selling and allowing the play of non GW games they are breaking the company rules or they are not a GW store and likely an Indie store
 
#17 ·
Yes but don't most GW stores also sell PP? I can play PP at all the GW stores I have ever been to. And, tbh, I have a lot of friends and I know a lot of other people who have droped buying new GW product for new PP models. Also, PP provides a better system, atleast from a rules standpoint, and their models are of equal quality. I know you hate PP but it has the potential to be a real pain in the ass for GW in the future.
 
#20 ·
Makes sense. Still, the fact remains that PP has the ability to be a pain in the ass of GW. I think most stores in the US are Indie, same might be true for the UK but I don't live there, and PP makes one hell of a game. Again though, I said they really won't be a real threat for quite some time.
 
#24 ·
Also people getting laid off doesn't mean business is bad. If the store is open and running with 1 manager and 1 staff member like you have said, i fail to see why they would pay 6 people to do the same thing.
 
#25 ·
i dont know which ones specifically. I was told this by some one who works for GW though. I aint just making this up.

The Wakefield Store. I know three guys who have been laid off from there and the only remaining one has told me all i am repeating to you

SGAlice
 
#26 ·
the wakefiled store needed to loose staff, several of the staff that worked there were transferred there from the white rose GW shop when it was closed, the white rose was closed down because the company that owns the white rose center in Leeds increased the shop rents to 80k a year for what was effectively a shoe box with glass window and GW refused to pay that amount so moved the leeds city center store to a larger and more prominent area of the city ,meaning that both leeds stores were "closed down" but in effect were joined into one larger store. As for the wakefiled store its never been busy on any other day than Saturday so it should have been no surprise that if they were not shifting enough product they were not going to keep the extra staff from the white rose.



 
#31 ·
If it was Rob at wakefield just ignore him hes a bit of a drama queen.
Leeds whiterose was my local store and i was pissed when it closed as it was literally minutes from my house, now i have the tricky public transport trip to leeds or trying to find parking near the ridings center in wakefield which is a complete bitch with diversions and new one way systems because of all the building work.
 
#28 ·
I forgot to put it in my earlier post, but i thought this thread was going to be about someone who had made a 40K monopoly set.

Has anyone ever seen one? I'm sort of dissapointed. :(
 
#30 ·
I agree wholeheartedly with bitsandkits, GW are the bedrock of the wargaming hobby. Every other company is just a parasite of that success, I bet the vast majority of PP buyers first bought GW and wanted to try something different.
 
#36 ·
I asked myself, should i go to bed, or should i open photoshop and make a 40k monopoly board.

hmmm....





I kinda want to print it out and start making pieces now.
 
#39 ·
^ very nice good sir :p

back to the ot.

i think gw doesnt have sales because of the contracts they hold with other retailers.

since gw is infact a manufatuer first, retailer second (having gw stores is just good business sense) so if they did have a sale, they'd have to work things out with everyone that sells gw merchendise.

also, not to forget what b&k said: they have no seasonal stock.


if the price of gw stuff is bugging people, go elsewhere. there are thousands of stores on the internet that have whfb.40k/lotr at 10-20% off gw prices. just dont buy all your stuff from a site and never spend money at your local gaming store, thats just a little rude :/

good topic :D
 
#40 ·
since gw is infact a manufatuer first, retailer second (having gw stores is just good business sense) so if they did have a sale, they'd have to work things out with everyone that sells gw merchendise.
Don't games workshop specifically say that it's the responsibility of third party stores that sell GW products to set their prices? Following that logic, GW would be free to hold sales as they're under no obligation to change the wholesale price as well as the retail price, however temporary.

I agree with what bits and kits says about the seasonal produce argument, it would mean that its very unlikely GW will do a meaningful sale in the future, at least with the current way of thinking.


if the price of gw stuff is bugging people, go elsewhere. there are thousands of stores on the internet that have whfb.40k/lotr at 10-20% off gw prices. just dont buy all your stuff from a site and never spend money at your local gaming store, thats just a little rude :/

good topic :D
Sorry but I take exception to this. I have to live on an extremely tight budget as it is and with the price of GW these days, I rarely buy anything (I've abandoned the 'I spend the same but just get less' attidude as the perceived value of their models has dropped for me. Yes, the quality is better, but not to the extent their prices demand). However, when I do buy something, I will do it from an online store. Why? Because GW stores don't offer anything other than high prices- I don't game at GW stores (much prefer doing it at home with mates and a beer) so I have no reason to not buy online and as such, I'm not being "rude" as you put it. :angry:
 
#43 ·
I like to spend equally from my LGS and discount online sites (even though shipping time takes forever). I like having a place to play (even though it isn't close), and supporting the store is the only option.

However, I never knew there was an investigation in GW before. Does anyone have any information on that?
 
#52 ·
Happily for me, my FLGS sells GW minis at 15% off RRP as well as stocking matic, perry, and other miniature ranges, and has several gaming tables. They also have an in-house cafe, and AFAIK make as much (if not more) profit on table fees and drinks as they do on the actual minis.

As far as GWs pricing strategy is concerned, it comes down to the simple economic fact of supply and demand: GW (the supplier) can raise its prices as high as it likes, while we as customers have a maximum price we are willing to pay for the product/service. An equilibrium is reached when the number of units the supplier wishes to sell matches the number of units customers are willing to buy (using Unit in an economic sense, not a military one!). When the recession struck, GW looked at their position as a luxury retailer and decided to maintain turnover by selling a smaller volume of units with a higher profit margin, and therefore raised prices to find a new equilibrium. If they did not have such a large market share this would not have been a viable tactic, but they do and it was - from a purely economic perspective - the right decision.

It has, however allowed other companies to enter the market at a lower level. Mantic, being a smaller operation and lacking the massive overheads of maintaining stores, have been able to price their own products much lower without compromising quality, deliberately targetting the market share that is no longer willing to pay GW prices. What impact this will have long-term is impossible to determine, but it is reasonable to assume that the higher GW push their prices the more people will be unwilling to pay them, therefore increasing other companies' share of the market. Five years ago this would not have been an issue, but in five years time GW may have to seriously rethink their business strategy.
 
#46 ·
Games Workshop doesn't run sales, but they periodically run bulk deals. Most recently you could buy an entire armored company. It was cheaper to buy the Company than it was to buy just the tanks that were included in it. Before that they had the $200 boxed armies. Now granted these are expensive in their own right, but they're cheaper than buying the individual pieces. That's about the only discounting I've seen GW run.

CS

edit: and as a sad side note. I'm looking at building two rifleman dreads. It's cheaper to buy all the individual dreadnaught parts from Bits and Kits, and getting the autocannon arms from Forgeworld, than it is to just buy two dreadnaughts here in the states. Even after the conversion from pounds to dollars.
 
#47 ·
edit: and as a sad side note. I'm looking at building two rifleman dreads. It's cheaper to buy all the individual dreadnaught parts from Bits and Kits, and getting the autocannon arms from Forgeworld, than it is to just buy two dreadnaughts here in the states. Even after the conversion from pounds to dollars.
that is incredibly shit for you :(

but lucky for me, i was looking into doing the same thing more or less :p

thanks for the heads up!
 
#49 · (Edited)
Honestly, man, converting dollars to pounds isn't as painful as you'd think when looking at the actual conversion rate.

The dollar and the pound have a remarkably similar amount of purchasing power.

It works out really well for buying stuff and then having it leave England. I'd generally just import all of your stuff from the UK, if you have any choice in the matter. There's a webcomic artist whose stuff is arguably more affordable for Americans than it is for Brits for that very reason.
 
#50 · (Edited)
god dam credit crunch!!!

our money used to be way better than your money!! ( i joke, i wish we had the £1 note, like you guys have with $1)
 
#54 ·
oke question what the hell is PP?
further more GW makes a profit of about 90%+!!! the monopoly law i am not awear off i dont think we have that in the Holland. but even so they still have FW too counter the monopoly law as i read it. the reason behind closing stores is simpel why wast money into a store that doesnt sell a lot? you wouldnt spend points in your army list on a unit that does nothing in vafour of a more productiefe unit right?
 
#55 ·
pp is priveteer press, another mini wargaming system/company/producer

if you can prove that gw have a 90% markup on their products, please show some evidence. because the way i see it, they have fairly high overheads what with: artists, writers, sculptors, painters, model moulds, paints, plasic, metal, shop rent, shopstaff wages, website upkeep, the list is never ending.

forgeworld isnt a competitor, they are more of a partner. they dont work for gw, but they dont work against them. which is why all the models they make are for gw game systems

also, having a dedicated store where people can wander in, play some games, buy their merchendise does wonders for sales. if anything its the reason they will always be the top dog in little plastic men.
 
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