Dear Paizo, I have some retailer feedback for you, RE: street dates and Pathfinder Battles

[Brandon Hodge]

Love that my local FLGS here in Austin is so well-represented in this thread. *fistbumptomylocalpeeps*

[TriOmegaZero]

Damn, I really need to get down there for a PFS game.

[fizzboy]

TriOmegaZero wrote:

Damn, I really need to get down there for a PFS game.

It gets a bit crowded but it's a whole lot of fun.

[TriOmegaZero]

The real hurdle is the hour drive from Killeen. :/

[redcapscorner]

Vic Wertz wrote:

We are completely fine with distributors doing that. (I do know that sometimes, lead times just don't allow that, though.) If it happens regularly, you might want to just make sure your distributor knows the actual number of days it takes for you to get your deliveries, and ships accordingly.

We're a one-day ship for ACD, Alliance, Southern, and GTS and all of our reps know that. The trouble is that distributors won't release product to stores to arrive before the street date unless the manufacturer gives them express permission. Wizards of the Coast maintains an early release list that they share with distributors (granting those distributors the ability to ship some products to specific stores early), Privateer Press allows distributors to ship products to arrive the day before release, GW basically handles its own distribution but always gets product to us a day or two before the street date, etc., etc.

The point is, our distributors definitely believe they're not authorized to get us Paizo products before the street date, not even by one day, which means we lose out on a ton of sales because consumers don't (and shouldn't have to) know our shipping schedules. I understand that you're fine with it (and frankly I'm overjoyed to hear it), but each distributor needs to be given express permission from you folks at Paizo, or else we're going to continue not having your products available until late afternoon or evening on the day of release.

Vic Wertz wrote:

Frankly, this experience taught me exactly why it makes sense for WizKids to be exclusive with Alliance: if stuff were going from China to WizKids to multiple distributors—which is exactly what it did before they went exclusive—the same problem would exist. By cutting out that extra step, WizKids, Alliance, and the retailers all get to have decent margins.

This is interesting news, and not at all what several of our reps at other distributors believed for whatever reason. Thanks for bringing it to light! I can see how WizKids putting fulfillment in your hands for other distributors would drive up the price and make it hard for anyone to break even, though I'm not sure how them being exclusive with Alliance helps anyone's bottom line but Alliance's. Sending the product to other distributors by way of Paizo puts a big strain on the mark-up, but just doing it themselves shouldn't add any cost at all. Doing huge freight shipments to four or five distributors as opposed to doing a huge freight shipment just to Alliance doesn't seem like any sort of difference at all.

From a retailer's perspective, Alliance's recent push toward picking up manufacturer exclusives seems mostly like a desperate grab to force retail customers to continue to order from them, since they're otherwise losing a lot of ground to the distributors who focus on customer service.

Thanks for all the insight, though!

[Vic Wertz]

redcapscorner wrote:

The point is, our distributors definitely believe they're not authorized to get us Paizo products before the street date, not even by one day, which means we lose out on a ton of sales because consumers don't (and shouldn't have to) know our shipping schedules. I understand that you're fine with it (and frankly I'm overjoyed to hear it), but each distributor needs to be given express permission from you folks at Paizo, or else we're going to continue not having your products available until late afternoon or evening on the day of release.

I will ask our sales team to make it clear to them.

redcapscorner wrote:

Doing huge freight shipments to four or five distributors as opposed to doing a huge freight shipment just to Alliance doesn't seem like any sort of difference at all.

There are more than 4 or 5 distributors in our hobby. Paizo sells to nine distributors in the US alone.

Remember that we're talking about shipments from the manufacturer in China, not from WizKids themselves. It's the manufacturer's responsibility to deliver stuff to their customer, not to all of their customer's customers. So for them, there is a difference between shipping everything to Alliance and shipping everything to ten different customers (especially when we're talking about probably having to deal with ten different customs brokers, and more than a handful of trucking companies).

redcapscorner wrote:

...Alliance's recent push toward picking up manufacturer exclusives...

Alliance doesn't actually push that. They make sure publishers know that it's an option, and if a publisher is interested, they'll be happy to discuss it, but they don't actively recruit for exclusive contracts.

[Damon Griffin]

Coridan wrote:

Makes sense. My FLGS lacks the F so I love being able to go direct to the publisher.

Perhaps the 'F' just stands for something else? :)

[Coridan]

Damon Griffin wrote:

Coridan wrote:

Makes sense. My FLGS lacks the F so I love being able to go direct to the publisher.

Perhaps the 'F' just stands for something else? :)

Yeah probably "Five dollars more than the MSRP minimum!"

[Vic Wertz]

Vic Wertz wrote:

redcapscorner wrote:

The point is, our distributors definitely believe they're not authorized to get us Paizo products before the street date, not even by one day, which means we lose out on a ton of sales because consumers don't (and shouldn't have to) know our shipping schedules. I understand that you're fine with it (and frankly I'm overjoyed to hear it), but each distributor needs to be given express permission from you folks at Paizo, or else we're going to continue not having your products available until late afternoon or evening on the day of release.

I will ask our sales team to make it clear to them.

We've let all of our distributors know that it's ok to ship products to arrive the day before the release date.

[thequickhoof]

fizzboy wrote:

TriOmegaZero wrote:

Damn, I really need to get down there for a PFS game.

It gets a bit crowded but it's a whole lot of fun.

We're also planning on moving to a larger location soon, so the crowding problems will be a thing of the past. :D

[Damon Griffin]

thequickhoof wrote:

We're also planning on moving to a larger location soon, so the crowding problems will be a thing of the past. :D

You guys are moving again?!? I live in San Antonio, but I've been frequenting the Lair since it was in the old house off Guadalupe.

Where to this time?

[Brandon Hodge]

No kidding...I didn't think comic/game shops could GET any bigger than the Austin Dragon's Lair! Except maybe the old Book Stan' back in the late 80s when it was still in Port Arthur. I do miss that old DL house, though!

[Adam Daigle]

Brandon Hodge wrote:

No kidding...I didn't think comic/game shops could GET any bigger than the Austin Dragon's Lair! Except maybe the old Book Stan' back in the late 80s when it was still in Port Arthur. I do miss that old DL house, though!

That was the first one I ever went to when I moved to Austin in '95. I lived right down the street and would skate down to browse and pick up stuff (and pet the cats). :)

[Ernest Mueller]

In other Austin news, I picked up boosters at Wonko's, they had normal boosters and Rune Giants. Don't know how many cases, but enough that there were plenty on the shelf.

[Dragnmoon]

There is a very Good reason for Dragon's Lair Comics to Move.

I don't know the full story but they have been limited in parking so have had to severely control when they have Org Play in the Store.

As an Example the PFS game that used to play there one Saturday of the month had to leave because of this, and since then they have not had a Home but have been floating from store to store.

I would love if Dragon's Lair in Austin moved to another location that did not limit them on their parking.

[The Forgotten]

Has Dragon's Lair moved in the last couple of months? Last time I was there they were in the storefront where King's Hobbys use to be.

[thequickhoof]

Damon Griffin wrote:

thequickhoof wrote:

We're also planning on moving to a larger location soon, so the crowding problems will be a thing of the past. :D

You guys are moving again?!? I live in San Antonio, but I've been frequenting the Lair since it was in the old house off Guadalupe.

Where to this time?

Can't say just yet. It's not too far away, though, and the space is quite a bit larger. Yay more room for tables! But we will be officially announcing it at our 26th anniversary party over the weekend of the 22nd.

Which coincidentally, is the weekend we're doing our Pathfinder Ultimate Game Day, for which I still need GMs, hint hint. *coughfreeprizesforallmyGMscough* We're running thirteen tables for three time slots; it's going to be huge and insane and roughly 85% PFS legal (we're running a couple of non-PFS modules just for fun). Email me or message me here with your email address if you want in on the GM squad. There'll be random door prizes for players, too.

Dragnmoon wrote:

There is a very Good reason for Dragon's Lair Comics to Move.

I don't know the full story but they have been limited in parking so have had to severely control when they have Org Play in the Store.

As an Example the PFS game that used to play there one Saturday of the month had to leave because of this, and since then they have not had a Home but have been floating from store to store.

I would love if Dragon's Lair in Austin moved to another location that did not limit them on their parking.

Parking is definitely a factor in the move. Angie (the store manager) has been over to the new place and come back swooning over how much parking space is available. Also, we'll be able to bring back Saturday gaming. Woohoo!