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Zenako
Commander
3469 Posts
    
 | | 09/18/2006 8:20 AM |
| The whole crux of the problem of online/internet sales versus Brick and Mortar stores far transcends our little niche of the world. The whole market dynamic is being altered. We personally see the effects on DDM, online sellers can generally undercut almost any B&M shop on price, assuming you are willing to buy without seeing or holding the product. For items like this, that works. However, how can the maker of the product ensure that the marketing goals of their company are achieved.
Local record shop versus online downloads. How long do you think you will be able to stop in a Borders or B&N and listen to all the tunes on a CD, and then turn around and go buy it from someone else, or look over a book at the shop and then turn to Amazon again and purchase it at a discount. There will be an impact at the retail level.   Much the same story with computers over the past few years. How many local sellers still try and stock computers if they are not part of a national chain (Circuit City, CompUSA, etc.)Â
Even locally it is now possible to purchase all your groceries online and have them delivered. When this "premimum" service is only a small percentage of the volume, the grocery store can still afford to stock a wide variety of goods, but if this market of online grocery shopping expands, at some point the retail shop will not be able to stock the same variety of goods. They may no longer be able to purchase locally and be assured of selling enough product. Some costs of stores are fixed and as the volume of sales goes down, in order to stay in business the price of the products in the store will have to rise to cover those fixed costs. If this further drives the price difference so that even more purchase online, eventually the grocery store will have to close its doors. Without a local presense those same stores will have less incentive to help or participate in the local economy, by supporting kids sports teams, by hiring lots of young adults to work in the stores, etc.Â
The day of reckoning for lots of the current market paradigms is coming and much broader decisions than the fate of DDM will be involved. Right now I have 4 supermarkets in easy driving distance to pick up groceries if needed. They constantly compete on price and to some degree service. If and when some of them get driven out, price competition will be reduced and the cost for the consumer to purchase retail will go up. We could end up with nothing but online food sellers and 7-11 type shops with premimum prices for those people who really need that product now instead of 4 days from now when the delivery would be made.
I realize this is vearing from the focus of our issue, but, the paradigms being challenged here span our entire economy and way of life. Decisions on value need to enter the equation, the entire purchase transaction, if reduced to nothing other but $, will drive us to a marketplace that many people will not like. The intangibles of buying and holding and seeing and feeling the product have a value. The time value of a purchase has a value. All these need to enter the discussion if a viable result is to develope as this and other markets move forward...
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Built the addition for this addiction, now on to the "gaming table" project....
http://www.maxminis.com/hw_list.asp?user=Zenako last updated 29 May 2006
Set Status: in a nutshell = all of all
In Process trades 0), (Sig last updated 05/29/06) 300 plus Completed Trades -
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robby
Sergeant
918 Posts
| | 09/18/2006 9:04 AM |
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We've already seen this to an extent with Walmart vs. other retailers; the online paradigm is nothing new, just a different face for the latest mega discounter.
What will happen is that service will become an important commodity in B&M stores. It will have to be the differentiating factor. People that are focused on price alone will shop where its cheaper (see: Walmart). People that want additional services added will go where the service level is highest. That goes for online retailers as well as brick and mortars.
Take Amazon for a moment. They offer more than just the lowest price. They offer me a dynamic page that looks at my buying trends and makes recommendations to me based on that. When I'm browsing a product, they offer customer and professional reviews & ratings, list other similar products and other products purchased by people who bought the item I'm viewing. While those are all automated functions, that is better service than I typically get at my local Half-Price Books, Borders or B&N.
More and more vehicles are being bought over the internet or via the internet. So the physical dealers are changing their business to match. Their service departments are becoming bigger revenue streams than before, and they're improving their service levels. Vehicle and house loans are the same way. And the banks that want to compete in those spaces are re-evaluating their strategies to deal it.
Like it or not, online isn't going away. Business will have to deal with it and change, or they're fold. And not just FLGSs. 
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rocksalt
Warrior
194 Posts
| | 09/18/2006 12:52 PM |
| Good posts Z and robby. I agree with you both. The market is changing and retailers must adapt or disappear.
The changing market also presents opportunities. It is difficult for a stand alone video game store to compete with a big box store. Stores that wanted to survive switched to buying/selling/trading used games. This market has exploded and allowed smaller retailers that embraced the new market to be successful. However, this change also complicates the market as far as the producers and distributers are concerned. The increase in used game sales can cause a decrease in new game sales as titles are recycled and a customer base is created that doesn't mind waiting to play the newest games.
I think things are more complicated for the traditional gaming market. Where as the video game market is big enough to rely on advertising on a national level to create demand for their product, traditional gaming (with some card games being the exception) have to rely upon less costly methods such as local game store promotion, word of mouth and Internet presence. The effect that local game store promotion plays in creating demand is unquantifiable. Therefore, companies such as Wizards heavily promote via the Internet. It is balancing act between showing enough on the Internet to garner interest yet leaving something special for the local gaming shops to show off. If Wizards was truly interested in just saving local gaming shops (which they are not, their primary purpose is to stay in business which is how it should be) their Internet "preview" would consist of a message stating "to see the new sneak peak figure, go to your local shop and see the one we just shipped to them."
Like I said it is a complicated market. | |
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zoroaster100
Sergeant
873 Posts
| | 09/18/2006 7:32 PM |
| | Good points, Zenako. However, I hasten to interject that some online sellers can have more value to customers than just lower prices in some cases. Online slellers offer as convenience and ease of shopping right from home (or if you live in a rural or otherwise remote area, sometimes offer plain simple availability or viability of access to product). And depending on the seller, certain online sellers can in some cases offer better customer service and dependability than certain brick and mortar sellers. | |
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Vocenoctum1
Sneak
51 Posts
| | 09/18/2006 7:47 PM |
| I think another part of the problem is that service doesn't insure a sale. I can't say that it's something "different" than it "used to be".
If a customer comes into a store, and gets all the information and friendly service he wants, he will quite often still go order it online. There's no reward to the guy that goes out of the way to help the customer. | |
http://noctology.comicgenesis.com | |
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Jade Phoenix
Skirmisher
10 Posts
| | 09/19/2006 12:42 AM |
| Posted By Vocenoctum1 on 09/18/2006 7:47 PM
I think another part of the problem is that service doesn't insure a sale. I can't say that it's something "different" than it "used to be".
If a customer comes into a store, and gets all the information and friendly service he wants, he will quite often still go order it online. There's no reward to the guy that goes out of the way to help the customer.
I have to disagree with that line of thought. Not everyone acts that way. B&M’s must find their own way of keeping customers even if that means a 15-20% discount. That will kill a lot of online shoppers because the savings gap will close or be undercut itself. Not many people will go online to save just a few dollars when they could get it now at about the same price. Only a fool would go online to pay $24.99 + $4.95 shipping when they could get it right now for $30. This is a concept that the vast majority of B&M’s just do not get. | | | |
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Vrecknidj
Warlord
10429 Posts
United States
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gausse
Sergeant
961 Posts
Wisconsin
| | 09/19/2006 11:34 AM |
| Posted By Vocenoctum1 on 09/18/2006 7:47 PM
I think another part of the problem is that service doesn't insure a sale. In my case, the so-called 'service' at my local game store is hurting overall DDM sales. My whole gaming group refuse to even shop there anymore because the owners are pompus knobs. I would never buy from them again, especially not at full retail. It will have to be Amazon or Walmart I guess. | |
270+ Trades Completed (194 maxminis | 50 wizards | 29 hordelings)
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yack
Commander
3261 Posts
Gatineau Canada
| | 09/19/2006 12:34 PM |
| My flgs does not cut me a deal at all and I buy all my mags, cases and books there. Their singles are through the roof and lacking in selection. So I do not have a choice when it comes to minis. (online for singles) I will not buy boosters too test my luck on the monsters I need and be swamped in commons and uncommons. (its waste of my money)
So I support the both in a way. | |
Champion of the Peryton
Vindicated Champion : Pit Fiend, Devourer
DW: Duergar Priest
RPG Only!!!! The Drumming Drunkn' DM | |
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greyhaze
Warlord
6755 Posts
| | 09/19/2006 1:07 PM |
| I price comparison shopped for my cases. It's pretty simple when you think about it. Random boosters, x number of cases equals x money. The B&M can't give me better service than an online place, I'm basically just placing an order for a product I've barely been able to see online, have to trust in the production company, and have to preorder.
I got shafted by an online purchase, when my order came in 2 weeks after the release (instead of earlier as first expected). I went to a B&M, whome then pretty much matched the price - it cost about $30 more, but I got it immediately instead of having to wait despite being "1st wave". I continued to go back to this shop for wardrums and wotdq. Now with the price increase, I've pulled out to buying singles. Like many others I just don't want excess minis if I gotta pay more for it.
However, I still buy many things from that B&M, it's just not my DDM pick up place anymore. FLGS do need to adapt or evolve, I don't envy them, but I didn't raise the price of the product. | |
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Called Shots: Frost Giant in Dangerous Delves. | |
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PaSquall
Underboss
1399 Posts
| | 09/19/2006 1:22 PM |
| Posted By zoroaster100 on 09/18/2006 7:32 PM
Good points, Zenako. However, I hasten to interject that some online sellers can have more value to customers than just lower prices in some cases. Online slellers offer as convenience and ease of shopping right from home (or if you live in a rural or otherwise remote area, sometimes offer plain simple availability or viability of access to product). And depending on the seller, certain online sellers can in some cases offer better customer service and dependability than certain brick and mortar sellers.
You just depicted my situation !!!
And my online store owners are very friendly guys & girls. Best consumer service ever.
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Vindicated Champion of the PSEUDODRAGON
(Unhappy) vindicated champion of the DRYAD
Against the giants called shot : huge cloud giant female
Demonweb called shot : ghost | |
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Knight of Wuzz
Wuzzard
-827 Posts
| | 09/20/2006 8:34 PM |
| I just made a $$$ purchase at a high-end 'big-box' store for a product I have been watching for some time. I'd done my homework, noting where the product was available online and at what price. I could have purchased it months ago, but I waited for the B&M to have the product. I knew it was going to cost me more at the store, but I wanted it from my local store regardless. I'm not sure exactly why. Maybe I'm not fully converted to this 'internet' thing. I do buy other things online. Maybe I was uncomfortable sending that much money across the internet to people I've never met.
As it turns out, when I did actually go to the store to buy the item (as it was finally in stock), the price was the same as the lowest one online. And I didn't have to pay the extra $$$ for shipping. Go figure.
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MaesterAemon
Skirmisher
6 Posts
| | 09/21/2006 8:19 PM |
| or look over a book at the shop and then turn to Amazon again and purchase it at a discount.
Amazon allows you to leaf through books online.Â
If gaming stores go away, there will still be ways to find a local gaming community. The internet works great for that too. When I first moved to Milwaukee I didn't know anyone. Searching meetup.com hooked me up with a local gaming group.
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