I think GW tends to be its own worst enemy when it comes to communicating what there intentions are and as a hobby community ours is an insular, weird and paranoid one.
Yes GW has raised there prices OMG how dare they, no other company does that? I remember paying 50p for a 500ml bottle of coke when they first came out roughly same time as the current WFB orc boy regiment, at the time £15. Coke now £1.20 from my average local high street store, orc boys now £18 one has gone up 140%, the coke the boys 20% over the same time period.
People get annoyed because its there hobby which we all feel very protective of.
As they bring out products in plastic they get cheaper, steamtank by £5 greatswords by£2 for equivalent number. Those were the worst examples everything else came down lots.
They also are now putting more into there battleforces as they get renewed saving a greater % and more into there core games increasing there value. They only went back up in the price rise to a value they have been before.
As for where the increased revenue goes I assure you its not to the staff, benefits in kind have been reduced, worst salary in the retail sector and a pay freeze this year across the board.
So where is all the money going? Its paying back the loans it took out in the past at an accelerated rate to remove the financial burden and improve the security and health of the business.
The reason for the loans, to pay for the cost cutting and restructuring plan needed after cocking up the global expansion on the back of the LOTR bubble. A bad business decision not a bad hobby decision. Reduced availability of lines in store, if you have less stock you can have smaller premises needing less staff reducing overheads. This year they just had there second round of staff cuts.
Removal of ebay sellers. GW is giving there top discount as stockists to those with brick and mortar stores that offer painting and gaming facilities. Thats were that discount is going. ATM it seems as a company they are mostly trying to slimline there retail outlets and associated costs but increase there market exposure by having friendly indies that have gaming activities run in a positive light. So reducing costs and creating good hobby enviroments, well that makes good sense for the future of the company and with an aim to have smaller more gradual price rises in future once stabilised and to try and reduce the cost of hobby consumeables, theyre having a look again at paints sprays, glue etc.
Now as for the store staff, a big problem is poor training, poor staff retention, poor store managers and also controversially some hobbyists offensive preconceptions and down right rudeness.
Poor staff retention is easy to explain - poor salary, benefits actively withdrawn, poor reward and constantly increased targets and therefore pressure. The most galling thing is seeing good staff leave because they cannot afford to set up a home or family on the wage.
poor training - the way poorly trained staff converse with and treat customers is what generates poor corporate image. This is caused by poor managers.
Poor managers - Some stores are afflicted with managers who unfortunately do not see the hobby community or the good of the company. Some see it as there day care centre were they play toy soldiers and get paid for doing nothing. These managers exist and only care about the motivation, well being and training of the staff when there jobs are threatened. This is wrong staff should always be trained to the highest level and there wellbeing monitored, if you dont store atmosphere sucks. Been there, seen it, got the t-shirt.
Now onto the \"customers\" - The well trained staff in GW are there to help you and improve your hobby by the time you have left the store. This could be selling you something, it could be painting advice, discussing tactics or directions.
To do this they are given training in open questioning, this is designed to allow the customer to give us enough information to know what you want so we can fill that need.
If you are the rude customer who just chooses to grunt yes or no, or shout just browsing they will ask more questions as thats there job. Some people perceive this as pushy and annoying, these are the arrogant closed minded asses who assume we hate them and want to steal all there money.
If you simply give a quick polite answer letting us know that you just fancied checking to see if there were some new squats, or were tryin to remember what paint you needed it helps us now if you need help now or can be left to browse to your hearts content knowing that they can approach the friendly chap who has already broken the ice by exchanging a couple of words about your hobby.
I have lost count of the number of times people wont even return a polite good morning but will instead scowl and look like you just desecrated there ancestors bones. A lot of the time we work alone and sometimes would just like to have a chat.
Making someone in the store aware of you also helps put off potential shoplifters.
I\'ve definately written enough and the people on here who know me, know that im not an evil person even though I work for GW and intelligent enough to make up my own mind when I have seen more information than the customers are ever made aware of. There are lots of things afoot and interesting times ahead.
GW as a company arent evil, they are geeks poor at communication and bad at confronting people who are harmful to us. Just like there customers.
