GW finds new way to alienate non-EU/US customers (aka MiJ rants again)

[me_in_japan]

Sorry, sorry, sorry. For anyone who doesnt live in Japan this is irrelevant, and those who do live here probably already know, but when I got this email fizz started coming out of my ears, so I apologise in advance, but I have to vent before the top of my head pops off and vexes my wife terribly by causing brain-stains on the ceiling.


Not so long ago GW put in place a rule stating that any independent stockists (particularly online webstores) would not be allowed to ship their miniatures outside of Europe. This bothered a lot of people here, since the average price of a mini from Games Workshop's Japan site (GWJ) is slightly more than double that of the same mini bought from Wayland or Maelstrom.

Since this sales embargo, many people have found that ordering direct from GW's UK website, paying the flat-rate shipping, and waiting a week was still significantly cheaper than buying from the GWJ website.

Obviously someone at GW marketing HQ noticed this loophole, and decided to close it. I got this email in my inbox today (Oct 31st.) Note that it comes into effect tomorrow. They clearly don't want any last-minute rushes on sales before the door is closed...

今号には　: Important Shipping Announcement

Today, we've got an important notice regarding changes to shipping for customers living in Japan. If you currently order your miniatures from outside the Japanese website (in British Pounds or American Dollars, for example), then your shipping costs will change from November 1st 2011. The carriage fee will vary depending on the size of your order - you'll find the new shipping costs when you get to the checkout on the website. However, we do have some good news! The shipping costs for orders placed on the Japanese language web store will remain the same, and any orders over 10,000 Yen will be shipped to your home address for free. There is also no charge for sending orders to one of our Games Workshop Hobby Centres, no matter the size of your order. If you haven't yet changed to the Japanese Games Workshop website, then this is the time to do so. Simply change the flag in the drop-down menu in the bottom right-hand corner of the website to the Japanese flag, log in to your account and place your order as normal. It couldn't be any easier We all look forward to seeing you on our site in the near future, until then...Sayonara! The Japanese Web Team

トップへ戻る

ゲームズワークショップ株式会社は、イングランドおよびウェールズで登録した会社です。Games Workshop, Willow Road, Lenton, Nottingham, NG7 2WS, England, United Kingdom. 登録番号1467092. 著作権 © ゲームズワークショップ株式会社2011 ニューライン・シアトリカル・プロダクションに属するもの、つまり、『旅の仲間』、『二つの塔』、『王の帰還』のすべての著作権MMXIはニューライン・ プロダクションが所有します。J.R.R. トールキンの『ロード・オブ・ザ・リング』3部作（それのすべての巻を含む）の著作権は、トールキン・エステート1954-55, 1966が有します。『ロード・オブ・ザ・リング』、『旅の仲間』、『二つの塔』、『王の帰還』、登場人物名、小物、出来事そして場所名は、ニューライ ン・プロダクションとゲームズワークショップ株式会社のライセンスのもと、ソウル・ゼインツ社、ミドルアース・エンタープライズ、トールキン・エンタープ ライズの登録商標で、すべての著作権を有しています。ゲームズワークショップ、ゲームズワークショップ社ロゴ、ヘヴィメタル、シタデル、そしてシタデルの ツールは、ゲームズワークショップ株式会社2000-2011®, ™、 © であり、英国および世界の各国で登録をし、すべての著作権を有しています。 このメールは'MiJ's email addy'へ送られました。ゲームズワークショップからのメールの受け取りが要求されたからです。・・・ができます。購読を取り消すゲームズワークショップ　ニュースレターからあなたの「お気に入りゲームズワークショップ」アカウント設定. ゲームズワークショップは、希望しないマーケティング用メールを一切送ることはありません。

The key line in the above email is "...Sayonara".

Damn straight :curse!:

I mean, what exactly is this company trying to do here? I'm a 33 year old guy with a good, full time job, my wife also works full time, and I cant afford their products! Who the hell are they selling them to?!?!?!

 

[kathrynloch]

Oh dear. I'm still trying to figure out where in Marketing 101 it says to make it as difficult and expensive for your customer to get your product as possible. I still can't find it.

 

[Sand Rat]

You have obviously never read the GW sales Manual.

Tis why going forward, I'm going to start giving my money to Mantic.

 

[10 ball]

I like the comment...... "However, we do have some good news! "....... magic!!

 

[nels0nmac]

Whilst GW seems determined to alienate all non EU/US customers, I can understand to a degree why they are trying to protect their independant stockists, but doing so at the expense of their customers seems a rather strange strategy. It's expensive enough paying for the new "Finecast" minis in this country let alone having to pay double... that would make the Ghazghkull figure an eye watering £45 .....sheesh... that's mental:bulgy-eyes:. Hardly anyone would pay that much for one figure.

As an alternative have you looked on the US Ebay site to see if you can get stuff shipped that way. May work out cheaper than GWJ even with higher shipping costs.

Incidentally how do the prices in Japan compare with those in OZ, as I am under the impression that GW ships all of their product out from the UK to there and seeing as you are in the same world area.... give or take the odd mile or two :rotfl:, the prices should be comparable.

 

[PegaZus]

And I'll offer up my wife's Buyma user name, and point you in her direction.

(If I could remember it)

EDIT: Had to ask (nekopanda). The website is buyma.com

 

[kathrynloch]

Thus you see the result of GW trying to beat the basic laws of not only marketing but economics. While GW has benefited from internet sales, the consumer goes to great lengths to use the internet to save money. GW sees their rules as leveling the playing field. Most of us understand and encourage free market so get angry (and rightfully so) when a large corporation meddles with free market.

 

[Avelorn]

Their business model is focused around supporting stores and they don't want to compete with themselves naturally. I think they are fully aware of what they are doing, if the stores vanish they recon that they in the long term will loose because new kids will not be recruited.

I would probably buy from ebay if I were you.

 

[PegaZus]

I'm not a big GW person, so I don't know, but if they really wanted to support their stores (and maybe the little stores), wouldn't it be wiser to make some things in-store only? Or do they do this already?

A special squad that's only available at an actual physical GW store? And then a second set that's available only in local hobby shops? Sure, some would pop up online with eBay, but the feet through the door that would generate to begin with would seem to be worth it. Maybe I'm missing some marketing genius insight here?

And sorry for taking the rant on a side rail, mij!

 

[me_in_japan]

No probs, Pegazus - rants are there to be sidetracked

Thanks to all who suggested alternative means of sourcing GW minis. Tbh I'm already a lost cause. I aint buying any more of their stuff. I play Warmachine and Malifaux, and have just recently started Call of Cthulhu (oooh, gaming with no minis at all! how novel...). I have 3 big GW armies (Eldar, Nurgle CSM and Dark Eldar) so I have no real need to buy any more GW minis anyway. If I really, really, reeeeeaaally need to, I can just order from Wayland or Maelstrom and get em sent to my parents' house in Scotland, but tbh I'm pretty much well and truly locked into a Spevna Stance from now on.*

*Sorry - Spevna Stance is a local in-joke. It basically means "I shall not buy any GW minis cos their attitude stinks. I will, however, continue to play their games, which I enjoy" Spevna is a user on our local forum, and a good friend of mine to boot. I think he occasionally sticks his head into CMoN, too, even. Anyway, I find the term to be a useful one.

 

[Dragonsreach]

Postage to Australia, for 4 Nurgle Lords & 2 Chaos Wizards, purchased from Maelstrom = £4.06.
Airmail and delivered in 5 days.

FRIENDS AND FAMILY...........Need I say More!!!!!!!!!

 

[me_in_japan]

From my local forum. Prim, btw, is the forum admin and self confessed Space Marine fanboy of epic proportions.

Sayonara indeed.
I take back everything I said in my earlier posts!

1 Big tank box (Land Raider sized) has a shipping cost of about 8 pounds.
Between 2 and 4 have a shipping cost of about 24 pounds.
Between 5 and 10 have a shipping cost of about 33 pounds.

Today:
1 Land Raider shipping is....(wait for it).....FIFTY POUNDS!!!! Sweet monkey on a ridiculously priced bicycle.
Ok, maybe its just a flat rate.
2 will set you back 83 pounds??? WTF
3 to 4 will cost 154 pounds.

Apologies to M_i_J, the sky has actually fallen. (unlike the price of shipping). A 600% increase in the cost of shipping one box. Does Jervis deliver it in person himself?

I need to go and have a sit down.

*sigh* When Prim gets T'd off at GW, the world really has come to an end

There's a big discussion about it here: http://www.nagoyahammer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=1332 Feel free to peruse if you care (not that I imagine anybody will, but it's a reasonable snapshot of how gamers in this country feel about GW)

With regards to friends and family, you're absolutely right. That is by far the best way to do it. It's reached the point now, though, where I'm not only not buying GW cos its expensive, I'm not buying GW cos they offend me.

 

[Aliengod3]

Hello "Valued" Customer,

We are Gamesworkshop. We like to rob our customers blind by offering them overpriced, poorly casted crap miniatures at highly inflated prices because we are the market leader and pretty much have a monopoly on the entire industry. "However we do have some good news!" Order over $500 of our product, pretty much one space marine model, and we will ship it to you for free! Just be aware that we will not do a quality control check on the product so you may not receive all of the pieces you ordered at one time. Also, since the shipping is free, we plan to have the random pieces you do receive sent via walk mail, meaning that it will literally be traversed to your location on foot. Expect your order no later than the next update to our miniature line and rulebooks where it is possible that the mini you just ordered will be obsolete.

Sincerest Regards,

GW

 

[Yuggoth]

Oh man, so glad I left the whole GW thing behind. I`m currently focussing on Freebooters Fate and wow, their customer service is a zilllion times better! Most of the bigger GW alternatives where just not to my liking aesthetically (mantic elfes huh?) or else I would have left years earlier.

But there ARE alternatives out there for every taste if you really bother to look, and they are continuing to grow. Personally I would suggest to make a list of viable options complete with manufacturer links and all and simply post it in every GW-rant threat that you encounter.

Heres where I would start:
http://seditionwars.com/
http://www.freebooterminiatures.de/en
http://www.smartmaxstore.com/smog-a-victorian-fantasy.htm
http://www.infinitythegame.com/infinity/en/
http://www.spartangames.co.uk/games/dystopian-wars

Mind you, those are only a few from the top of my head which I find pleasing to the eye AND which have a gaming system to complement their range. I guess if such a list would be made by a real expert (say Einion) it would be several pages long^^

For everyone who want to stay with GW I would suggest to figure out which national post agencys have low prices for international shipping (US seems terribly overpriced, especially for bigger things) and tweak your Ebay search accordingly.

 

[hajmoid]

gotta say, when exchange rates etc come into it's pretty rough on OZ/JP gamers however when people turn that anger into statements about GW's values in relation to model quality that frankly pisses me off a little. I'm a big fan of the revamped dark eldar and for anyone to take a look at those models and their pose-ability, originality and dynamism and tell me that they are shite... I seriously can't believe what i'm reading.

 

[dogfacedboy uk1]

Must admit, I am no customer service expert but I think the averagege guy in the street could do a better job than the people currently employed high up that make these decisions. They have alienated the older gamers with their own cash in favour of the kids who have variable attention spans and a vast array of activities to take part in at their Target market age. Hmmmm, I m not sure thats wise..... And these people get paid to do their job....

 

[nels0nmac]

I guess what it comes down to is that GW decided that they would either lose out with their independant retailers or lose out with their customers. Some bean counter has obviously worked out that they will lose more money by placing their IRs at a disadvantage over pissing off the customers. Still, can't think that that is a good long term stategy. The guys at the top seem to have been swayed [:sheep: :sheep:] by charts/graphs/whatever that says they are better off that way. Can't help think of the old adage - There's Lies, damn lies and statistics.:laugh:

 

[dogfacedboy uk1]

No business strategy should involve pissing off your customers, customer is king and repeat business and an increasing customer base is what GW should be focussing their efforts towards, not statistics on a board. I don't think they know what they are doing to be honest. I think its way too late to mend the relationship as well given the great number of alternative models that are equally as good or better than GW models.

dfb

 

[me_in_japan]

I think the one thing that could be used to keep people coming back to GW is the IP. There are lots of other companies out there that do beautiful sculpts, but if you want eldar, you have to go to GW. Obviously they would really, really need to sort out their customer relations, starting with an apology and moving quickly into comparable prices around the world (bearing in mind relative income and so on and so forth). If they did that, I would consider maybe, maaaaaaybe buying from them again. This would also do their independant retailers no harm, as the IRs could then buy from GW at decent prices, and sell to their customers at decent prices. Everyone's a winner, no? However, like DFB, I'm of the opinion that they really don't know what they're doing, and this is unlikely to change in the foreseeable future.

 

[Aesu]

Sadly it can work out better to annoy recurring customers if the product is something people want badly enough. A certain recently released product that my work sells is a prime example. We have stock, but if you are a current customer wanting an upgrade.. we don't have any left. Try the website for a delivery to your house. But if you are a new signup, we do have some.
Why? Everyone wants one of these things, recurring customers will wait, they have already been with us for a while and switching to another vendor for an upgrade is too much of a hassle for them.
New customers are new money, so to the company they are more important.
For GW, I assume having shops stock their models so they can attract new customers through people seeing the models in person and having a presence in shopping centres builds brand awareness. So many people first see wargaming models in a GW shop while window shopping. Far less see a Hordes or Wyrd model until they get into the hobby and discover more. So their first models and possibly first big purchases go through through GW. And possibly some brand loyalty, a soft spot for the model they first saw/painted, more than likely a GW one.
As an Aussie I hate this marketing method, even if I think I understand the method behind the madness. I really would love to go shopping in a local store for my models, but I have to go elsewhere.