Policy Changes: Stepping Backwards

So news broke yesterday that Games Worshop is changing their sales policies for their affiliated stores.

Now, a few days ago word filtered down that they were forbidding bits sales, where retailers would take boxes and break them open to sell just the individual pieces. This is usally a godsend for converters and gamers alike, as the kits rarely come with enough bits to make every single option that a unit has. For example, the Space Marine Devestator kit comes with five bodies and a selection of the heavy weapons they are allowed to take. But while they can take four heavy weapons in any combination, there are not four of any heavy weapon in the box. At most there are two of two different varities. So bits resellers were filling a need there.

Now, were GW to get into selling bits themselves, this change would merely be annoying rather than punishing, but no such word has filtered down from corporate. And then we find ourselves with the latest change: no online sales allowed.

Previously, they had prevented independent retailers from using a cart-based system to do online sales, which is bad enough. But to keep a good-sized chunk of your market share (especially here in the States) from selling online at all in this digital age? It's sheer lunacy.

Online sales continue to grow and grow, making up about 8% of total retail sales this year. While that may not seem like much, it's still over $250 billion, and for much of the country this would be the only way GW would get their products sold. Many places in the country aren't supported by a retail store that sells Warhammer, much less by an official GW store (the closest ones to me are the Battle Bunker in Memphis or the store in Atlanta). So if they were interested in GW's products, they would have to order online, and with GW's prices still rising even in this recession, most people are just going to turn away and not purchase anything rather than going to GW's site.

Sure, the addicted among us (me included) still would purchase if that was the only way we could, but the point is to generate new business, correct? They should be helping faciltate that, and online sales really help that.

All in all, GW seems to a tale of two companies: the games studio that is making an amazing product that more people should play, and the corporate people who seem determined to make sure that no one can.