Louis Porter Jr: OK I
have to ask as a Kickstarter publisher: Since you say "my" (I am
talking in small publisher terms here) product will not sell in our store so
you don't order it. But some of your customers seem to want to pick it up and
fund my kickstarter. Better yet, I offer retailers a way to pick up my kickstarter
project so you can have exclusive item at our location over your competition. But
still you think I am "stealing" customers? I am confused...
Jim Crocker: Louis, I think it's reasonable to say you're
'stealing' the front-end excitement and heat that otherwise comes from a new
product release in our stores. I am a little (a lot?) more forgiving than Gary
on the long-tail value of KS product, but it's definitely not a 'win-win' for
retailers. It's a compromise with the new model. (And by 'you'. I mean any
publisher who uses KS as an end-run around the channel but expects their stuff
to be carried there post-KS, not just you personally!)
Gareth Skarka: Now, now, Louis. Don't expect logic.
Louis Porter Jr: But here is the issue, we don't have to
give you all the option as kickstarter. We could just leave you out completely
AND just "take" your customers leaving you in the cold. But we are
NOT doing that. We are being inclusive, and for some reason you are getting mad
at us? I am sorry, WHAT?
Dusty Deal: Louis, you may be being inclusive, but the
majority of Kickstarter projects I've seen lately have not been retailer
friendly.
Gary Ray: I've never really carried your products so the
point is moot. They haven't even been offered to me through standard channels.
What we now see are many, if not most, small publishers who we used to be able
to support, no longer work for us, and new ones, no longer rewarding us for
taking chances on them.
Gareth Skarka: " I've never really carried your
products so the point is moot. " And yet they wonder why retailers are
being "cut out." Incredible.
Dusty Deal is the owner of MythPlaced Treasures. Since she is near Denver, I am going to have JP go over there and run some
NeoExodus Legacies games to help build a customer base of those who might be
interested in NeoExodus. Jim Crocker is the owner and operator of Modern Myths, Inc.
And with this I realized what the retailers want: They want
to make ALL the money, they want to take no risk, the want to complain when
they can’t get a product and they want to tell you it will not sell in their
stores.
I am sorry, but no.
Gary, I think you are a smart business man and understand your business
well, but I hate to break it to you on this one, you are on the wrong side of
history.
Kickstarter is the disruptive technology that retail AND
distributors fear. It completely removes them from the Manufacture > Distributor
> Retailer > Customer system. With kickstarter is just Manufacture to Customer
and best of all, you can raise more money than you asked for and have an actual
profit on a products. I used to support
the distributor & retailer model because that is the way it was done. But
now as a publisher I have MORE options: online digital sales, Print on Demand
services and crowdsource funding to name a few.
Any retailer who thinks and acts like Gary, I am sorry but the future is
going to get tougher and tougher for you.
I am sorry you see this as a point of conflict instead of a place for
innovation, since this is going to be a LONG and painful road for you if
crowdfunding continues to explode in success, like everyone suggests it is
going to. Talk to you later…
I hate to say it Louis, but I agree with you.
ReplyDeleteWe all hate to agree with Louis.
ReplyDeleteWhile short term thinkers see direct sales to consumers as a way to increase profits by cutting out distributors and retailers - and the margins that they require to survive.
ReplyDeleteWhat smart manufacturers have realized is that retail drives new demand in the gaming industry, and is essential for the long term sustainability of the industry. Wrong side of history? How's that going to work out in a future where there are no new people being recruited into the customer base through retail stores, the many people they expose games to, the many events they sponsor, and the many opportunities they give gamers to recruit new gamers?
Joe Baptist
Gamer
You are upset with Gary because he stated some obvious facts - that it is not in his best interests, as a retailer, to support Kickstarter projects that pull the rug out from under retailers.
If -as you say - customers are buying your kickstarter product, then they are not Gary's customers - because they are buying it from YOU, and not from Gary.
Of course, Gary could also sell your product - but the customer base is now much smaller, because the people who are really interested will have already purchased it from you directly. You are, in effect, asking Gary to take a big risk investing in your product, when the kickstarter system already relegates him to a smaller potential market, and lesser rewards. Why would a retailer take a higher share of the risk for a lower potential reward from a smaller potential customer base?
And then you act like you are somehow doing retailers a favor by allowing them to invest their money into your project when it is a higher risk, lower return proposition for them than stocking product through other channels.
Bringing retailers into your kickstarter is a way for YOU to get more people to share the risk, while still giving you the maximum profitability. You gain much more from it than they do.
When a retailer can get 24-48 hour turnaround on orders through distributors (or through direct distribution from companies like GW), their inventory dollars are working much more efficiently than if they tie those dollars up for months in a Kickstarter project where they are assuming a larger share of the risk, and can - at best - receive a smaller share of the reward.
It is clear that Kickstarter does not work for retail in the game business. It is also clear to some that without retail, the game business will shrink, because retail is the number one recruiter of new gamers.
This guy gets it. I've talked to my local retailer about this. She's commented that she's supported Kickstarters a couple of times, and what she's gotten from reputable companies has been subpar. She's also commented that she's afraid that most of the people who would buy it in the stores now just support it on Kickstarter.
DeleteThis retailer keeps her store open by charging for play space, drinks and snacks, as well as organized play events, and of course, sales. And I agree that new players won't come into your product lines unless they get to demo the games. Without game stores, your business will dry up with the rest of the industry.