Transparency Agenda #30: Examining Top 10 3PP Sales on Paizo.com

So I started doing some research on looking at the sales data that Paizo.com provides each week in their email and I noticed some interesting things.  First off, I compared each week of sales from July 26 until last week’s email on September 6. Over those seven week there were a total of 70 possible different products in the weekly top 10 listing.  The following is a list of 3PP and how many products they had in the top 10 over this 7 week period (In alphabetic order):

• Dreamscarred Press – 3 products
• Kobold Press – 12 products
• Legendary Games – 17 products
• Minotaur Games – 5 products
• Necromancers of the Northwest – 1 product
• Pathfinder Paper Minis – 6 products
• Rite Publishing – 6 products
• Super Genius Games – 18 products
• Zombie Sky Press – 2 products

Now looking at this list, I am sure you already will have some preconceived ideas and concepts of who the most successful companies in 3PP at Paizo. On products alone, Super Genius Games, Legendary Games and Kobold Press have count for over 65% of the products on this list. While this is very impressive the really interesting part is looking over these numbers over time. 

I have included a PDF of the last 7 weeks of sales at Paizo.com available for you to download and look over, just click to get your copy.

Starting with July 26^th the top ten consist of:

• Dreamscarred Press – 1 product
• Kobold Press – 3 products
• Legendary Games – 1 product
• Rite Publishing – 1 products
• Super Genius Games – 3 products
• Zombie Sky Press – 1 product

August 2^nd the top ten consist of:

• Dreamscarred Press – 1 product
• Kobold Press – 1 product
• Legendary Games – 1 product
• Pathfinder Paper Minis – 1 product
• Rite Publishing – 1 product
• Super Genius Games – 4 products
• Zombie Sky Press – 1 product

August 9^th the top ten consist of:

• Dreamscarred Press – 1 products
• Kobold Press – 2 products
• Legendary Games – 1 product
• Necromancers of the Northwest – 1 product
• Pathfinder Paper Minis – 1 product
• Rite Publishing – 1 product
• Super Genius Games – 3 products

August 16^th the top ten consist of:

• Kobold Press – 2 products
• Legendary Games – 2 products
• Minotaur Games – 1 product
• Pathfinder Paper Minis – 1 product
• Rite Publishing – 1 product
• Super Genius Games – 3 products

August 23^rd the top ten consist of:

• Kobold Press – 2 products
• Legendary Games – 3 products
• Minotaur Games – 1 product
• Pathfinder Paper Minis – 1 product
• Rite Publishing – 1 product
• Super Genius Games – 2 products

August 30^th the top ten consist of:

• Kobold Press – 1 product
• Legendary Games – 4 products
• Minotaur Games – 2 products
• Pathfinder Paper Minis – 1 product
• Rite Publishing – 1 product
• Super Genius Games – 1 product

September 6^th the top ten consist of:

• Kobold Press – 1 product
• Legendary Games – 5 products
• Minotaur Games – 1 product
• Pathfinder Paper Minis – 1 product
• Super Genius Games – 2 products

Now if you have been paying attention looking over these charts did you notices a few things about 3PP. Let’s take these one at a time:

1. Over time it looks like the many of the established 3PP (Super Genius Games and Kobold Press) are being out sold by the new 3PP company (Legendary Games).
2. Minotaur Games, Pathfinder Paper Mini and Rite Publishing each seem on average to have a steady sell rate of 1 product in the top 10 each of the 7 weeks.
3. There are normally an average of 6 different companies on the top 10 list but last week there were only 5 companies listed.
4. Looking at how products actually sale (using Super Genius Games’ products and sales ranks), the initial week the product comes out there is great interest. But only after two or three week interest fades as new product is released.  
5. Based on Legendary Games sales cross promotion of product with other related Paizo specific does promote sales as does products that can be cross promoted with each other’s like Super Genius Games’ Talented line products .
6. Minotaur Games is the only one man shop 3PP who made this list. The effect of being a great game designer AND an access to Paizo’s “aura of influence” as an employee can affect your sales directly.
7. Even though Legendary Games PDF products have a price point of $9.99, customers seem not to be phased by it and still purchase in large numbers.

What do think about this? What gets you interested in buying a products? Tell me what you think! Talk to you later…