Where are the Board Games??
Where have all the Board Games and their wonderful expansions gone??
This is a very popular question among loyal customers who have followed our online and physical store over the last 6+ years.
The board game industry is evolving away from manufacturers working with game stores to an unfortunate state of manufacturers VS game stores.
Two main reasons we interpret the current state of the board game industry as manufacturers VS game stores are:
-Restriction of sales channels for stores that purchase products
-Blatant restriction of products during peak sales seasons and selling only the leftovers to distributors & stores that supported manufacturers for years.
Restriction of Sales Channels
An example of this behavior is the majority of manufacturers are going to a direct to consumer approach by restricting game stores on their abilities to sell games online or advertise in store sales incentives on slower moving products while the manufacturer lists products on popular third party sales channels for +/-15% of the cost stores would pay to stock items on their shelves.
We used to order multiple cases of each new board game title and expansion but we no longer see this as a viable way to do business now that there are restrictions in place by quite a few manufacturers to punish stores that sell products on 3rd party sales channels.
Restriction of products during peak sales seasons
An example of this behavior is when we ordered 100 copies of an extremely popular game with a bird on the box before the Christmas season. The manufacturer had their direct website and third party sales channel loaded with this particular game throughout the holiday season. Distributors received their inventory the week before Christmas, and we were given our allocation of 3 total units that arrived a few days after Christmas. Just enough copies where our shelves will have the game in stock and local customers will see the game on the shelf, but have no need to buy the game because they've already purchased other items as gifts for the holiday season - it's almost like stores are given just enough product to advertise games, but only when the manufacturer needs to clear out their year end inventory to benefit their tax filings.
What does the future hold?
We don't know.
At this time, we're ordering a bare minimum amount of board games as even the largest board game manufacturer in the world has restrictions on where and how you can sell their products.
We're hoping manufacturers change their ways, but if they don't there's a chance board games disappear from our shelves entirely.
This would not be due to lack of sales, lack of public interest or even lack of financial ability to stock games.
All I can say is it's impossible for game stores to battle manufacturers.
-Carl
Owner Empire Game Center
This is a very popular question among loyal customers who have followed our online and physical store over the last 6+ years.
The board game industry is evolving away from manufacturers working with game stores to an unfortunate state of manufacturers VS game stores.
Two main reasons we interpret the current state of the board game industry as manufacturers VS game stores are:
-Restriction of sales channels for stores that purchase products
-Blatant restriction of products during peak sales seasons and selling only the leftovers to distributors & stores that supported manufacturers for years.
Restriction of Sales Channels
An example of this behavior is the majority of manufacturers are going to a direct to consumer approach by restricting game stores on their abilities to sell games online or advertise in store sales incentives on slower moving products while the manufacturer lists products on popular third party sales channels for +/-15% of the cost stores would pay to stock items on their shelves.
We used to order multiple cases of each new board game title and expansion but we no longer see this as a viable way to do business now that there are restrictions in place by quite a few manufacturers to punish stores that sell products on 3rd party sales channels.
Restriction of products during peak sales seasons
An example of this behavior is when we ordered 100 copies of an extremely popular game with a bird on the box before the Christmas season. The manufacturer had their direct website and third party sales channel loaded with this particular game throughout the holiday season. Distributors received their inventory the week before Christmas, and we were given our allocation of 3 total units that arrived a few days after Christmas. Just enough copies where our shelves will have the game in stock and local customers will see the game on the shelf, but have no need to buy the game because they've already purchased other items as gifts for the holiday season - it's almost like stores are given just enough product to advertise games, but only when the manufacturer needs to clear out their year end inventory to benefit their tax filings.
What does the future hold?
We don't know.
At this time, we're ordering a bare minimum amount of board games as even the largest board game manufacturer in the world has restrictions on where and how you can sell their products.
We're hoping manufacturers change their ways, but if they don't there's a chance board games disappear from our shelves entirely.
This would not be due to lack of sales, lack of public interest or even lack of financial ability to stock games.
All I can say is it's impossible for game stores to battle manufacturers.
-Carl
Owner Empire Game Center