Where to buy - why disbributers?

[semanticdm]

Hi all,

I was looking through the site, and noticed that the "Where to buy Wyrd" link has info for distributors, rather than FLGS's that sell products. Since most distributors won't sell direct to consumers, this doesn't help the average user of the site, and FLGS owners _should_ already know where to go to get their distributors info.

Anyway, just my idea about how to make the site more useful.

~ SemanticDM

P.S.
In Iowa, I know that Tempest Games in Cedar Rapids, and The Core in Cedar Falls (Waterloo?) also carries Wyrd.

[Shadowopal]

The distributors will know what stores are ordering Wyrd. I would assume most stores use a distributributor. I'm not sure if Wyrd supplies stores directly. Distribution is a sticky Wicket. As a producer, you want to sell a large number of your widgets to a single source to make shipping easier. So, distributors are that means. The few companies that are direct sale to stores usually require a huge order and won't do piecemeal things like distributors are able to.

So, I'm assuming Wyrd only distributes to distributors (which makes sense for them). The distributors most likely don't provide Wyrd with each individual store that orders their product. So, that would explain why the "Where to buy Wyrd" only shows distributors.

[semanticdm]

I understand that part, but for a site that is community oriented, it would be nice to have information on individual stores that sell their product.
I know several other games companies that have store locaters. It's often up to the individual store in question to contact the company to say "I carry your product, could you please add me to your list of stores?"
AEG has their searchable Stronghold Store program, Mayfair has a list broken out by country/state, Days of Wonder has a searchable database, etc. AFAIK, none of these companies distribute directly to stores either, but go through the major distributers...
With the Henchman program, it shouldn't be too tough to start even a rudimentary list, since the app asks for the local store the Henchman is nominally based out of... And, when travelling, it makes it easy to find out if there's a store that hosts Malifaux game nights to hang out in.
~ SemanticDM

[Shadowopal]

You're right. The stores could contact Wyrd or the Henchmen could do it. Not sure why it hasn't been approached. However, with Wyrd being at GenCon, I wouldn't expect a response until Monday or tuesday.

[semanticdm]

Yeah, I realized that after I posted. Which I should have known before - the podcasts I listen to are all about Gencon, and I've got coworkers out there now - leaving me to do their work for them. Grrr. Oh well, they're going to pick up toys for me to play with while they're out there. :-D

~ SemanticDM

[Hob_Player]

I agree with your thought, even if it's just a list like "other" companies do/did. A list of store names, address, state and phone would be great. With the size of the game, we wouldn't need the extra columns explaining what is available and how large the stock is.

This could be as easy as a Google doc Henchmen help complete and then it grows as retailers notice they aren't on the list.

[Loki]

Why not take the initiative and start a thread just like the opponent finder.

All you have to do is copy the post above yours and add your LGS' info. I'll start:

USA
FLORIDA - Orlando - Rhubarb Games
FLORIDA - Orlando - Coliseum of Games
FLORIDA - Lauderhill - Tate's Gaming Satellite

[Seventeen]

Las Vegas - Little Shop of Magic: Games www.shopofmagic.com/ (http://www.shopofmagic.com/)

[semanticdm]

Don't mean to be a jerk, but now that the Wyrd folks are back in the office and hopefully have slept off most of Gencon, wanted to bump the thread so someone might be able to take a look at it.

:elefant:

~ SemanticDM

[Nathan Caroland]

It's on our radar. Bumping it won't make it come any faster. And no - I haven't really slept.

[Kaine]

I believe theres a website redesign in the works, as mentioned in various other threads, so i'm sure thats something they'll put in (or at least will consider).

[semanticdm]

D'oh! My apologies Nathan! I'll be good and stop bumping threads now.
Good luck with getting everything (especially sleep) caught up!

~ SemanticDM