Games Workshop Pricing Feedback Thread

[eron12]

The point is they have to keep people trained in both Metal and Resin if they keep both, and training people is INCREADIBLY expensive.

But they already have a team trained in metal. We are expirencing a lag with the transfer over to finecast with some models being unavalible for months. Abondoning metal entirerly is just making a bad situation worse.

Sometime your point may become valid, but at the moment, unless they fired their previous metal team, training new staff to work the old process shouldn't be a major problem.

[strewart]

Of course they didn't fire their metal team... They are still making loads of models in metal. Not everything got converted to resin.

On inflation, I thought it was meant to be an indication of general price rises, thus it includes all the factors mentioned above.. Inflation is what the vast majority of companies increase prices by, while GW chooses to go above that again.

[Tay051173096]

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/ca...d=prod1160117a

Do you think they actually sell any of these? I mean even the metal ones came with a large layer of dust...

[Shimmergloom]

Of course it is. Because the overheads for manufacturers do not rise in line with inflation eg cost of materials, salaries, changes in currency exchange rates for imported models and a plethora of other costs. These are all factors which contribute to price increases.

None of those explain why black orcs went from 24.75 to 41.25 in 3 months time. Or any of the other sets that went from the 24.75 price range to the 41.25 goldswords price range.

[Llew]

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/ca...d=prod1160117a

Do you think they actually sell any of these? I mean even the metal ones came with a large layer of dust...

You mean no one is rushing to pay $35 and change for a disturbingly phallic alien model?

[Tay051173096]

A limp phallic alien at that...

Hive guard are cheaper and better, same with Zoans so why are pyros a £5 more?

[Voss]

A limp phallic alien at that...

Hive guard are cheaper and better, same with Zoans so why are pyros a £5 more?

Bigger model with more parts? There are times when pricing based on model is a lot better than pricing based on rules. Most of the time, actually.

[rodmillard]

A limp phallic alien at that...

Hive guard are cheaper and better, same with Zoans so why are pyros a £5 more?

*Sigh*

You can't have it both ways. The number of times I've seen people complaining about the cost of a single man sized mini, priced the way it is "because of its rules," but now people are complaining about something being priced based on quantifiable non-game factors like the number of components and the material its made from.

[Sgt John Keel]

A limp phallic alien at that...

Hive guard are cheaper and better, same with Zoans so why are pyros a £5 more?

Because they sell less.

Edit: No, wait, that doesn't make sense.

[Korraz]

Either way, it's not like those five gramms extra warrant five pounds.

[Wintermute]

None of those explain why black orcs went from 24.75 to 41.25 in 3 months time. Or any of the other sets that went from the 24.75 price range to the 41.25 goldswords price range.

No it doesn't but its clear price rises are not just based on changes in the rate of inflation which was the point I was making.

[Tay051173096]

*Sigh*

You can't have it both ways. The number of times I've seen people complaining about the cost of a single man sized mini, priced the way it is "because of its rules," but now people are complaining about something being priced based on quantifiable non-game factors like the number of components and the material its made from.

Err is the pyro bigger than the hive guard?

I thought they were the same size...

Aha pyro come in 7 bits, guard 6... Thats an expensive bit...

[jack da greenskin]

Err is the pyro bigger than the hive guard?

I thought they were the same size...

Aha pyro come in 7 bits, guard 6... Thats an expensive bit...

I dont think its that. Pyros were a new unit, so GW assumed they'd sell loads. Thus, they priced them high in the hopes of a great margin on a well selling model. Unfortunately, it backfired, because the rules are pretty poor.

It did work, however, with the grey knight strike squad.

[Gir]

But they already have a team trained in metal. We are expirencing a lag with the transfer over to finecast with some models being unavalible for months. Abondoning metal entirerly is just making a bad situation worse.

Sometime your point may become valid, but at the moment, unless they fired their previous metal team, training new staff to work the old process shouldn't be a major problem.

Turns out massive projects like this have huge rollout times! Crazy I know!

[Omniassiah]

I dont think its that. Pyros were a new unit, so GW assumed they'd sell loads. Thus, they priced them high in the hopes of a great margin on a well selling model. Unfortunately, it backfired, because the rules are pretty poor.

It did work, however, with the grey knight strike squad.

Hive Guard are a new unit as well. so sadly that doesn't work.

Problem is its a good general business rule to try and absorb as much of the additional expenses as you reasonable can and to try and pass along any savings you can to you customers. Now don't take that I'm saying that GW should absorb all the increased expenses, because that would be business suicide. But on the other hand GW seems to be going the opposite trying to pass on all the extra expenses and keep any savings.

All the converted-to finecast mini's we're just a new mold, no model work in and of itself, they said so themselves. And part of the advantage to moving to resin was a much more price stable and cheaper by volume medium to work with. For most of the smaller models they should have been a slight wash to a slight price increase as the savings from material would not have balanced the price of new molds etc. But larger models primarily the Blood Knights as a prime example should have looked at coming down in price as they would have received a much larger savings in metal compared to the mold. Not saying by a ton but having them come down 5 maybe $10 would not have been out of the question. A price rise of another $10 was a bit crazy considering the additional cost savings from shipping a previously very heavy box.

If other expenses are driving up the price of their mini's then as a Business would start looking very close at the expenses. The GW stores would be the first to go more and likely. I don't think that they need nearly as many as they have (hell, I'd only really would have had one in the US at the US HQ) and I can't say that I have ever met anyone that has said they picked up a GW game because of a GW store (Most had interest in it before hand and would have been just as likely to pick it up in an indy LGS).

Now I've not bought anything GW in almost 2 years, I'm lucky enough to be able to get it at a hefty discount because of work, and I still can't find a reason to spend the kind of money they want.

[hunting tabby]

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/ca...d=prod1160117a

Do you think they actually sell any of these? I mean even the metal ones came with a large layer of dust...

Comedy gold. It's difficult to imagine any design team signing off on this one.

"Yeah, that's looks about right".

"Glad you think so, it came to me in a dream".

[thoughtfoxx]

Of course it is. Because the overheads for manufacturers do not rise in line with inflation eg cost of materials, salaries, changes in currency exchange rates for imported models and a plethora of other costs. These are all factors which contribute to price increases.

Really? You have just described the business nightmare that every business actively tries to avoid. The ones that are going to stay in business that is.

[Trasvi]

GW is in a unique position to many other companies because it is a manufacturer with a strong retail presence. Most companies that I see with this model are 'designer' brands - Apple, or clothes like Prada, Hugo Boss, Cue. This puts them in a position to be hurt badly by things like exchange rate - see Australia going from 600K profit to 400K loss, despite the fact that sales in GBP stayed relatively level.
Gw are actively trying to avoid all of those factors above: they are switching from metal to resin which has a more stable cost, cutting staff so salaries are lower, forcing customers to purchase in their own currency...

IMO, GW are doing lots of stuff right as a business, but their product just isn't good value for money these days, at least compared to their competition.

[Wintermute]

Really? You have just described the business nightmare that every business actively tries to avoid. The ones that are going to stay in business that is.

Unfortunately its true. For example inflation in the UK is currently 4.4%. Gas and electricity prices are due to rise by up to 18%.

GW is in a unique position to many other companies because it is a manufacturer with a strong retail presence. Most companies that I see with this model are 'designer' brands - Apple, or clothes like Prada, Hugo Boss, Cue. This puts them in a position to be hurt badly by things like exchange rate - see Australia going from 600K profit to 400K loss, despite the fact that sales in GBP stayed relatively level.
Gw are actively trying to avoid all of those factors above: they are switching from metal to resin which has a more stable cost, cutting staff so salaries are lower, forcing customers to purchase in their own currency...

IMO, GW are doing lots of stuff right as a business, but their product just isn't good value for money these days, at least compared to their competition.

Yes they may well be doing things which are right for them as a business, but they are not doing a great deal for the customer.

[SunTzu]

Unfortunately its true. For example inflation in the UK is currently 4.4%. Gas and electricity prices are due to rise by up to 18%.

Yes, but while some things are going up more than inflation, some other things are going up by less - if everything was going up 18%, inflation would be 18%.

So why are GW so intensely vulnerable to things that rise in price faster than inflation? Do they use large amounts of gas, or more electricity than any other company? Are all their costs rising faster than inflation, and none rising less? (Tell you one thing that's rising slower than inflation - the cost of their wages, CEO and the like excepted). Do they indeed rely more on costs that are rising faster than inflation than other wargames companies do?

I find that hard to believe, and even if it is the case it's an awful business model to expose yourself to that kind of risk. You have to have contingency plans to mitigate rising costs.