Games Workshop: Black Friday?

[Guest Triszin]

Just curious I havent ever paid attention to GW on black friday but I was looking through some ads today and thought about it

 

Does GWQ do black friday?

[Lord Marshal]

I think you already know the answer to that question.

[Mr Yellow]

I had to check the date to make sure it wasn't April 1st.

 

I do remember when GW used to have sales (SERIOUSLY, THEY DID). The lead exodus when all the old lead blisters were sold off for half price and then for even less, and then the store sales where they used to bag up and sell of old store models and sprues left over from conversions. Wow, I'm getting all nostalgic.

[m_r_parker]

I've never, ever, seen one. I wouldn't expect to see one in the future either.

The closest we get is the Xmas boxset deals, that we've already seen in the leaked White Dwarf

[Mileposter]

They did a Black Friday thing like... Two years ago? It might be three? I forget. It's how I got into the hobby. I had enough expendable cash to purchase a full Eldar Wraith host and Windrider Host (I only knew those as the bundle names, did not know they were army names till later!) at once for like $400 off buying them individually. Was awesome.

 

I was asking the local GW store if something like that would be happening this year (I have far less expendable income now, and the bundles would be a good way to start my Daemons!) and was told "Yeah, we did that a few years ago and it was a huge mistake. Likely won't be doing that again."

 

Was also told that the 11th should see the Holiday Guide coming out? Maybe we'll get more concrete answers in there.

[Mr Yellow]

They did a Black Friday thing like... Two years ago? It might be three? I forget. It's how I got into the hobby. I had enough expendable cash to purchase a full Eldar Wraith host and Windrider Host (I only knew those as the bundle names, did not know they were army names till later!) at once for like $400 off buying them individually. Was awesome.

 

I was asking the local GW store if something like that would be happening this year (I have far less expendable income now, and the bundles would be a good way to start my Daemons!) and was told "Yeah, we did that a few years ago and it was a huge mistake. Likely won't be doing that again."

 

Was also told that the 11th should see the Holiday Guide coming out? Maybe we'll get more concrete answers in there.

 

Wow, blow me down (just googled it) and they did do it a few years ago. Though looking at the prices it would have been cheaper to buy the contents separately from other online retailers.

[Steel Company]

I had to check the date to make sure it wasn't April 1st.

 

I do remember when GW used to have sales (SERIOUSLY, THEY DID). The lead exodus when all the old lead blisters were sold off for half price and then for even less, and then the store sales where they used to bag up and sell of old store models and sprues left over from conversions. Wow, I'm getting all nostalgic.

 

I remember those, I once was able to get some really nice units out of that. I once got an open box predator for less than half cost, all that was missing was the twin-linked Lascannon... was fine by me as I've always liked the auto-cannon more. Also got an Emperor's Champion that came with a Bretonnia damsel in the same blister.

 

Ahh those were the days....

[Xenith]

As above, they did something in 2015 or so, death company themed, some minor deals on boxes. Generally blown out of the water by start collecting sets.

[Kristoff]

I think it is interesting to hear about Black Friday in the UK, other parts or Europe, Australia, or Canada. 

 

Here in the US, it is kicked off by the day after Thanksgiving (fourth Thursday in November).  Since many non-retail workers manage to take off that day, it makes sense to have massive sales on that day to kick off the Christmas Sale Season.  I would think that any Black Friday sales here would be at local direction.

[Steel Company]

I think it is interesting to hear about Black Friday in the UK, other parts or Europe, Australia, or Canada. 

 

Here in the US, it is kicked off by the day after Thanksgiving (fourth Thursday in November).  Since many non-retail workers manage to take off that day, it makes sense to have massive sales on that day to kick off the Christmas Sale Season.  I would think that any Black Friday sales here would be at local direction.

 

 

Canada got on board with the US Black Friday / Cyber Monday sales, due to how many Canadians would hop the border to go shopping down south for the deals... for me Port Angeles is only 2.5 hours away by Ferry, I can catch that boat less than a mile from my work, so it makes it easy to duck work(with out telling my wife / kids) and go shopping down south for good sales.

[Arkhanist]

I think the big impetus for Black Friday coming to the UK was because of Amazon, they're such a big retailer - though Asda (owned by Walmart) started it I think. it's only really taken off the last 3 years or so, and I know several bricks'n'mortar retailers scaled back their Black Friday events (or skipped it altogether) last year. Partly for the bad press (there were near riots in 2014 due to hype and lack of planning) and also because it's not proving as profitable as expected - people were only coming for the best deals and it wasn't having the halo effect they'd hoped for on marginal sales and the rest of the business. Plus it's not an actual holiday here, and we already have the tradition of boxing day sales for big discounts.

 

UK Boxing Day (Dec 26th) definitely has more in common with the US Black Friday; it's a holiday for most and people are definitely ready for retail therapy after a day with the relatives! 

Not that GW gets involved in that either, I think the xmas boxsets will be all we get.

[battle captain corpus]

My ribs hurt far too much from entertaining even the thought of GW doing this! I need a lie down.... :D

 

BCC

[Reyner]

My ribs hurt far too much from entertaining even the thought of GW doing this! I need a lie down....

 

BCC

I remember a sale at the GW in Ipswich years ago (must be like 2001-early 2002) and my foolish child brain put a metal dark angels dreadnought back even though it was only a fiver! I still regret not buying the Legion of the Damned set too, I wasn't a fan of metal minis in my youth as I tended to lose fights against superglue 

[Perry]

Black Library did a sale around 12-14 years ago, managed to buy Storm of Iron for a quid, but can't remember if it was around the time of the Black Friday sales

[Steel Company]

Black Library did a sale around 12-14 years ago, managed to buy Storm of Iron for a quid, but can't remember if it was around the time of the Black Friday sales

 

 

That's a good book, one of my favorites.

[Mostwanted]

I remember back around 2nd or 3rd edition in the UK they had a sale called Inferno (for two years running at least) where you could buy 2 get one free on anything in store. That was pretty good!

[Urriak Urruk]

Black Friday is essentially designed because people's willingness to pay full price for products peaks on Christmas Day (yep on the day itself).

 

Now GW no doubt gets a sale boost around the holidays. However, GW doesn't have the problem like most other industries like fashion or video games of their products "price deteriorating." Meaning, nothing they sell is going to become obsolete, at least not soon. As many pointed out on the other thread about GW's production, the company is more likely to sell out of product than fall short of sales estimates.

 

The closest thing GW comes to sales is their bundle boxes, which are designed to sell older models for not as high a margin.

[jlmb_123]

Where I come from, Black Friday is and always has been the last Friday before Christmas when everyone blows their Christmas pay packet in the clubs and pubs in town, resulting in much debauchery, fighting and grimy fun. Warhammer tends not to feature.

[Plaguecaster]

Isn't Black Friday an American only thing anyway??? Why would a company which is UK based even bother, though who knows it is New GW they may surprise us this year (though a very very slim hope) Edited November 12, 2017 by Plaguecaster

[GreyCrow]

Isn't Black Friday an American only thing anyway??? Why would a company which is UK based even bother, though who knows it is New GW they may surprise us this year (though a very very slim hope)

 

Well, if it is a good business practice for revenue and inventory management, seriously who cares if it is American or British or Indian :P

 

When culture and tradition take precedence over reason, this is when businesses start to fail :P

 

Although, like people mention, I'm sure GW does not need to do Black Friday. The customers have a high retention, and they would eventually buy the things they desire given enough time.

Giving a discount is just forwarding spending now, at a smaller margin, versus later. Based on the financials, GW does not seem to need cash flow.

 

Moreover, most Black Friday stuff was about churning out inventory that is not necessarily sold and will become obsolete. It's better to recoup a bit that don't recoup anything at all.

 

Like Urriak mentionned, GW is the one determining when its products are going to be obsolete, so they don't need to sell them through now. Finally, because they focus all stores on the big throughput references, and all the low demand items are ordered from warehouses, they don't have much competition for placement in their own stores!

 

If anything, you will have more luck for a Black Friday deal going for a third party game store that is trying to liquidate its inventory.

[Warpmiss]

I was asking the local GW store if something like that would be happening this year (I have far less expendable income now, and the bundles would be a good way to start my Daemons!) and was told "Yeah, we did that a few years ago and it was a huge mistake. Likely won't be doing that again."

 

Did they elaborate on why it was a huge mistake? I can't imagine many people are constantly buying from GW precisely because of their prices so wouldn't the number of people buying stuff those days be way higher than usual? 

[Rogue]

If Games Workshop had an annual sale, I suspect that anyone who could afford to would buy a year’s worth of stuff at a discount, and then buy nothing else all year. Or at least, as much as possible. Either way, that’s a profit loss overall.

The GW product doesn’t go out of date (as such), nor is it generally superseded by ‘this year’s model’, so why would you need to shift it at a discount?

Also, I suspect that GW has a fairly stable customer base; so a sale doesn’t really draw in new casual shoppers, it just subsidises the existing customers. If Next do a big sale, I might buy something I wouldn’t usually, or shop there in preference to elsewhere. Where else am I buying GW stuff on the high street?

Edited November 12, 2017 by Rogue

[Mileposter]

 

 

I was asking the local GW store if something like that would be happening this year (I have far less expendable income now, and the bundles would be a good way to start my Daemons!) and was told "Yeah, we did that a few years ago and it was a huge mistake. Likely won't be doing that again."

Did they elaborate on why it was a huge mistake? I can't imagine many people are constantly buying from GW precisely because of their prices so wouldn't the number of people buying stuff those days be way higher than usual?

From my understanding, the "huge mistake" was in the how of it rather than the fact it was a sale. It was my impression that they aren't discounting doing sales - just not how that one was handled.

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

The only sale I can ever recall seeing from either GW or FW was years ago when FW was moving from their original building to a bigger space and IIRC everything in stock was 50% off so they didn't have to transport it. That's how I got my Eldar Scorpion super heavy. 

[Slave to Darkness]

I wish they would bring back the 'Buy two red dot items and get the yellow  dot item half price' that they used to do years ago. I miss old GW. 

Edited November 13, 2017 by Slave to Darkness