GW Stock / IT System Issues

[Osteoclast]

Huh. I was surprised to read this cuz my most recent order here in the US is probably the fastest I’ve ever had one assembled and shipped. Though we’ll see what actually shows up tomorrow. 

[Sothalor]

So GW's automated system has run amok and they can't solve it?

 

Truly, the age of the Abominable Intelligence is upon us, fraters.

[Firedrake Cordova]

On 2/13/2023 at 9:31 PM, Dark Shepherd said:

Havent they been quietly saying in all the investor repports that theyre having a massive IT issue upgrading their system esp stock control and dont know how to fix it and the problem has been growing legs?

Yes (The Register had an article on it last month)

 

On 2/13/2023 at 10:56 AM, Jolemai said:

"Mail Order Necrons" doesn't have the same ring to it 

  

 

For those too young to remember, the mail order boxes used to be illustrated, and the phone & picking staff were referred to as trolls ...

Edited February 15, 2023 by Firedrake Cordova

[Lexington]

I am given to understand that every shop in my area was told they’d only get a single box of Sky Hunters for this weekend. Whoof. Probably not unrelated.

[crimsondave]

On 2/13/2023 at 4:36 PM, Osteoclast said:

Huh. I was surprised to read this cuz my most recent order here in the US is probably the fastest I’ve ever had one assembled and shipped. Though we’ll see what actually shows up tomorrow. 

That’s what I thought too but the Balefleet box I ordered has been delayed apparently.  I ordered it through a discount seller so maybe that’s why?

[Harrowmaster]

I received an email from the sotckist I order from to say that my stuff (kasrkin and skyhunters) have been delayed to warehousing issues caused by GW moving warehouse locations. They said that while there is a delay, they have been assured by GW that the stock and orders are locked in.  

[templargdt]

5 hours ago, Lexington said:

I am given to understand that every shop in my area was told they’d only get a single box of Sky Hunters for this weekend. Whoof. Probably not unrelated.

A single box, as in 3 models?  Not like a large box containing lots of unit boxes?

[Noserenda]

20 minutes ago, templargdt said:

A single box, as in 3 models?  Not like a large box containing lots of unit boxes?

Yeah stockists order individual items from gw for most things just like us

[Lexington]

25 minutes ago, templargdt said:

A single box, as in 3 models?  Not like a large box containing lots of unit boxes?

 

Indeed. My immediate reaction was...

 

[templargdt]

This not how I pictured the 3rd decade of the 21st century going.

[System Sound]

Rough translation of an email I got from the shop I usually buy stuff from in Germany.

 

"Sorry GW has not sent my order until today.  I now have 3 orders from GW that are still hanging somewhere.   GW only says to us "Please note that since moving warehouse we are experiencing delays in delivery and invoicing."    

We also have problem at the moment that many packages are lost."

 

Note that my package hasn't been received by them for a month now...

[Vassakov]

According to my LGS (a small shop in the UK) GW have said they are running ~2 weeks behind in terms of orders, he hasn't had anything from last week and isn't expecting anything this week either.

 

Fortunately for him, GW stuff is a small part of what he does (it's mostly a bookstore to be honest) but for a shop which primarily stocks GW stuff, this could be backbreaking.

[Alby the Slayer]

22 hours ago, Firedrake Cordova said:

For those too young to remember, the mail order boxes used to be illustrated, and the phone & picking staff were referred to as trolls ...

 

So many memories..

 

I remember I called and ask for boxes and bits and next, I had to get on the phone my father for confirmation to complete the order, 'cause I was a minor.

 

And sometimes in the order they put something wrong and you can kept it or a miniature gift, like a oop metal chaos dwarf or a old metal blood bowl miniature...

 

I am a nostalgic person but for one like me who loves to kitbash those were the days. I still have all the catalogues, where internet wasn't a thing.

[chapter master 454]

I want to give GW the benefit of the doubt...but this I think shows their age in management and experiences.

I mean...I get that this may of been the best time for them to shuffle things around before they launch 10th but...I am conflicted to say the least.

 

On one hand: good on GW trying to update their systems and make things run smoother. However on the other the constant and regular incompetence when handling anything vaguely electronic has just been non-stop tragedy, it would be comedy if it weren't for the fact this era has far more specialists in the field that have done this stuff before and GW seems to think they can do it themselves.

Again...so much of their system HAS the power to deal with issues yet their inability to implement things properly by looking to others is just...infuriating.

To say it: I am happy they are TRYING to update to a more modern system but what they REALLY REALLY need to update is their management.

[de Selby]

Isn't the problem that they have attempted to introduce a new industry standard system from microsoft and it hasn't worked?

https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/12/old_foes_collide_as_games/

Tom Kirby used to get his wife's firm to run the website IIRC, but those days are gone.

 

They brought in professionals (DXC apparently) they did it years in advance of the 10th ed release... and it just hasn't worked out for them. If there is a strategic problem it seems to be that GW has no leverage over a multinational IT firm.

[cypher226]

It's not necessarily the same problem, could be two problems concurrently

 

[Vanger]

Sadly this is not surprising, this is just another sad chapter in the perilous odyssey, that is GWs effort to modernize it's ages old systems. I know from personal experience, that these are not easy and never go according to plan. Which is not helped by the general incompetence of the providers. Still, this is no excuse for their failures, because in almost all cases any issue can be traced back to bad management decisions.

[templargdt]

52 minutes ago, de Selby said:

If there is a strategic problem it seems to be that GW has no leverage over a multinational IT firm.

Many such cases, etc. 

[Dark Legionnare]

I wouldn't be surprised if GW's problem was stubborn "cheaping out" causing them to be saddled with a HIGHLY customized/personalized ERP that's decades behind the curve and bears no resemblance to the baseline product's current version.  This is the most common "huge" problem I see in my work. 

Company runs off an ERP platform that was "too expensive" to keep upgrading over the years so they've bubblegum-and-paperclips bandaided so many custom elements, jobs, etc, etc... that the beast over time became basically impossible to migrate to any other platform without extreme duress.  I've watched/been in the know with a company (we provided other services, nothing with the ERP) get four whole years into a "migration" and then ultimately have to remain with their "beast" because it finally sunk in that the migration was untenable.  Sunk upsetting amounts of money into the migration that ultimately went nowhere.
 

They do everything in tandem now with "the beast" and a new platform, doubling up on ERP work, all the while a team of overworked lads is manually moving all their legacy things over to the new platform with custom, varied conversion work for basically every single thing in the system, one at a time.

Edited February 16, 2023 by Dark Legionnare

[01RTB01]

On 2/15/2023 at 11:57 AM, templargdt said:

A single box, as in 3 models?  Not like a large box containing lots of unit boxes?

I'm over in Canada and one local shop received one box of jetbikes. 

 

The one I ordered from hasn't got their world eaters order yet. Hoping next week...

[AenarIT]

Out of 20 boxes (15 different kits) ordered by our group in our latest group order, our store received 3 (three) of them. 3 out of 20. One of which was a preorder item that hits the shelves tomorrow.
None of those kits are listed as temporarily out of stock or no longer available, some are recent and some decades old. 

[Marshal Valkenhayn]

Same story on my end. Our LGS has been having major supply issues across GW's entire line. Initially we assumed it was because A, the regional rep for GW had retired and they put a new guy in, and B, a GW store opened up in my city and they were deliberately giving priority to their own shop.

 

In the latter instance there was some shady stuff going on, like none of the 3 GW supporting local shops being able to get the new Possessed kit for months but the GW shop having them on shelves day one. But the GW shop is closed now (not sure why they opened one in a mid to small sized city that already had 3 GW partner game shops and 2 non partnered besides)and the issues haven't cleared up.

[crimsondave]

My stuff finally got to the retailer so there’s light at the end of the tunnel.

[Black Knight]

1 hour ago, Marshal Valkenhayn said:

In the latter instance there was some shady stuff going on, like none of the 3 GW supporting local shops being able to get the new Possessed kit for months but the GW shop having them on shelves day one. But the GW shop is closed now (not sure why they opened one in a mid to small sized city that already had 3 GW partner game shops and 2 non partnered besides)and the issues haven't cleared up.

 

Its a business practice that GW uses where they look for where the centres of interest are by looking for areas with lots of sales. They then start a shop up and hope they can take the business from the LGS/s and in turn push out the middle man. Amazon does the same as they have the sellers data on their site so they can make products that are wanted and use their name to bury the original producer. If it closed down then the LGS competed and won 

[Marshal Valkenhayn]

Fortunately for me the gaming communities are pretty tight knit in my area. About the only things that can ruin a shop are bad hours or the owner making some awful store wide policy nobody wants to put up with. The GW policies of only using their models in their stores, and other steps they've made recently, really drove away a lot of their potential patrons.

 

Personally I'm amazed that we have as many LGS as we do in my area, considering the size of the city. But they've somehow found their groups, and it works out.