RE: Trouble gettin' stuff? [CLEAN STAMP]

krs@geohex.com wrote:
> It has become a vast and complicated market, even more so for the 
> distributors who are often short-handed, especially on the supply 
> side.  I don't see a deliberate pattern or neglect, I think that they 
> are overwhelmed.

Don't forget the recent merger/acquisition of all the major game
distributors in the USA -- I'll bet that the distributors were trying
to look as profitable as possible this summer, in order to bring
more value to the table during their merger negotiations, and that
means having as little stock on the shelves as possible.
The more goose-like the distributors are, the more profitable they are.

> I guess what I'm trying to say is that instead of assessing blame, I 
> need to work on strategies to increase my marketshare IN SPITE 
> of the limitations of the current supply system.  Any ideas??

In a perfect world, you would have an agent who would stock the
distributors' shelves with your product on a monthly basis, and would
bill them monthly according to how much stuff was needed to be
re-stocked.

If you think you know how much of what item will sell within a 3-month
peroid, you might be willing to ship them a rack of figures, rulebooks
and terrain at the beginning of a quarter, and take returns from them
at the end of the quarter, billing them for whatever doesn't get
returned. This would eliminate some of their risk for them, and get more
of your stuff into their warehouse.

--
Rick Rutherford
I apologize in advance for the junk appended to this message
by the mail server.

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09/17/99 15:16:59

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