Re: FT losing market share?

> Perhaps a better question would be: why don't the _stores_ order
> directly from Jon? Possibilities:
>

Having worked in a couple of game/hobby stores one that ordered from a
few
select distributors and one that would order from just about any
company,
I have seen the pros and cons to both.

> - they don't know how cheap and fast that might be;

Depends on what the minimum order, initial order, and discount rate for
dealer are.  For some stores a couple of hundred dollars is steep.  If
the
discount isn't great and the supplier also has direct sales, the store
is
essentialy competing with the supplier.  Plus, most discounts are based
on
dollar amounts so spreading out purchases across multiple distributors
can
cut into the bottom line.  Most hobby shops I know aren't exactly raking
in the money.

> - it's too difficult for them to deal with a foreign supplier (can't
see
> why really);

There is a mis-perception that once it crosses the ocean it's "too
hard." 
Heck, two time zones is "hard" for some people.  A foreign supplier is
harder to deal with for communicating with and even something as simple
as
the exchange rate.  With the Internet it is getting easier but there
still
is the perception that it's much harder than calling someone in
California.

> - they're already tied to using a single distributor who'll drop them
if
> they go elsewhere, even for things that distributor doesn't carry.

I don't know of too many distributors that do this.  They usually offer
bigger discounts as you purchase more.	It ties you to a distributor
because your profits go up.

The one store who ordered from a smaller amount of sources covered the
majority of what people where asking for.  There were always some
exceptions and if demand was high enough, we would put an order together
from another supplier.	We also end up "stuck" with product that people
said they'd buy and never did (about 1/2 of those people didn't want to
wait the week it took us to put an order together and ordered directly.)

The other store who would order from almost anyone got stuck with stuff
that just wouldn't sell.  The demand was there for some items, just not
all.

The other sad thing I have noticed is that gamers can be impatient and
greedy.  They want it now, and they want a discount.  Ordering directly
from a company usually doesn't give a store a big margin to "cut deals"
with. Also, when the customer finds out he can order it directly (and
often get it faster) they start ordering directly.