BoLS Lounge : Wargames, Warhammer & Miniatures Forum
Page 6 of 15 FirstFirst ... 45678 ... LastLast
Results 51 to 60 of 147
  1. #51

    Default

    Sales targets are often more for general sundries. This is why people will push a Monster HDMI cable onto you. Don't buy these, people have replaced the cables with coathanger wire in tests and the customers still couldn't tell the difference. However, a £100 cable carries more profit than a £400 TV on average, especially if the TV is on sale. This makes them essential for keeping your Profit Margin targets afloat.

    Comet thankfully don't exist, but Currys' aren't much better. I worked for a smaller company that only exists in East Anglia, and to be fair they did handle training extremely well, especially during refreshes of models every April and learning what new gubbins were all the rage. (When I was there it was 3D, which flopped, then Smart TV, which apparently held on despite the interface being generally horrible using a remote.)

    Panasonic were probably my preferred brand, though Samsung were a close second in terms of straight quality. I can only dream of owning a Panasonic VT series Plasma, those things were gorgeous and are now rare as hell due to PS replacing all their lines with LED-LCD TVs. The only thing that could beat a Pioneer Plasma, IMO.
    Read the above in a Tachikoma voice.

  2. #52
    Chapter-Master
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Cloudsdale, Equestria.
    Posts
    26,074

    Default

    Sounds like your place did it properly.

    I'm definitely a fan of LG and and Samsung LED TVs.
    Both from a design and picture standpoint.

    Well HDMI is digital so you either have signal or you don't. It's not like when buying low oxide copper speaker cable for an analogue system, as long as you have an electrically conductive connection you won't see a difference.

    However the process of robo-insemination is far too complex for the human mind!
    A knee high fence, my one weakness

  3. #53

    Default

    Gold-plated connectors.

    Can we take a moment to laugh collectively at people buying these? We always sold these under force to people, as they'd demand them for the...*ahem*..."quality."
    Read the above in a Tachikoma voice.

  4. #54
    Occuli Imperator
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Mercia
    Posts
    18,062

    Default

    I demand Yttrium barium copper oxide plated connectors!
    Fan of Fuggles | Derailment of the Wolfpack of Horsemen | In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni

  5. #55
    Chapter-Master
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Cloudsdale, Equestria.
    Posts
    26,074

    Default

    yeah why not?

    However the process of robo-insemination is far too complex for the human mind!
    A knee high fence, my one weakness

  6. #56

    Default

    I find I tend to get ignored when buying technology.

    Take my TV. Got me inheritance through, and needed a new telly. So on my lunch break, bank card in hand, saunter down to Currys ready to pony up there and then for a spangly set. Found a nice 3D, 32" Sony Bravia set. Around £850.00.......

    40 minutes. 40 sodding minutes I was stood there, looking for some purple shirted goon to notice the affluent young man ready to spend the cashmonies. I'd try to grab one, and from the basic grunting, ooking and eeking of their primitive tongue, deduced they couldn't possibly serve me, because they were going on their lunch. One bloke on the floor throughout, desperately trying to sell some cable or other to a baffled pair of old biddies.

    So I nicked off back to work, having noted the set model, and ordered it off Amamazon. For around £200 less. And free delivery.
    Fed up for Scalpers? https://www.facebook.com/groups/1710575492567307/?ref=bookmarks

  7. #57
    Chapter-Master
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Ohio
    Posts
    2,460

    Default

    As the CFO of a similar sized company I am always fascinated to read through GW’s annual report. I wish more of our beloved hobby companies had publicly available information, but they are either too small or too smart to have their business scrutinized.

    Overall I would say GW had a solid, though not spectacular year. If you look at Operating profit pre Royalties and Exceptional items for the last 5 years as a Percentage of Revenue you see the following trend from 2010 to 2014:

    10% / 10% / 12% / 15%/ 12%

    So while 2014 was definitely a drop, base profitability is as good as, or better than other years except for 2013. If we are honest GW’s management faces a ton of challenges.

    1) They make a luxury product
    2) There are many substitutes for their product
    3) The market for WFB and 40k is completely saturated

    In my opinion, the company has addressed shrinking sales volume through higher than inflationary price increases for many years. I saw the exact same behavior when I ran the budget for a billion dollar hospital here in the US (Since hospitals here behave as profit seeking companies rather than caregivers).

    While I expect GW can maintain their position for years, at this point I do not believe they can actually grow sales volume through their existing games alone. At some point they will need to return to their creative roots and innovate. Finding a way to open meaningful two way communication with customers would also be a pleasant change.

  8. #58

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Mystery View Post
    I find I tend to get ignored when buying technology.

    Take my TV. Got me inheritance through, and needed a new telly. So on my lunch break, bank card in hand, saunter down to Currys ready to pony up there and then for a spangly set. Found a nice 3D, 32" Sony Bravia set. Around £850.00.......

    40 minutes. 40 sodding minutes I was stood there, looking for some purple shirted goon to notice the affluent young man ready to spend the cashmonies. I'd try to grab one, and from the basic grunting, ooking and eeking of their primitive tongue, deduced they couldn't possibly serve me, because they were going on their lunch. One bloke on the floor throughout, desperately trying to sell some cable or other to a baffled pair of old biddies.

    So I nicked off back to work, having noted the set model, and ordered it off Amamazon. For around £200 less. And free delivery.
    We had a rule where you had to acknowledge customers within 30 seconds of them entering, and approach them within a few minutes. Not for a hard sell per se, more just to ask if they'd like any help or are looking for anything in particular. It helped that they had smaller stores rather than the warehouses most people set up in, so you could place yourself to approach people browsing areas in a few steps, rather than walking halfway across a warehouse where people can see you coming a mile off and it seems more confrontational.

    I've went shopping with friends at Currys' before, and the staff there literally just rambled and had no idea what they were talking about. One kid tried to tell me that the 3D TVs used two separate screens laid on top of each other to make the image, and that LED was best for it because it has a higher refresh rate, (no and no.) Not to mention we were just looking for a basic 32" for his bedroom XBox, and so we left there empty-handed.

    I once went there on my own looking for a 37-40" TV to replace my one in my bedroom, and it's really hard not to belittle them when you both know they're making stuff up on the spot with the intent of fobbing something off on you. Given that where I worked, the salesperson also dealt with all their returns and queries, I really grew to dislike "fire and forget" sales where you took their money and fobbed something off on them, hoping it wouldn't drop back on you. I think that's a healthy system to have, because less time spent dealing with customer complaints over the swill you tried to sell them means more time on the floor making deals and hitting your targets.
    Read the above in a Tachikoma voice.

  9. #59
    Chaplain
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    Memphis, TN
    Posts
    426

    Default

    When I look at these numbers, I start wondering how much worse they would have been if 7th hadn't been released during this time frame. I've always assumed that the 40k BRB release is always one of their best ways to generate quick cash.

    Are there any big releases coming for the later half of the year? Fantasy BRB update perhaps? If not, those numbers are probably going to look worse. They have already cut their brick and mortar stores down to the minimum. To cut more expenses, they'd have to shut down their stores all together.

  10. #60
    Chapter-Master
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    Portland, ME
    Posts
    2,816

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Eldar_Atog View Post
    When I look at these numbers, I start wondering how much worse they would have been if 7th hadn't been released during this time frame. I've always assumed that the 40k BRB release is always one of their best ways to generate quick cash.
    Violating my self-imposed banning to post this...

    7th release wouldn't be included in this report.

    Also...

    Yup, toxic American bull**** that I hope never catches on here.
    Seems to be cultural - "we know what the customer wants, so lets not bother listening to them when they cry out and tell us that we're doing something stupid."

    We do no demographic research, we have no focus groups, we do not ask the market what it wants. These things are otiose in a niche.
    Thats what's meant by "The customer is always right." We're not talking about some kind of customer service type BS that this thread has devolved into (Hey uber-mods, where's the week-long banning for all of those "of topic" posts up there?). Its a figure of speech that indicates that if you aren't listening to what your customers are saying and asking for, then they won't be your customers very long. They are *always* right in *what* they want to buy. If you aren't listening to them, and therefore not offering that product or service, then they won't be your customers. This is what makes Kirby's comment hilarious. Claiming that asking what the market wants is futile is the very definition of an ostrich with his head in the sand.
    I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: "O Lord make my enemies ridiculous." And God granted it. --Voltaire

Page 6 of 15 FirstFirst ... 45678 ... LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •