How are high street game stores and small traders surviving hard times? I recently spent a pleasant half an hour (and a few quid) in a local store and I was the only customer in the shop for over half an hour.
Lee, I looked at this question (well, at least related Point of Sales questions) in The Great Wargaming Survey results in 2021. I ought to revisit POS questions from the 2022 results and see if anything changed from 2021. What I recall is that I was surprised at how little show sales comprised wargamers' total place of spend. Really, brick & mortar POS was not that much larger at about 20% of total. Of course, in 2021 (and 2022) in-person sales were curtailed so, perhaps, this is only a blip in long term sales patterns.
Let's go and have a look at that post. Most of my hobby spend is online, it has to be said. But at least 30% of my annual hobby spend takes place at shows. Sadly bricks and mortar stores probably only account for less than 10%. And most of that are sympathy purchases π¬
It is a shame that my closest hobby store, Dark Sphere Waterloo branch, has not re-opened after COVID. People maybe got out of the habit but I used to spend there a few times a year: now it will be shows or mail order.
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Lee, I looked at this question (well, at least related Point of Sales questions) in The Great Wargaming Survey results in 2021. I ought to revisit POS questions from the 2022 results and see if anything changed from 2021. What I recall is that I was surprised at how little show sales comprised wargamers' total place of spend. Really, brick & mortar POS was not that much larger at about 20% of total. Of course, in 2021 (and 2022) in-person sales were curtailed so, perhaps, this is only a blip in long term sales patterns.
ReplyDeleteLet's go and have a look at that post. Most of my hobby spend is online, it has to be said. But at least 30% of my annual hobby spend takes place at shows. Sadly bricks and mortar stores probably only account for less than 10%. And most of that are sympathy purchases π¬
DeleteIt is a shame that my closest hobby store, Dark Sphere Waterloo branch, has not re-opened after COVID. People maybe got out of the habit but I used to spend there a few times a year: now it will be shows or mail order.
ReplyDelete