The GW Half-Year numbers are out. The company is still bleeding revenue and profits, though not as badly as they were in June. GW's new CEO, Kevin Roundtree, can at least be given credit for clearly breaking out the numbers for Independent (Trade) Store Sales, GW Retail Sales, and GW Website (Mail Order) Sales. Which are interesting to finally see.
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| Revenue by Source |
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| Profit By Source |
So Trade and Retail sales are just about even, but Retail (with its much higher margins) is losing money. Oh, and the website made less profit in the last 6 months than the £6M cost (according to Tom Kirby) to re-design and deploy it. Which is probably why Roundtree doesn't talk about it in detail during his summary. That failure must smart.
Roundtree has only had the job a short while, so he can't be blamed too much for these numbers, but here's hoping that he has the balls to either start closing down retail, or make those stores relevant again with proper staffing, and the introduction of on-demand 3D printing services.
See this upcoming 3D printer? HP is promising 10x the current fastest print speed, along with 10x the current level of detail. Other manufacturers are promising 30-50x faster print speeds THIS YEAR.
At what point does the speed and detail of 3D printing make resin and metal casting obsolete? That point may be here very soon indeed.
It's not only the development of 3D printing they need to worry about. Look at how kids toys are becoming more interactive these days with things like Infinities, Skylander, and Anki Drive. They have the resources to build a game that merges hobby miniatures with mobile gaming. Imagine using the camera on your tablet to check line of sight, measure range, and calculate AOE's. Us veterans can do without that kind of stuff, but the upcoming generations are going to expect it.
ReplyDelete3D printing is the most pressing threat, but yeah. They're not even really leveraging what current tablet computers can do to transform their games.
DeleteActually we've been using cell phone cameras to check line of sight for quite awhile now.
DeleteI was thinking a little more fancy. With augmented predator vision type heads-up-displays.
DeleteDamn! Never thought of using my Cell Phone for LOS!
DeleteThe retail arm needs to go. Or at least 80% of it. Keep some large flagship stores with good staf levels in key cities. Hen foster a close relationship with FLGS stores,
ReplyDeleteGW has been a inovator in plastic production for a long time. Maybe it is time they did the same with 3D printing. Maybe partner with one of the main developers, to get in ahead of the rush.
Agreed.
Delete