Across Canada retailer "reach-out"

Well I've gotten my first "human" response... And it's interesting.

Basically I was told that their "FLGS" doesn't pre-order any KS games unless they make it to "distribution". Anyway this didn't prohibit me from thanking them for taking the time to respond.

So I've been pointed in the direction of ANOTHER "Distributor" in Ontario which sells across Canada. Good to know... I will definitely contact them with the hopes of them pre-ordering some cases for their distribution.

All and all a very positive experience.

It's good to get "feedback" because it gives you "perspective". And what I am learning is that FLGSs don't buy KS games normally. They wait until they reach "Distribution". How many of those make it there??? IDK — but one thing is for sure... they definitely weed out the bad apples and ensure that games are readily designed for wide "consumerism".

Cheers!

Back to contacting more FLGSs in Canada. I know that the proof is in the pudding and realize that there are more "efficient" ways to deal with Distribution. OLG is looking into "consolidators" in the USA who make it their business to combine games together and make attractive "packages" for Distributors.

And it turned out that OLG was "contacted" by one such consolidator. So it's very positive... They're reaching out to US and we've definitely want to do business together since all "agreements" are NON-EXCLUSIVE.

This means that a consolidator can be used and sell product to Canada. But at the same time, if I can negotiate a Distribution deal with a local company... I am freely able to do so.

The other thing is that in order for FLGSs to KNOW about our game... We need to help get the word out. And that's what I am doing. I know it's 6 months before arrival, but distributions typically wants 3 months notice and a consolidator may take a couple months more... So we may be right on the bubble of "good timing" in reaching out to stores, online retailers and distributors.

One thing I have LEARNED is never to wait until "last minute". People want to have the opportunity to think about the game, read-up more about it, check out it's accolades and reviews, etc. (*** All that good stuff ***)

Making contact NOW by sending a Sell Sheet and inviting them to respond with a request for pricing information... Is definitely worthwhile — even if there are no "direct sales" that come from the effort...

At least people will be AWARE of the game and know that it's coming to stores SOON... And that if they want to deal with us DIRECT, they can (it's profitable for them — I mean, more profitable...) but at the same time if they want to wait for distributions, a consolidator will do the task of bundling packages to distributors with their MOQ and distribution can decide where they want to sell the game to.

So all and all I think it's a positive effort, even if it doesn't trigger sales as we might have hoped for. But I understand, the market works a certain way and people don't necessarily want to take risks.

Of course those who DO take the risk will make higher profit margins. So far I see that has not been a part of store owners priorities... They're more concerned with having stock that won't move. So they'd rather order 1 or 2 copies of a game. Far from a 6 units/case scenario — in our case!

As part of my duty to contact as many retailers about "TradeWorlds", for the various stores that have ALREADY reserved copies (Yeah we've got some stores line-up with their reserved copies), we plan to "drive" more business to these stores as they already have a connection with our game.

As such we will be featuring all the stores who reserved copies of their game and give them priority on re-stocking during Q4 2018. Last quarter is Christmas and I'm pretty sure a lot of families would enjoy to have our game on their tables for play during the Christmas off-season.

I can't say there are "many"... We still have some retailers to follow-up. But granted that those with a DIRECT relationship will benefit from preferential treatment when it comes to "re-stocking". We will be following up with those store come September 2018...

For those stores who have already RESERVED their copies: welcome to Outer Limit Games "Preferred Re-Sellers"!

Well I made it a point to "re-connect" with all Canadian retailers with a FAQ that several stores put into place with their questions. Figured that if some people were having the SAME questions, most likely everyone could benefit from a short FAQ concerning the "hottest" answers sought after by the various retailers.

This was to ensure that people who have the same concerns could know what has been shared with retailers who have bought/pre-ordered copies of the game had as concerns prior to purchasing their own copies.

Outer Limit Games is a small publisher and because of funding levels, we cannot hope to make an "unlimited" quantity of game units. As such, I strongly believe that the US market will engulf all of the extra produced game units and there will be little left over for the Canadian market.

This is just my own "intuition" based on the volume that OLG plans to produce given our level of funding. Obviously sales in the US will be less expensive when it comes to shipping and the USA is a BIG country. So no surprise that 10x the size in terms of population may just make the copies that are currently available — disappear rather quickly.

Plus we do have some preferred re-sellers who I believe have online presences which means they can get orders from anywhere in the World... Because we have gotten a good volume of sales in the UK and Europe too.

Cheers!