I mean it varies. That definitely exists, but that’s not the only way (or even the majority way).
For one thing, most big box stores don’t actually own the product on their shelves. They basically rent shelf space to the supplier and only when the product is purchased do both sides get the cut. Walmart can’t arbitrarily lower prices on some (most) items because it’s literally not theirs.
This set up greatly simplifies a lot of the retail flow, so it’s more and more common (at least in the US). It’s mostly smaller stores that are ordering in product and in that case your example is correct.
Steam effectively does the same thing. They offer to list your game and then only get paid when it sells (minus some overhead fees). They aren’t pre-purchasing copies to do with what they want. And part of that contract is that they will list your game, but only if it’s the lowest price or tied for the lowest price. Otherwise you’re free to go elsewhere.
Which is again, because being available on Steam provides value itself and they aren’t interested in helping you cut them out the profits by undercutting the price you listed it for there. Which, explicitly is just an attempt to get the benefit of Steam without paying Steam’s fees. Otherwise all of these games would just never list on Steam at all. Nobody is preventing that. If they allowed this, more and more people would behave like people do today with bookstores, where they look for a book at the store, but walk out and buy it on Amazon instead.
Sorry, no. Being listed on steam doors not help a developer sell their game on, Uplay, for example. That’s an idiotic argument.
Another article posted today:
Uplay featured a $15 USD Rainbow Six Siege Starter Pack, but this version was not available on Steam, making the cheapest option on Valve’s platform much more expensive. It’s claimed Valve insisted Ubisoft swiftly remedy the discrepancy, giving the publisher “until the end of day tomorrow” to change that.
Not even the same version, and steam is abusing it’s market position to force prices up, anyway. The only thing that listing on steam gets you is sales from steam-which does account for most sales, because they have an annoyingly loyal user base. But if you’re browsing another store front, being on steam doesn’t affect your buying decision.
Also, I worked in a big box store for years, and the situation you described was not the norm at all. There was maybe one or two shelves where that product wasn’t owned by the store itself. And those ones were loaded separately by that other company’s staff.
Also, I worked in a big box store for years, and the situation you described was not the norm at all. There was maybe one or two shelves where that product wasn’t owned by the store itself. And those ones were loaded separately by that other company’s staff.
Maybe it’s more regional, but I work in this space. My company has these deals for our product and we work heavily with companies like Walmart, CVS, Target, etc. We’re in almost 100,000 stores and that’s how all of this works. We regularly interact with companies that facilitate these kind of set ups. Soda, candy, Pokemon cards, greeting cards, etc are all products that operate this way.
SBT (scan based trading) reduces the stores risk, by not having a large amount of capital tied up in product that hasn’t sold yet. It’s hugely popular in the spaces I’m familiar with at least.
I mean it varies. That definitely exists, but that’s not the only way (or even the majority way).
For one thing, most big box stores don’t actually own the product on their shelves. They basically rent shelf space to the supplier and only when the product is purchased do both sides get the cut. Walmart can’t arbitrarily lower prices on some (most) items because it’s literally not theirs.
This set up greatly simplifies a lot of the retail flow, so it’s more and more common (at least in the US). It’s mostly smaller stores that are ordering in product and in that case your example is correct.
Steam effectively does the same thing. They offer to list your game and then only get paid when it sells (minus some overhead fees). They aren’t pre-purchasing copies to do with what they want. And part of that contract is that they will list your game, but only if it’s the lowest price or tied for the lowest price. Otherwise you’re free to go elsewhere.
Which is again, because being available on Steam provides value itself and they aren’t interested in helping you cut them out the profits by undercutting the price you listed it for there. Which, explicitly is just an attempt to get the benefit of Steam without paying Steam’s fees. Otherwise all of these games would just never list on Steam at all. Nobody is preventing that. If they allowed this, more and more people would behave like people do today with bookstores, where they look for a book at the store, but walk out and buy it on Amazon instead.
Sorry, no. Being listed on steam doors not help a developer sell their game on, Uplay, for example. That’s an idiotic argument.
Another article posted today:
Not even the same version, and steam is abusing it’s market position to force prices up, anyway. The only thing that listing on steam gets you is sales from steam-which does account for most sales, because they have an annoyingly loyal user base. But if you’re browsing another store front, being on steam doesn’t affect your buying decision.
Also, I worked in a big box store for years, and the situation you described was not the norm at all. There was maybe one or two shelves where that product wasn’t owned by the store itself. And those ones were loaded separately by that other company’s staff.
Maybe it’s more regional, but I work in this space. My company has these deals for our product and we work heavily with companies like Walmart, CVS, Target, etc. We’re in almost 100,000 stores and that’s how all of this works. We regularly interact with companies that facilitate these kind of set ups. Soda, candy, Pokemon cards, greeting cards, etc are all products that operate this way.
SBT (scan based trading) reduces the stores risk, by not having a large amount of capital tied up in product that hasn’t sold yet. It’s hugely popular in the spaces I’m familiar with at least.