This week we have four projects going on at Titan Games.

• We are preparing for Origins.
• We are doing a semi-annual sales history and analysis.
• We are refocusing our online sales.
• I'm also keeping track of the Origins Awards and other GAMA business.

Origins

Part of our Origins prep is to take 3 truck loads of games and merchandise to Columbus, and put them into storage. We take down an additional truck load on the day we set up, making 4 truckloads of merchandise, games, plushy things, dice, and miniatures in our booth at the convention (make sure you stop by!) Origins, by the way, is June 28th through July 2nd. The exhibitors hall opens on the 29th, and is a spectacle to witness. :) I'm just a big ol' gamer goob, and fan boy at heart, so seeing all those GAMES and GAMERS is cool for me. :) I love the exhibitor hall!

More on Origins later.....

Sales Analysis

This is much trickier than packing for a con. This is breaking down our sales for the first 5 months of the year. (We have to do this before Origins, or after GenCon, so we do it before Origins.)

In analyzing it all, we do things like week to week comparisons, year to date comparisons, and monthly total sales comparisons, as well as departmental comparisons. We also do breakdowns of things like determining how many times a department "turns" a year. For example, let's say I had sold $5,000 worth of paperback books. And, let's say I had $2,000 invested in paperback books. That is a turn rate of 2.5 (or 250%) for that period. (We also do this annually, to determine our yearly turn rate per product and per department).

Now, the bad news. Many of our departments are up. Some are way up, others have all but died. Unpainted miniatures have fallen off for us tremendously, while pre-painted stuff is way up. RPGs are down, and it is worse because my inventory costs are way up, having over 1500 RPG books in stock (and the majority of those are hardcover books - driving the cost way up!).

So, today I removed over 1000 of those books from inventory for liquidation. This was a broad mix, and included things like our 4th, 5th and 6th copies of some D&D books, triplicates or more of things like White Wolf books, and a LOT of supplemental books by various companies. How many "completely Dwarf books" do you need? Some lines we dropped altogether, some publishers we dropped entirely, but those were mostly companies who we were having problems getting fill rates on their books: no need to carry a supplement (or 10 supplements!) for a game whose core book had been out of distribution for more than a year. But, mostly it is just a culling of the herd, so to speak. Our RPG selection had grown bloated and unable to sustain itself. Imagine, 1500 books, over 1000 of which are hardcovers, with a retail price of more than $45,000.00 - generating a turn rate of something like 20% per year (or a $9,000.00 return on over $22,000 cost, per year). Boy, was it past time to do this!

I was reluctant to do this culling, cause, as an RPG Gamer, I love looking at all those books. Wow! Books! LOTS OF BOOKS. Neat. Just not profitable. Time to get profitable. And, lets face it, I have some hurdles to overcome here:

1. I live in a small market to begin with - Battle Creek has maybe 100K people in a 10-mile radius.
2. Competition is fierce, my in-town competitor discounts all his books 20%, so I am going to sell less of whatever he stocks.
3. Most of my games sales are on the internet, and most of what I do at retail is "entertainment" (meaning movies, music, comics, books - then games).

   Soooo, I have about 800 books I am taking to Origins and selling. The other 200+ are going on the website.

   Back to Origins Prep

   So, we have taken 2 truckloads of games to Columbus already, and our third is about ready to load up. We now have a much larger selection of games to take, due to our culling the RPG section, and today we are going to cull the board game section, too (lots of triplicate titles we don't need, left over from Christmas, plus things which we have not sold a single copy in more than 3 months).

   We are taking Dice, DVDs, Video Games, Tshirts, Board and Card Games, Magic and Yugioh, Miniatures, used games, new games, and liquidation stock. We are also taking a dozen cases of nice Hardcover Novels, a dozen cases of Paperback Novels, and a LOT more. A LOT more!

   Online Sales

   Our third project is the refocusing of our online sales. We are looking to add Amazon sales to our offerings, as well as bringing in another full time assistant for our eBay sales (Tonyas-Games and Titan-Games on eBay currently). Our two websites (3FREEgames.com and TitanGames.com) are also doing well, and we have added a tremendous amount of selection to both. Part of our refocusing is that we are embracing the fact that we are, indeed, mostly an online games company. We do no demo's in the store, we do no in-store gaming (we just don't have room!). So, we are cutting back on our selection on the sales floor, and focusing our retail space on what sells here. We are also devoting more of our backstock area to online inventory, not just storage: which means more shelves of items listed, cataloged, and placed on the shelves, waiting to be sold.

   The Origins Awards & GAMA

   I am also a member of GAMA: the Game Manufacturers Association. Actually, not just a member, I am the Vice President. Recently, I have been very lightly involved with, mostly just keeping track of, the progress of the Origins Awards: an annual awards put on by GAMA, and presented at Origins.

   Now, to say I am "involved" is a bit inaccurate - mostly I read the correspondence between parties on the list server, and watch as the things are discussed. Although the voting for the awards are now over, I have no idea who won in any category, so don't call me for inside information, I don't have any. :) But, as the VP of GAMA, I try to keep track of what is going on with the awards process, and, frankly, it is a bit exciting to be involved at all. You know, big ol' fanboy that I am, I find the awards to be really cool, and I have to say I really appreciate all the effort put in by the Academy: their Chair, Pete Panzeri, and the members, the jury and the voters. Lots of good games up for awards this year..... so come to Origins and see who wins!

   Also, my wife has been busy with the GRD business. Laurel is the Chairman of the GAMA Retail Division, which does various and sundry things, one of which is putting on some seminars at Origins, called "Mini GTS". GTS (the GAMA TRADE SHOW) is the Game Industry trade show, each spring in Las Vegas. Mini-GTS is just that: some seminars and classes designed to help new, aspiring, and even established Games Retailers, publishers, freelancers and others. There is going to be a "Mini-GTS" at Origins this year, and Laurel has been busy with "GRD Business". Or, maybe that's just been her excuse this month on why she is not doing all her other work quite as fast - you never know with that woman.... (kidding, I'm KIDDING!).

   And, lastly, I am running for Vice President of GAMA again this year. So, you know, if you are a game manufacturer thinking "That Marcus fella is a spaz!" then come to Origins, and run against me. There has simply GOT to be someone more qualified than me to do this job, but I do enjoy it, and don't know when to call it quits, so I will likely run for office until they drag me out and lock the doors so I can't get back in!

   Well, that is what is going on behind OUR retail counter this week.

   You can check out the Titan Games blog from our main website, at: http://www.titangames.com

   You can see the nearly 200 items we have on our liquidation website at: http://www.3FREEgames.com

   Look for us on eBay under our seller names (Titan-Games or Tonyas-Games - remember the hyphen!!)

   And, for sure, plan to come to Origins, visit our booth (#935, a massive 6 booth island!) And have a great weekend June 28-July 2nd. Origins is a massive gaming Metropolis, and I know you will have a FANTASTIC time.

   We will. See ya in the 'verse,

   Marcus King
   owner of Titan Games
   Vice President of the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA - visit GAMA.org for more information on the Game Manufacturers Association, the GAMA Retail Division, The Annual Origins Awards, ORIGINS GAME FAIR, and the game industry.)

   Titan Games - Owner
   637 Capital Ave SW
   Battle Creek, MI 4901