Asmodee North America: Asmodee bündelt Vertriebs- und Marketing-Aktivitäten

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Asmodee stellt sich in Nordamerika neu auf und bündelt seine Vertriebs- und Marketing-Aktivitäten in dem Unternehmen Asmodee North America. CEO von Asmodee North America wird der bisherige CEO von Fantasy Flight Games, Christian Petersen. Passend dazu sitzt Asmodee North America in dem FFG-Hauptquartier in Roseville, Minnesota.

Asmodee North America vermarktet und vertreibt ab dem 1. Januar 2016 unter anderem Spiele von Asmodee Publishing, Bombyx, Days of Wonder, Fantasy Flight Games, Libellud, Liu-Meme, Matagot, Queen Games und Repos Productions in Nordamerika.

As a result of this change, Days of Wonder products will no longer be exclusively distributed by Alliance Game Distributors and Diamond Comic Distributors; instead they will be distributed by the full Asmodee roster. […] This is the second game company this year to end an exclusive distribution relationship with Alliance; Cryptozoic ended its exclusive relationship in May

Asmodee hat Days of Wonder im vergangenen Jahr gekauft, siehe viewtopic.php?f=7&t=2764&p=28706#p28706. Asmodee und Fantasy Flight Games haben ihren Zusammenschluss ebenfalls im vergangenen Jahr bekannt gegeben, siehe viewtopic.php?f=7&t=3045&p=32128#p32038. In Deutschland werden Asmodee-Spiele von Asmodee selbst und von Heidelberger vertrieben, siehe viewtopic.php?f=7&t=384510&p=385461

Warum jetzt die Neuausrichtung in Nordamerika?

The combined operations will reduce the number of U.S. distributors authorized to carry the company’s products.  The new roster is ACD Distribution, Alliance Game Distributors, GTS Distribution, PHD Distribution, and Southern Hobby Supply.  Eliminated from the Fantasy Flight distributor roster are Aladdin Distributors, E-Figures Miniatures Distribution, Golden Distribution, and Mad Al Distributors.  In addition to selling through five distributors, Asmodee North America will also sell directly to retailers.  Canadian distribution will be unaffected by the changes.

Asmodee verspricht sich davon „“to harness new resources and make investments in marketing and communications that will positively affect both the trade and game consumers.” Die Neuausrichtung im Vertrieb soll keinen Einfluss auf die Entwicklung von neuen Spielen haben.

The creative publishing units of Days of Wonder, Asmodee, and Fantasy Flight will remain separate from the Asmodee North America business unit.  

Ab dem 1. April, verändern sich auch die Verkaufsrichtlinien für Händler, unter anderem für den Online-Verkauf von Spielen.

New sales policies for specialty retailers will take effect on April 1.  Those policies will restrict sales by game stores to “consumer transactions through retailers’ physical retail locations” and at cons.  Online sales and mail order will be prohibited with exceptions granted for online retailers that “contribute either significant scale, unique service, or other exceptional differentiation."  Those sales will take place under separate terms of sale from the Specialty Retail terms.

Die kompletten neuen Verkaufsrichtlinien finden Interessierte unter http://www.asmodeena.com/static/Asmodee ... Policy.pdf. Christian Petersen, der CEO von Asmodee North America, sagt dazu:

The marketplace has long been distorted by providing one-size-fits-all sales terms to every retail account, regardless of its channel of sale. The growth in demand for games over the last decade, in our view, has been fueled not only by fantastic product, but by the support of specialty retailers who incubate personal connections between players, facilitate tournaments and leagues, provide instant product availability, and increasingly provide a ‘third place’ that is instrumental for so many gamers to enjoy and discover our products. The retailer cost of providing such channel services is significant, and so we’re now making policy changes to ensure that the sales terms provided to those retailers, relative to other channels, are positively reflective of the value they add to our distribution chain.

Mehr Informationen unter http://www.asmodeena.com/en und http://icv2.com/articles/news/view/3331 ... onsolidate.

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Asmodee North America hat weitere Fragen zur Neuausrichtung beantwortet:

Related to our recently announced wholesale terms and policy changes, some questions have been raised by stakeholders such as yourself. On behalf of Asmodee North America, we're happy to provide you some additional context to those changes and clarify several areas.

It is important to underscore that, above all, Asmodee and its publishers are dedicated to creating and publishing great games, and to expand the audience that enjoy these experiences. Our vision is one of mutual success of each participant: publisher, distributor, retailers (of every channel), and, most importantly, the game consumer. We believe our new business terms and policy changes are a significant step in achieving such mutual success.

Why are you making these sudden changes?
While they may appear to be sudden, these policies have been under development for a very long time, and considered carefully. They are intended to allow for success in the channels of sale where our products are represented: success that is not attained at the expense of other channels that provide crucial value to the overall health of the industry and our business.

To that end, we have decided to cleanly define and authorize the channels of sale in which our business partners (distributors and retailers) operate, so that we may a) ensure that consumers receive a quality experience in acquiring our games, and b) ensure that the risk, value, and investment of every channel, relative to others, can be successful.

We believe the current ecosystem of specialty retail and online retail is important to the health and growth of the gaming hobby. Without taking corrective action, we believe this ecosystem would be in jeopardy, which ultimately would affect the quality of game development and the investment in great consumer experiences.

Did you invent this approach?
The practice of product originators authorizing outlets and defining expected behavior in its product distribution chain is well established in many industries and common in high-end and niche product categories.

I don't frequent local game retailers, why are they important?
We believe that business partners whom provide services and investments that we value, relative to others who do not, should receive proportional value from us so that they may succeed in such activities. In comparison to, for example, the online channel of sales, specialty retailers make investments in areas we consider critical to the health and growth of the gaming hobby, such as in-store gaming events, demonstrations, tournaments, and other organized play facilitation. These outlets are a crucial part of an ecosystem that retains and generates players. In turn, this allows publishers to engage and invest in game development. As such, these services are of value to all game consumers, even consumers whom do not personally participate or take advantage of local specialty retailers.

In the future, will I be able to find products from Asmodee North America (i.e. products from Asmodee Editions, Fantasy Flight Games, or Days of Wonder) online?
We are keenly aware and we understand that not all consumers have access to, or that some prefer not to take advantage of, specialty retail game stores. Online shopping is a modern and convenient method of shopping, and Asmodee is committed to keeping this channel a viable and high-quality method of product delivery to consumers.

We intend to work with a number of exceptional authorized online dealers. We are confident that consumers will easily be able to find and acquire our products from a variety of online outlets.

Some brick-and-mortar specialty retailers also sell online, how will this affect them?
We recognize that these new policies come with implications for some retailers. One such change will be that authorized specialty retailers will agree not to sell Asmodee North America products online. That said, we hope the end result, i.e. enabling us to support them relative to other defined channels, will be a significant net improvement for specialty retailers overall.

Will Asmodee North America change any consumer engagement practices of publishers, such as the FFG World Championships, AsmoPlay, Gen Con booth and events, publisher websites, etc?
No, consumer engagement from publishers is expected to continue as has been done in the past, and all the above are expected to continue (in fact, we will be investing to make these efforts even greater). Our publishers represent different brands, gaming styles, and audiences, we have no interest in mixing them or forcing them into a single brand, message, or culture.

How will this affect mass market outlets, such a Amazon, Target, or Barnes and Noble?
We consider the mass/broad market to be its own unique channel of sale, one we want to be successful in its own right alongside our other successful channels of sale.

Many specialty retailers have in-store loyalty or volume discounts, and many online dealers discount their product. In the new policies taking effect on April 1st, 2016, will you institute or impose official price floors or "minimum advertised price" policies on your authorized retailers?
No.

Change is never easy, rarely popular, and we understand that some will dismiss such corporate change as cynical and self-serving. We believe to be making a change that will not only be positive for us, but will be positive for our business partners, for player growth, and for future development of gaming product with increasing quality and imagination.

[Sascha 36]

Tom Vasel hat zu dem Thema das perfekte Statement gemacht und ich bin froh das er das getan hat.

http://youtu.be/PSxEOZcMXuU

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Exklusiver Distributions-Partner von Asmodee North America ist ab dem 1. August 2017 Alliance Game Distributors. Mehr Informationen dazu in der Pressemitteilung.

Asmodee North America is excited to announce an exclusive distribution partnership with Alliance Game Distributors in the United States.

The multi-year agreement, which goes into effect on August 1st, 2017, is aimed at broadly increasing support for U.S. hobby games retailers. This includes the creation of a large, dedicated Asmodee Specialist Team at Alliance, significant updates to Asmodee’s sales policies, and a number of upcoming retailer initiatives designed to support and grow the market.

More information on updated Asmodee sales policies and details about upcoming retailer initiatives will be made available in late June. “This is an amazing and transformational deal,” said Christian T. Petersen, CEO of Asmodee North America. “We at Asmodee have long enjoyed a terrific and productive relationship with the great people at Alliance. This deal joins the combined experience of both organizations to craft a communications and distribution infrastructure that we believe will positively affect both retailers and consumers in the hobby games market.”

“We are truly honored to be part of this historic agreement,” said Daniel Hirsch, president of Alliance Game Distributors. "Alliance has enjoyed a very close relationship with the companies that make up Asmodee North America for over 20 years. We are both proud and grateful that Asmodee has placed its trust in us for the stewardship of its brands."