A recent warehouse move may be causing Games Workshop delays shipping Warhammer 40k and Age of Sigmar throughout the United Kingdom, according to proprietors of friendly local game stores. Cheshire based Alchemists Workshop tweeted on Friday that stock from GW has been arriving “massively late”, and it’s not the only retailer to report problems.
Yorkshire based Mirfield Miniatures shared a photograph on Facebook of an open box containing spray paint and nothing else, with the message “Sorry World Eaters peeps – my GW order just arrived”.
In the ‘40k World Eaters Players – Berserkers of Khorne’ Facebook group, one player shared a message apparently sent from Northwich-based Goblin Gaming, advising them that “Games Workshop has just informed us that they have been unable to dispatch the new releases to us in time”. A spokesperson for Goblin Gaming says they “can confirm that we have been experiencing issues with our Games Workshop restocks and new release orders”.
Adrian Hunter of Birmingham’s Wayland’s Forge tells us: “it’s a UK wide problem and is affecting near enough every store.” Stock from Games Workshop has been arriving late, with orders that would ordinarily arrive on a Friday (in time for weekend sales) turning up the following Wednesday, “and the last two have missed the release window”. Hunter says there has been “no official word” from Games Workshop, though adds that his account handler is “sympathetic”.
James Smedley of Tabletop Republic Lancaster echoes Hunter’s comments, telling us: “the past three orders haven’t arrived until the Monday, which means that pre-ordered things for release day don’t arrive on time”.
Alchemists Workshop lays the blame for the delays on GW recently changing to a new warehouse facility which has “robots picking orders”. Games Workshop’s half-year report, published in January, identified IT infrastructure challenges associated with the firm’s legacy software and new warehouses as a major challenge.
Wargamer’s marketing contacts at Games Workshop have advised us that review samples may be disrupted by the warehouse move, though we can’t be sure that these go through the same system as commercial stockists.
Fans who pre-order through independent retailers may be disappointed to receive their orders late. Alchemists Workshops says that for them, “this has meant working 7 days a week since the start of the year”. Smedley tells us that the delays are frustrating him, and that “for a new shop that’s trying to build a reputation and compete with heavily discounted online outlets it’s not good”.
Hunter says that so far the delays have had “no major impact” at Wayland’s Forge, but that the store has “definitely” lost some sales, with shoppers looking for new releases leaving disappointed. “If this were happening during a bigger release, say the rumoured Warhammer 40k 10th edition, it would be a much bigger concern”, Hunter says, adding “It is a worrying trend… two GW price rises (mid December and start of March) in addition to these delivery issues means reducing orders and stock levels are now a consideration I didn’t think we’d have a few months ago”.
Wargamer has reached out to Games Workshop for comment, but at this time has not received a reply.
Source: Wargamer
