Travis Severance of Millennium Games in Rochester, New York joins the discussion regarding game exclusives (see "Gil Lyne of Kryptonite Kollectibles on Game Exclusives" and "Rhonda Becker of The Gamers Den on Game Exclusives").
 
When the first companies were gobbling up exclusives, I was concerned.  I looked at the situation with Diamond and didn't want my industry to be impacted the same way.  My gut reaction was "look what they have done to comics, now they are going to do the same to games."  I was also concerned because it wasn't my primary distributor that was starting this arms race.  In some cases, I would need to open new accounts. 
 
I was concerned because now I had to establish a relationship with another place and I was already familiar with "my rep" at my primary distributor.  I thought, "Great, now I am not going to get treated the same way."  They don't care about me because I order so little from them.  I will constantly be left out when there are allocations.  Me, me, me, me.  It makes sense, this whole thing is about my bottom line.  Having to make a change sucks.
 
I don't ever think about anyone else during this process.  I ask "Why would anyone company want less sales reps talking about their products?"  Now there are less places for me to order from when my primary runs out.  This statement makes my concerns for having to have multiple accounts invalid.  I don't think about how much less it costs for companies to ship their games now.  One distributor with 5 warehouses or 8 distributors with tons of warehouses.  In the back of my mind I think it's just a giant greed fest.  The publisher is lazy and wants to save on shipping so they can make more money.  The distributor is greedy and wants all the exclusives to force me to open an account with them.  When does anyone think about me?
 
Here's the reality.  Going exclusive comes with its own headaches for both the manufacturer and the distributor.  When the game is out, everyone knows who to blame.  It is a giant spot light shining on them saying "How could you be so incompetent."  As a retailer I would never want to say I didn't pre-order a hot game let alone that I didn't pre-order enough.  This is definitely the manufacturers fault.  All this is going on while I have about 30 sku's from non-exclusive products that are also out of stock everywhere.  Also no one is telling me why this happens.  The distributor says that the manufacturer didn't make enough.  The manufacturer is saying that the distributor didn't forecast enough.  Why does it matter?  There is nothing I can do about it.  Now I am just looking to blame someone.  Instead of focusing on what I can control and selling that stuff, I get all caught up in finding out who dropped the ball.  The whole time not saying that it may have been me.
 
There is only so much room at the exclusivity table.  If a distributor takes on too many partners they are no longer that "exclusive."  Also, when those partners do things poorly it reflects ill on them.  So they are taking a risk as well.  The manufacturer gets the ability to have a larger share of the showing at their distribution partners Open House.  They can invest more of their dollars into a specific targeted market.  They also know which stores are selling their products better because they have all the information.  They can then solicit successful stores for feedback about their products.  Chasing a retailer that doesn't sell any of your products versus having the ability to talk with a retailer that sells a ton of your stuff.  While both can be valuable, wouldn't it make sense to get feedback from a business that is already a partner of yours?
 
Exclusivity has helped my business as a whole.  Now I have to make more phone calls.  I have three distributors that have exclusivity deals that I need to contact weekly.  My stock levels have never been better.  I place my primary order and then back fill anything that is missing with my secondary and tertiary distributors.  This also works to my advantage when a non-exclusive item is hot and is allocated.  I already have established relationships with other partners that are willing to throw me a copy here and there when things get tight.
 
Why don't you have an account with distributors that carry exclusive products?  None of the accounts I have open cost me any money.  Is there a minimum order?  Sure.  I have a minimum order with my primary too.  So it takes some time to balance out an order to make sure I fit the minimum.  That does take an extra 15 minutes or so.  There isn't a single exclusive publisher that doesn't sell evergreen products that stock on my shelf.  If I can't hit minimum just order more. That way, when it goes out of stock, I will have it on my shelf still.
 
Exclusivity is not for all publishers.  Some companies have done hybrid exclusivity.  This works great if you feel the distributors you select cover a good cross section of the market.  It is still less work for the manufacturer overall.  The hope is with this cost savings they will make better products and have more of them available for us to sell.
 
So much like Kickstarter and online deep discounters, exclusivity is not going away.  I could you give you a list of the reasons each of those benefit me as a retailer as well. I can fight exclusivity at most likely a loss for my business.  I can also adapt to it make it work.  I can complain about something or I can do something about it.  If I am going to swear off exclusive products, I better find some non-exclusive products to sell in their place.
 
Sorry to say folks, the genie is not going back in the bottle.  Evolve and grow.  It's better in the long run.
 
The opinions expressed in this Talk Back are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.