Norman D Landings | 10 Jul 2016 7:17 a.m. PST |
I wasn't familiar with this at all – a trader turns up at a club or group with the eponymous 'trunk', showcasing their range, carrying what stock they can, taking orders. Apparently it's a widespread practice among knitting and needlecraft groups. Would it work in wargaming? A guest trader showing up one week at your local gaming group? |
robert piepenbrink | 10 Jul 2016 7:23 a.m. PST |
The last time I had a regular group, one of the gamers (Herb Gundt) would often try to sell a few buildings he made. This was before he became HG Walls, of course. Everything else is going to be a bit of a comedown. |
Extra Crispy | 10 Jul 2016 7:30 a.m. PST |
I sometimes take a small selection of merchandise to my local gaming club. Often times I'll be asked to bring a little range – 15mm Goths perhaps, age of sail rulebooks or 6mm Buildings. Sometimes I sell something, some times not. |
Hafen von Schlockenberg | 10 Jul 2016 7:53 a.m. PST |
Interesting. Apparently "trunk sale" is Canadian in origin, the British equivalent being the "boot sale". In America we have the outdoor flea market,but that tends to be a more organized,semi-permanent (seasonal) kind of thing. Perhaps closer would be the occasional community yard sale,held in a parking lot. Don't many clubs just rent tables at their Game Day Events? I've participated at Novag and Barrage,and of course the HMGS cons. Do any clubs have a more informal system,say a "bring some stuff ,sell it out of your trunk" day? |
rmaker | 10 Jul 2016 8:27 a.m. PST |
Actually, trunk sales date to the nineteenth century and originated in the fashion industry. Every town of any size would have a "Women's Guild" or equivalent – organizations for "society ladies". The various fashion companies would send out sales reps by train, each with several trunks of garments, to make sales to these groups. As the stock was depleted, the rep would consolidate her trunks and telegraph for a new one to be dispatched to her next destination. |
Hafen von Schlockenberg | 10 Jul 2016 8:49 a.m. PST |
Wargame clubs need more Society Ladies! I'm just waiting for the inevitable elephant pics to show up. |
Cerdic | 10 Jul 2016 9:02 a.m. PST |
You gonna need to change the name. These are trunks….
|
Double G | 10 Jul 2016 10:05 a.m. PST |
Thanks for clearing that up; I saw a competitor of mine in the toy soldier business is running one of these and had no clue that it was……………..still don't get it, but whatever…………… |
capncarp | 10 Jul 2016 10:21 a.m. PST |
Cerdic, I, for one am not in the market for whatever junk is in those trunks. Trunk sales would seem to be more uniform in merchandise, topically. That is, car enthusiasts would get together to offer/buy/sell car parts and memorabilia. Hunters/sportsmen would bring sporting goods and gear. So, a wargamer trunk sale would look pretty much like Wally's basement, or The Weekend's "bring-and-buy" table, only a bit more anarchic. Anybody in South Central PA, North Central Maryland wanna have a gaming trunk sale in July or August? Cold Steel? Jefritrout? Snurl1? The Leibls? H.A.W.K.S.? Flashman? I might be up for it, since Historicon is not a possibility for me this year and Fall-In is still months away. |
shaun from s and s models | 10 Jul 2016 12:32 p.m. PST |
it worked for us many years ago, now i need a 7 ton truck not a trunk! |
Mako11 | 10 Jul 2016 12:40 p.m. PST |
I've never seen that here. Locally, we have had parking lot flea markets sometimes. Usually about once a year, for people to offload unwanted minis, and give gamers a deal. Our local hobby shop organized those. |
Der Alte Fritz | 10 Jul 2016 2:17 p.m. PST |
Treefrog Miniatures is having a trunk show in Milwaukee next Saturday July 16th for toy soldiers. |
Cold Steel | 10 Jul 2016 2:42 p.m. PST |
The now-closed Treefort Games in Atlanta used to have one once a year. Maybe we could get a local game shop to do the same. Most of my unwanted stuff is in storage, but once (if) we find a new house, I'm in. |
Charlie 12 | 10 Jul 2016 4:08 p.m. PST |
Locally, we have had parking lot flea markets sometimes. Usually about once a year, for people to offload unwanted minis, and give gamers a deal. Same here. And not only gaming, also plastics, model railroading and RC planes/cars/boats. Unfortunately, the die off of the local shops have scuppered the flea markets. |
Lucius | 11 Jul 2016 5:00 a.m. PST |
I think that we are talking about two different usages here. Some people are describing a trunk sale being as a flea market/boot sale. Where I live, it still is used in the fashion industry (as rmaker pointed out above). In this part of the world, a trunk sale is for NEW merchandise that is just being released, and is primarily women's clothing. For example, a high-end designer will have a trunk sale at a high-end department store to highlight their new collection. |
Wintertree | 11 Jul 2016 6:33 a.m. PST |
And I was under the impression that a "trunk sale" was more akin to a Tupperware party, where a group of people gather to see something that a company rep is selling. |
Lucius | 11 Jul 2016 6:44 a.m. PST |
This is the Wiki definition, which jibes with how the phrase is used in the southern part of the USA: "A trunk show is an event in which vendors present merchandise directly to store personnel or customers at a retail location or another venue such as a hotel room. In many cases it allows store personnel to preview and/or purchase merchandise before it is made available to the public. Typically, clients view the merchandise, place orders, and then wait for the vendor to manufacture and deliver the goods. If the merchandise has a designer, the vendor may choose to have the designer present at the event to add to the customers' experience. Prototypes, samples, remnants and leftover items from runway shows are also sometimes offered at trunk shows. Trunk shows may be open to the general public and advertised in the mass media or may be confined to special customers or those on a mailing list. The term is derived from the common practice of merchandise being transported to these events in trunks." |
capncarp | 11 Jul 2016 8:20 a.m. PST |
Oh, I was taking "trunk" to mean, what you keep your spare tire, jack (and the occasional body) in. My concept was to load up all your stuff for sale into your car's trunk, drive to a central location with others of the same mindset, pop open the trunk, and offer whatever's inside for sale/trade. |
Cerdic | 11 Jul 2016 8:40 a.m. PST |
Capncarp, that's what we call a boot sale in Britain. You probably know that we keep our spare tyre and jack and stuff in our car boot…. |
coryfromMissoula | 11 Jul 2016 10:11 a.m. PST |
I have a friend who travels throughout the winter doing specialty fly fishing trunk shows at sporting goods stores. he has a custom 6' high trunk that opens up to make a display with table – quite nice and always heavily advertised by the hosting store. Could be interesting for the same thing to be done with gaming. Store hosts a "Flames of Liberty" night, nice tables and pre-painted armies are laid out, the trunk provides stock. Could help jump start interest in a game in an area. |
Wintertree | 11 Jul 2016 12:01 p.m. PST |
I'm actually looking into doing something similar with TableMaster after launch (and after I get some sleep after launch!). I'm going to talk to some local game stores about showing up and doing a demo, with stacks of product on the table they can purchase at the counter like it was store stock. It's a win for everyone: Customers get to try before they buy, store sells product without having to invest up front (and gets a feel for the demand), and I get sales. I can see that working extremely well for miniatures, mostly because I know how well it would work on me. Miniatures in packages are all well and good, but if there's a painted example on the table and "if you want this, buy that one and get painting" I'd probably succumb without a fight. The problem for miniatures companies (and me, for that matter) is location and margins. For things like clothing, all the buyers can generally be found in one place at one time, such as in town for a major fashion show. Minis, not so much. Plus gaming companies tend to work in razor-thin margins. You take TableMaster as an example, my markup over cost of goods sold -- a DVD box, a CD, a manual, and some shrink-wrap -- is enormous. But in terms of actual time spent in development? Well, I'm hoping this time around that, with the ability of the Internet to make both publicity and sales easier, I might actually make minimum wage at this. And the same is true of game stores, both because of the overhead of running a retail store to begin with, and because they often have very large non-sales areas that they're paying rent on, but are used for gaming, not selling. Their margins suck too. So if a store in California wanted me to do an in-person demo like I'm planning for this area, it couldn't happen. I can't afford to fly out there to do it, and they can't afford to pay my plane fare and hotel room either. That really limits a lot of manufacturers to working within driving range of their home base. There is some possibility for miniatures trunk shows to work at a distance: If a company had knowledgeable, experienced customers in the area, they could act as manufacturers' representatives in the same way that, say, a Tupperware saleswoman does. (note: I've never been to a Tupperware sales "party" so I'm not 100% sure how it works) The manufacturer could make all the arrangements with the store, ship the demo minis and materials to their local representative, and then pay that person with product (because face it, how many of us would be able to get an actual check out of the store anyway?). It wouldn't be easy, and it would depend on knowing that the person in question is a good demonstrator, a good salesperson, and can be trusted not to make your company look like blithering idiots, and of course there's the matter of shipping heavy boxes around the country, but it could be done. And, of course, it would be easier in many European countries, where you can cross the whole country in the time that it takes some Americans to get out of their home state. It's something I'd certainly like to see. |
snurl1 | 12 Jul 2016 1:20 a.m. PST |
Capncarp: This sounds like a good idea- Maybe have a few games as well? Actually, Otto was looking at the idea of having a few dealers attend The Weekend. This sounds like the same idea. |
VVV reply | 12 Jul 2016 2:07 a.m. PST |
Certainly it has been done at clubs I go to. |