Retailer View – Games Workshop

Established in 1975 by Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson, Games Workshop is well-known for selling figurines that customers build, paint and collect and then use to battle each other in strategy games. It is a public limited company which floated on the London Stock Exchange in October 1994 and is now a FTSE 250 company.  

Today Games Workshop operates a network of 507 stores throughout the UK, Continental Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand, and, Asia. Products are also sold through third party independent retailers and online through its Citadel, Forge World and Black Library sites.

Games Workshop has staged a comeback in recent years after hitting problems in 2015 when sales slumped. In June 2018, the company hit a £1bn market value for the first time.

The growth, said Games Workshop, was achieved as it focused on talking to customers in its global community through social media. That engagement has included daily content for its Warhammer titles, including at least one video a day and the development of new brand content sites alongside its warhammer-community.com site.

Games Workshop has recently announced record sales of £125.2m and profits of £40.8m in its latest half-year results to 2nd December. However, online sales experienced a 3.6% dip to £21.2m, highlighting the importance of its stores and staff, and the need to continue to engage with customers through social media and online communities.

Despite this, Games Workshop is entering 2019 in a strong position where there is a clear demand for the niche products this fantasy games retailer creates. Definitely one to watch as the year progresses.