)Which I think covers some of our recent concerns. I just received the following reply from GW Japan's Giovanni....To whom it may concern,
I am writing to you regarding the recent increase in Shipping prices from the UK to Japan (and other locations) and the extremely negative feelings this has created amongst the gaming community here in Japan.
The recent changes now mean that shipping on a Land Raider kit have increased from 10 pounds to 50 pounds. I find this price rise totally unacceptable and can find no logical explanation to justify it. To make things even worse, this huge increase seems to have been applied to only select markets. For example, Korea, Japan's nearest neighbour, hasn't seen a price increase. Neither has Pitcairn Island. This is especially strange considering all mail to Pitcairn Island is first flown to New Zealand (which also faces a shipping increase) and then sent periodically by ship to the island itself.
It has been suggested that the increase is to encourage gamers to buy their product from Games workshop Japan's stores and/or website rather than the UK site. This would then help to grow the hobby in Japan. However, I find this line of reasoning rather insulting. In the Nagoya/Aichi area where I live the hobby was thriving long before GW even opened a store in Japan. It continues to thrive despite an almost complete lack of interest or encouragement from GW Japan. On top of that, the GW Japan website has no English information whatsoever. The gaming community in Japan has a disproportionately large expatriate component, especially outside Tokyo, something even GWJ couldn't have failed to notice. While many members of the ex-pat community can speak Japanese, not everyone has the language skills required to navigate and buy from a Japanese website.
Finally, it has long been apparent, to Japanese and expatriate gamers alike that there is a huge discrepancy between what UK hobbyists are paying for GW products and what shops in Japan are charging. Using the example of the Land raider mentioned above it is plain to see the huge difference. The GWUK price for a Land Raider is 41 pounds or 5114yen. However the price from GW Japan is a staggering 9000 yen. While taxes, shipping, Japan-side overheads and the like can probably account for some of the difference there is no logical justification for such an extreme difference. Why is this? It would seem GWJ's prices are set to reflect a exchange rate of around 220 yen to the pound. Unfortunately that has not been the exchange rate for around two years, not even close. Does this sort of disparity seem fair? Would it not be rather simple to set a new pricing system that reflected current exchange rates? No-one expects prices set to exact exchange rates but some sort of happy medium that includes a fair profit for GW but also reflects the ongoing strength of the Japanese yen. Either that or returning shipping costs from the UK to more realistic levels.
I would very much appreciate it if someone there could take the time to reply to this mail and answer some of the above queries that have come up. While I realize that Games Workshop is a busy company I think that the Gaming community in Japan deserves some answers. I look forward to hearing from you in the near future.
Dear Customers,
Thank you for your messages regarding the price rise of the shipping fees from the UK/USA to Japan.
I can understand your frustration in not being able to enjoy a service you where very comfortable with, and we are very sorry that you are feeling upset. Many of you mentioned they wouldn’t receive a reply from Games Workshop, but since we take pride in our customer service I am very glad to share some thoughts and explain the reasons why we had to take such a decision.
Concerning the English language support, we understand that a lot of English speaking foreigners find it hard to understand Japanese. We won’t leave you alone to deal with the Japanese web store by yourselves. We are happy to provide you with guidance, and help to place your orders. I will be more than happy to help you ordering your items through the Japanese web store. You will enjoy an easy and straight forward service with reliable and inclusive prices.
English Language Support Benefits:
l Japanese Bilingual Customer Service:
You can ring from Monday to Friday at 03-3296-3512, and I will personally provide help and guidance to either place an order on the Japanese webstore or placing an order on your behalf using the Customer Service System.
l Access to all of the English and Specialist Games range:
Simply browse through the other countries web stores and once you have decided what products you need just ring the Customer Service Team we will be able to place an order on your behalf. You can also find the same English language products on the Japanese web store in the related section.
Now I think are in order some explanations about the recent changes in the shipping fees. You might not know that shipping items from a country to the other is extremely expensive and the process is very long and often difficult. These difficulties are reflected by the shipping prices most companies will charge you when you send products from a country to another. Games Workshop unfortunately is no different then other companies and we have to face a lot of costs during the shipping process. Until now Games Workshop UK/US where absorbing this extra cost but the actual economic situation does not allows Games Workshop UK/US to absorb these costs any longer and as a consequence the latter are reflected on the shipping charges to our customers.
In case you are not convinced I would suggest you check the shipping fees companies such as UPS or DHL charge their customers you will be surprised as I was when I asked.
Games Workshop Japan as well is facing costs that are not influenced by the exchange rate (wages, rents etc.) therefore if you add all together this factors you will undoubtedly have higher prices, but on the other hand through the Japanese web store we are able to offer much better shipping fees and services to our customers
Japanese Web Store Benefits:
l Access to the full range of Games Workshop products and English language products. (Note that this is a service we only offer for Japan, if you want to buy for example an Italian Codex from Japan you will have to do that from the Italian web site with related shipping fees!)
l Inclusive Japanese Shipping Fees:
1) Free shipping for orders over 10.000 Yen
2) Standard Shipping 750 Yen (orders under 10.000 Yen)
3) Express shipping 2250 Yen (1500 Yen for order over 10.000 Yen)
4) Cash on Delivery Service 2250 Yen (1800 Yen for orders over 10.000 Yen)
5) Access to all of the English language products and Specialist game range
I hope this message can give you an idea of why certain decisions where made and I hope you will understand the future benefits these changes will make possible.
Sincerely
Games Workshop Japan
Customer Service Manager
Giovanni Allari
