You’ve designed your board game, manufactured a beautiful product, and now you’re holding the final boxes in your hands. Congratulations. Now comes the next step, and ultimately the most important for changing your game from an idea into a sustainable product: selling your game.
Whether you’re aiming to become a full-time publisher or just want to recoup your Kickstarter costs, choosing the right sales channels and strategy is the key to giving your game commercial longevity. In this post, we’ll break down the main paths available for board game sales today, from online storefronts to offline distribution, and help you decide what works best for your game.
Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Sales Channels for Board Games
Shopify Store + Facebook/Instagram Ads
This is one of the most popular and effective setups for indie publishers. Selling directly to your target customers gives you full control over your branding, pricing, and customer relationships.
Pros: High profit margins, full control over your game’s distribution, excellent for building a brand.
Cons: You’ll need to learn or outsource digital marketing and fulfillment.
To make direct to consumer sales work, you’ll need to set up a Shopify store, integrate it with a fulfillment provider, and drive traffic using Facebook/Instagram ads. Many creators also use email marketing to follow up with past Kickstarter backers and ad leads.
Shopify Store + Google Ads
This approach works well if your game fits into a category that can be searched for easily, e.g. “drinking card game” or “dinosaur board game.”
Pros: Buyers have intent, as they’re already searching for a game like yours. This can result in high conversion rates and a reliable sales channel.
Cons: Can be expensive and competitive for many common search terms, as other games are also advertising here.
If your game fits into a category that people already search for, you can run Google Shopping Ads or Search Ads directly to your product page. This works best when you have detailed product descriptions, high-quality photos, and reviews that show other people like your game.
Amazon FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon)
Selling your game on Amazon allows you to take advantage of Amazon’s huge existing customer base. Amazon’s FBA service handles storage, shipping, and returns for you, letting you focus on making your game.
Pros: Huge audience, fast shipping, highly trusted by customers.
Cons: Lower margins due to Amazon’s marketplace fees, tough competition, strict rules and compliance.
If you go this route, you’ll need to invest in great product photos and, when your listing is new, Amazon PPC ads. Amazon works best for games with a clearly-defined audience, and can be a great choice if your game has the potential to appeal to the mass market rather than just hobbyists.
Amazon fees can eat a significant amount of your retail price, so make sure your manufacturing and shipping costs leave enough margin to make this sales channel viable.
Read our guide to selling your game on Amazon.
Retail & Distribution
Local Game Stores
If your game appeals to a niche audience, selling directly to local game stores can be a good way to build grassroots awareness and reach your target customers.
Pros: Community support, great for launch events.
Cons: Slow-moving inventory, small orders.
Distributors
Distributors act as middlemen between you and retail stores. They’ll buy your game at a wholesale price and sell it into game stores. Distributors give you access to a large sales network for your game, but are selective about the games they sell and mean you’ll need to accept lower margins.
Pros: Access to hundreds of retail stores, passive revenue.
Cons: Lower margins, your game needs potential for most distributors to consider it.
Most distributors won’t take you seriously unless you have a track record (e.g. a successful Kickstarter or previous successful games), or a very good pitch or sell sheet.
Combine Sales Channels to Maximize Your Game’s Reach
The most successful indie publishers combine multiple channels. For example, you might launch on Kickstarter to build your game’s reputation and develop awareness with your target audience, then sell via Shopify to backers and early fans before adding FBA and building relationships with distributors later in order to generate more passive sales.
This kind of omnichannel approach allows you to reduce your risk, maximize your cash flow, and expand from one game into a publisher with multiple titles, each of which sells strongly.
Need Help Manufacturing Your Game?
At Hero Time, we help solo game creators and growing publishers manufacture, assemble, and ship their games with precision and care. Our team can help you make your game affordably and efficiently, letting you get to market faster and build your game publishing business.
To talk to our team about making your game, or to request a free quote and/or help choosing components, contact us now.
