21st Century Wake Up Call to the 20th Century Toy Industry Distribution
Not to put too fine a point on it – but we’re in the 21st century and not the 20th century anymore.
It’s a sea change from diesel to nuclear …
The oceans have been sat-mapped and there’s no need to slow to impulse for the reefs, it’s full speed ahead and damn the torpedoes.
Okay, that’s pretty much all the sea & nautical words I know from the movies.
What I’m trying to say is that it’s an ocean of difference and it’s time the toy industry to right the ship and sail under full trade winds.
This does not just apply to Mattel but to Hasbro, Playmates, McFarlane, Green Light and every toy company still standing under the sailor’s moon.
It was not along ago – 25-30 years ago when the toy landscape was completely different. You literally had thousands of toy stores. Sure, there were a few new chains like TRU – or later KB but they were fairly small and even the big “fancy” departments stores that carried toys usually had no more than a few dozens stores that comprised of the chain – with the exception being Kmart & Sears. But most big cities actually had a giant toy store or toy emporium … the most famous example being FAO Schwartz in NYC, of course but in most parts of the country, parents would take kids a couple times a year to the BIG CITY to see a mini Disneyland in essence. There were local toy stores in your surrounding area – not as fancy – but crammed full of fun things. Being in the toy business was a mom & pop operation. There were hundreds of toy companies – sure a couple were big like Mattel that had Barbie AND Hot Wheels but names like Parker Bros, Milton Bradley, Play-Doh, Kenner, etc, etc … were all just mom & pop operations also – not ALL owned by a few companies as they are now. Basically a few hundred toy companies had to sell to 5,000 stores scattered across the country and owned by a few thousand companies (or mostly a single store “chain”).
Well, now you have 10,000 stores owned by about 5 companies and a few hundred remaining independent full-line toy sellers (there are hundreds more that mostly concentrate on educational toys – not really counted here). That’s Part One of the massive sea change – Part II is a little thing called the internet.
Without getting into too much details, the problem is that EVERY toy company packs case assortments like it’s 1979 and not 2009.
Each case assortment is packed as if your nearest toy store is two towns away or a dress up to ride into the city occasion … and not a Target across the street from a TRU – five blocks away from a WM and a few doors down to Fred Meyer.
AND an important factor that the companies do not really factor into it – eBay.
Even 10 years ago (around the launch of eBay), the secondary market consisted of antique fairs and toy shows. So, for example while this particular CAR did not actually exist 15 years ago but let’s say you saw 20 Elvis Rv’s at a store. Today, many of you would at least buy 5, some of you 10 and a few – all 20. It’s really not a huge purchase – a hundred dollars – and even if you didn’t intend to make much in return, you know you could easily trade here at TakeFive or if you wanted the best return – sell it on eBay. You can literally reach people 30,000 miles away from you 2 seconds after you click SUBMIT on eBay. You sit at home and wait for the auction bar to tick up. You can even decide if there’s a price too low to sell, you can decline a buyer’s bid and THEY pay for shipping.
Contrast that with 10-15 years ago. Not only did you have to literally carry inventory from show to show, you had to spend money renting a booth, bringing a table and then bringing in your inventory … and honestly how far could you range around the country would affect pricing because you could only reach a limited range of buyers. If you live in a town where the local store got in 20 Elvis RV’s – how much return could you really expect? How big is the collector population in your area – enough to sustain 5 sales? 15? 20? How many toy shows do you have to go to sell 20? And of course, if every third dealer there also had some Elvis RV? There was also the other venue of buying ads in collectible magazines but they had a circulation of a few thousand in a country of 200 million people (then).
There was not much of a secondary market and just as importantly – information was not instantaneously and instantly accessible. Just on TakeFive, we get visitors from 40 countries who can read a post at EXACTLY the same time everyone in Dallas, New York or Portland sees it. So, as on eBay, your potential audience is EVERYONE who can read English and has an internet connection – a billion people?
So, unlike before – it’s as if what you see on a toy shelf peg has money clipped to it. Why would you not pay $100 for 20 Elvis RV’s when in a few minutes in the comfort of your house, you can $250? $400? More? Not a bad return for a few minutes work.
A ‘chase’ was really a ‘golden prize’ from the manufacturer to you. Yes, you knew it was worth more money but that was mostly irrelevant because good luck finding another one to sell, right? 🙂
Whereas now, I can stand in a store and check eBay pricing on my iPhone while I’m standing in the aisle and while I’m at it, bid on another one.
Of course, this is NOT a blanket statement for every toy line and every sub-line out there right now. Some lines solely exist on eBay buzz to keep it going like McFarlane Sports and the crazy variants. There are some toy lines that are basically like Day Trader stock action – without it, that line might not even continue or a line that works fine as it is – Hot Wheels mainline.
For Hot Wheels, there is action for the hardcore collectors and a market not just on eBay but in multiple toy shows to go long or short on Treasure Hunts. Conversely, it’s priced for the average person to pick one up for the kids, grand kids or any kid without really worrying about a financial commitment.
But for a lot of lines, including most action figure lines and CARS, it’s time to really examine the case assortments. While no one is going to pin an Andrew Jackson on a blister pack, isn’t that what many companies and many lines are doing on one or two cards in a case of 12 or 18?
If the goal is to launch more small businesses on eBay – uh, great but as for the average collector? The philosophical question is – is it better or worse to ask someone to visit 10 stores 25 times within a 30-miles range to TRY & buy the 6 of this “wave,” or is it better that they can find it in 3 stores and 3 visits?
Does it ultimately drive away larger number of possible collectors who just throw up their hands and give up?
Should buying toys be like buying concert tickets where we pretty much assume the ticket agency is holding back the front row seats?
Does that ultimately shortchange the manufacturer … as with the concert performer … sounds great that ticket scalpers are getting $700 for front row seats pegged at $50 dollars but wait a minute, they get nothing above $50 of the face value – still all good?
Of course, there has to be a balance between over-stuffing the channel and keeping supply & demand within shouting distance of each other … as we CARS buyers know – Buzz & Woody were an amusing additional to the line but clearly not something that should have been packed in every other shipment.
And that’s part of the problem, of course, I understand economies of production and there are certain minimal quantities to contend with but the bottom line with CARS (and other action figure lines) is there are clearly too many of some CARS and not nearly enough of other CARS.
Is it the toy manufacturers responsibility? Isn’t that short term gain that trades away long strategic thinking? Is it better just to take the money and run or to build a better business model that evens out the cash flow in for everyone involved?
Wouldn’t the retailer appreciate you devising a set strategy that is long term successful for both ends? Retailers want inventory that brings in customers but should the relationship be that simple and the day is done?
That’s like a waiter who just goes, “What do you want?”
Right now – the relationship is essentially, here’s what we have, how many you want … and a little deeper, we’ll give you this exclusive but ultimately, what good is that if the exclusive is packed the way any case is packed?
Maybe it’s as simple as a starter pack of 40 or 50 CARS (or a “refill” pack) with the “townies” – then stores can order that to start plus every 3 months? 6 months? Then the monthly cases come with CARS not in the “starter/refresh” kit. This goes beyond just order taking but this is what retailers want. They simply want things to sell. They want you to help them out.
The attitude of toy manufacturers seem to be to try and squeeze as many of one model out – as if, it’s some sort of bwhahaha scenario where the toy manufacturer feels they pulled the wool over the eyes of a retailer … ultimately, it is really haha or just really sad? Again, short term gain but long term? How healthy is it for the line?
The main cost of production for CARS or action figures are the molds, once that’s done, the rest is an even proposition. Obviously some figures/CARS will require more material than another but making more Greta’s than Dinoco McQueen’s is a wash – cost wise … once you start production, making another 10 or 20k of Greta is not that much harder or costlier … and of course, you build in that factor – as I’m sure they do now. Clearly, it costs more in material to make Hank Murphy than Easy Idle Pitty but people understand why they cost the same.
Saving a few dollars to sell LESS is not really a viable business plan but how often have we seen this? Not just in CARS but many other lines? How often do you go back to a restaurant where you think the portions are too small and if they keep getting smaller?
Or looking at the recent Target/Amazon order cancellations … of course, I’m not privy to all the inner details and Target/Amazon’s decision but basically my feeling is they realized there were 10 new haulers coming out between now and and the end of 2009. But each case assortment contained 2 new haulers and 4 repeats, some just released in the previous case but others – often older repeats such as Mack & Chick Hicks hauler … so even though they presold a thousand NO STALL haulers, they would get 500 Macks – you times that by 10 boxes and maybe they might’ve ended up with 5,000 Macks? And it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that the haulers they sold for $12.99 will be relisted for $20? $25? While they try to figure out how to sell 5,000 Macks?
Now, the case assortments make perfect sense on a retail level for the most part … but sadly for the world of 1979. A typical store might’ve gotten two cases in and of course, you want a Mack and a Chick Hicks hauler. Who knows when a parent might come in – months later to buy it. Inventory churn is important but not critical to a mom & pop operation … but now, in a world where people can buy anything online worldwide? Where people can price shop 1,000 stores with two clicks of the mouse?
Would it really be a tragedy for Mattel to have offered Target/Amazon or any retailer willing to buy 300 or 500 cases at a time? Or set some percentile ordering? Instead of a 2 NO STALL to 1 Mack ordering – what about 10 to 1? You can even use it as a PR tool, right? May is NO STALL month, get it while it’s available … why not offer two choices – a prepacked case as you would now but a customized pack for anyone ordering 300, 500 cases? Maybe they even pay $1 more per hauler but why force retailers to take another Mack or Chick Hicks? Is that really helping or hurting your cause in the short term and the long term? What is really the point of cramming haulers out into the channel? Because it saves a few bucks now? Well, what about the store that has 10 Macks on the shelves now? Does it help to sell existing inventory when you add another 10, 20 or 50 to the shelves? No, not really – in fact, when people see a massive pileup, they just delay buying – after all, I can come back tomorrow … which is soon – a few days from now to eventually, they have to clearance that many …
Yea, consumers are that savvy now. Again, back to the internet. I can tell you what the pricing is on 50,000 items in SECONDS.
As Monty Python put it brilliantly, “You’re not fooling anyone,” so why bother?
Especially with CARS or STAR WARS – why not ship an entire case of 12-Elvis RV’s or C3PO? Will they really not sell?
Or as in the case of the NO STALL hauler, it was a pre-order with people who committed credit card numbers already – why not sell Target/Amazon 1,000 NO STALL haulers or any other retailer who wants them? What is so scary about that? It seems NO STALL has only just begun the production process, what manufacturer doesn’t want to know they have firm orders for X before beginning production? Or is this just the toy industry that insists you can’t buy eggs without ham? They seem to feel like they are being “cheated” if they sell a case with one only figure/CAR? Does a Chick Hicks hauler cost that less to make – it’s 97% the same except it’s green polymer and different stickers (the “face” portion of the cab is slightly different) so there is NO WAY we can sell you a red NO STALL hauler unless we include a green and a yellow one … because why? Not kosher? Different? Scary?
Maybe it’s time to see it’s not 1979 anymore.
LEVERAGE the internet. Why not ask retailers to commit to pre-orders? You do with Direct Import. CTC and others have to sign a contract to buy X number of cases with the money due before production begins … so why not with individual haulers or custom cases? Why can’t Target-Amazon just order 1,000 NO STALL haulers? Or anyone willing to meet the minimum quantity? What is so important about a case assortment that you decide on?
Honestly, I have to say – based on evidence not just from Mattel but 98% of toy case assortments are seemingly packed by bean pushers who are out to squeeze the maximum from the production costs but do not understand or care about the LONG TERM viability of the line – again, not just CARS but nearly every case assortment in the recent history of case assortment packing. They ONLY care about production costs and NOT SALES.
That is the wrong end of the mule you are looking, sir or madam.
Clearly, non-reseller consumers are not going to be really interested in a case assortment of 6 NO STALL haulers but what it does is lower costs and eases availability ultimately … right now, a retailer buying a case of haulers (for example) knows the high value is the new hauler along with 4 older to really old haulers that might fetch nothing or not much above the wholesale cost so of course, prices of the new haulers individually sold have to reflect the FULL return of a case. With a pre-order – Mattel doesn’t even have to guess how many to make, retailers are happy that you are not re-shipping inventory they already have – resulting in more orders and better relationships.
There’s more but that’s enough 🙂
Bottom line. It is much better to sail under a full head of 2009 internet steam than to clutch a dead mule even though it floats – eventually it will smell bad and sink into the ocean … plus the shark thing.
Again, while I’m citing Mattel because it’s what we everyone can relate to, it’s nearly every other toy manufacturer … it’s time to reset distribution … along with the deadly-to-sales shipping lulls in the middle of the year that are not helpful to anyone.
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metroxing
29 April 2009
Advertising, collecting, diecast, Film, Internet, Marketing, Mattel Disney Pixar CARS, Retail, Toys, TV
44 Comments
SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO LOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG!
What are we talking about here . . . 🙂
Pirate PLANK!
Anyone want here something interesting . . . .
I just heard the Chase Impound McQueen is on the list for Case H . . . can we be serious?? Did we talk about this and I missed it or is this a new Mattel Trick??
I think Mattel wants to see how many McQueens can they cram in a case . . . not like the case will hit the shelf anywhere near me as they are soooo overloaded with the last 3 cases of useless peg warmers . . . . .
I guess it is a good time to be low on money, as there is nothing out there to buy anyway . . .
Comments anyone?
Has this been confirmed anywhere? I have heard that this may be an error in listing.
Anyone have a case in hand yet?
Yes I have a comment…..
and here it is…
You are posting comments too quickly, slow down!
Wait, that wasn;t it, that was what wordpress told me, when posted my last comment!
HERE, is my comment…
You are posting comments too quickly, slow down!
It just told me that again!! BAD PirateDad…
Okay, right, my comment…well here it is…
What were we talking abaout again????
Does anyone konw the meaning of Philibuster?? I assume jesterjef won;t cuz he is a gym teacher, not Polly Sci…anyways, basically a philibuster is when someone, usually a politician gets up and talks randomly and aimlessly about nothing and nada, perhaps even x=zilch and bupkiss, to waste time or stall…
However, that is NOT what I am doing…
I believe that it is an error, as Met has said, but if it is not an mistake and Mattel Rereleases Impound MQ, we should…. (fill in the blank)
Steve, AKA: Poppa is retired. My wife still works and I drop her off at work. (She’s a non driver with a depth perception problem.) I get to shop whenever I want too, which is five days per week and at different times of the day. I can assure everybody in the Pierce County area the fault lies with Mattel. I consistently see pre-schoolers with their mom’s in the toy aisle. The little kids easily pass by the latest McQueen. “I already have one, mom!” The kid is NOT a collect by the numbers guy. Of course, until the eBayers and collectors have their fill, the kid and the mom are not going to find the new castings. One local Target is awash with the same three peg warmers in multiple quantities. HAL keeps reading there is sufficient inventory. Ugh! 🙁 Of course, I have not seen a hauler of any kind at four Targets in my area. No stagnant inventory there! K-Mart and Fred Meyer get a case of haulers in and they sell consistently, i.e., no burst of interest and then stagnation. The Target buyers have missed the boat. Target is one of the chains in the retail world mentioned frequently in cutting down inventory time to the extent Target did not gauge the market. Of course, Target sells everything, so the loss of sales is not as noticeable as the mom and pop caught holding unsold cases of McQueen clones. The key to a successful line is to keep it “fresh.” Keeping it “fresh” requires the insertion of new products. I’ve said it before, Hasbro, had developed two Star Wars assortments- one for the collector who wants EVERY obscure figure in the Creature Cantina and the casual toy buyer/kid who only wants the main characters-Darth, Luke, Chewie, etc. Mattel has developed neither. Maybe a non collector case of twenty four Cars castings should contain the original twelve main characters. Throw in a boxed set of four for the likes of Snot Rod, Wingo, DJ,Boost. Market collector cases with the minor character Cars, introducing four with six each per case.
There is a short window of interest for kids. Been there, have had kids. Their attention span for a product line diminishes with their development. The Cars line is generally going to be limited to pre schoolers and collectors. The Cars are age appropriate. The boys are headed to Hot Wheels, GI Joe,Star Wars, Marvel & Dc Comics character figures. The figure I saw related to Hot Wheels was an estimated 25% of the sales are to adult collectors. I see adult collectors buying Star Wars and Marvel Legend figures all the time. Those persons made the transition from toy play to hobby. I have friends and relatives that run the collecting range from Marvel figures, Star Wars Legos, Star Wars Action figures, Hot Wheels.
If the toy line ages and becomes extinct, it is because the product line has done nothing to keep it alive. It is interesting how various toy lines went dead for awhile and were resurrected when a younger generation came along. My daughter and her little friends were big into My Little Ponies, Strawberry Shortcake and Care Bears. Each went dead for awhile, but, were resurrected when the moms’s started buying their old toy lines for their daughter. Star Wars was active until 1983, then died and was resurrected in 1995. It is still active due to slick marketing through new movies and cartoons, and, yes, those adult collectors who were once little boys. My son went back to Marvel. Now we’re holding a hoard of Star Wars and GI Joe figures from the 1970’s and 1980’s, plus the post 1995 issues. 🙁
Mattel needs to clean up its act! Notice the stand alone displays for the latest summer movie releases, Star Trek, Wolverine. Cars collectors are going to have to wait for the movies to run their course.
Hmm! This must be a long entry. That’s what happens when you’re retired and it’s raining in the great Pacific Northwest!
Happy Hunting! 🙂
Yeah, the way these things trickle out, by the time Mattel clues in, the kids who are interested now will be too old to care.
I’ve also come to realize many really are happy to pay whatever to get them. I refuse to be gouged and would rather do without if I have to pay too much – but it appears I’m just part of a small group…if you look at the numbers…
I am with you Heinz57baby, I refuse to pay high dollar numbers for CARS that will soon enough be in stores. I just have to be patient. The trading board here on Take5 has been a gift from above in avoiding the high prices. While I agree that the case packing from Mattel stinks, the truth of the matter is that the secondary market is controlling what we find in stores. As long as folks are willing to pay big money for a $4 car just to say they have it first, there will be ebayers at the retailers doors before they open waiting to pounce on the new castings. I don’t really blame them, I just don’t like taking avantage of a situation like that. If Mattel packed more new CARS in a case, then the secondary market suffers quickly and that CAR loses the coveted “rare car” moniker fast. So who does Mattel want to satisfy more, the kid/collector that goes out shopping at their local store or the re-seller that is gouging the public for the new stuff – and getting away with it.
Time will tell I suppose, but if our modern society has taught us anything it is the “I want it and I want it right now” attitude isn’t always the best decision for the long haul.
Just my 5 1/4 cents (inflation, sorry) 🙂
Do the people at Mattel even know how to read let alone have degrees in anythin’???
Hey Matty – Do not ever procreate please.
yes… the lack of new cars to buy is really discouraging us to continue. I just hope Kmart day2 is still on… I would hate to see they cancel that one too.
BAD Christine…just saying it out louad could restlt in bad things…shhsssshhhhhhhhh….
I NEED the KMART Day….
Great article Met… well said!
I think alot of people right now are jumping to the conclusion that the lenticular switchover is going to kill this line… or even the case assortments we have seen for them. I don’t think that will be the case at all. What Cars diecast item have we seen yet that we haven’t loved? Who is this line really aimed at? (Kids, not collectors!) How many of you collectors collect one one of each car on each cardback? Well, now you’ll have another cardback… and a new Car! I certainly don’t understand or like the new case assortments, but I am going to wait to see what these Cars look like. Who knows, maybe we’ll like them even better than the “classics”! If they don’t sell, and they bomb (which I doubt), who here really thinks that the Cars line would be killed, within two years of the sequel coming out? Not likely.
It is hard to say for anyone who actually buys the Cars items at retail. I personally think we overestimate the percentage of sales to collectors, and not by a little… but that’s just my opinion, I have nothing to back it up other than the way I see things.
As for the Target haulers pre-sales, I think it happened exactly like someone already posted… and employee got a list of these haulers coming out, and put them all in for pre-order now. When they saw the amount of preorders on this toy, someone looked at it, and realized they would lose out on having to ship individually, so they pulled them.
With all this in mind, I think we’ll just have to weather another storm for a bit until things settle back down. I have faith that they will figure out what works best for the line to keep it viable through Cars 2!
I have been buying CARS since before the movie came out. I can now say that I am completely disgusted. I used to go shopping 3 times a week, to 2 WMT, 2 KMart, Target and TRU. Now I am only going every 2 weeks. And when I do go, I have a bad attitude and pretty much know that I won’t find anything new. This used to be a great hobby–fun for my son and for me. Now it’s just disappointing and depressing. I hate to throw in the towel, but I feel like that decision has been made for me by Mattel and the stores.
One would think that the way Mattel packaged the Night Vision McQueen would have shown how successful 1 individual car per case will be. I would think that their marketing people would take a clue from that.
This recent cancelling of the haulers kind of makes you think about how much the company thinks of the true fans of the line. I know I am but a tiny speck in the process, but it makes me feel like the journey is complete.
It is with a heavy heart that I am resigned to the fact that this wonderful experience is all but over.
Good point about the Night Vision… of course, we in Canada did not get him so I have no idea, but how was his sales? Is he clogging up pegs everywhere? Did NVMQ become a peg warmer? How much was he at retail?
When I was in Florida earlier this month, NVMQ was indeed clogging up the pegs in most WMs that I visited… but like you so handily pointed out, we never even got him here in Canada. Not sure what I would prefer at this point, to be honest.
Here’s what Night Vision McQueen sells for in Indiana and western Ohio:
Walmart: $6.47 plus 7% sales tax.
Target: $6.99 plus 7% sales tax.
Meijer: $6.99 plus 7% sales tax.
Kmart: I’ve never seen a Night Vision McQueen at a Kmart store.
TRU: I believe it’s $6.99 plus 7% sales tax.
Every Walmart seemed to get it at the same time… 2 or 3 cases of 12. I don’t know if stores have reloaded or not. Other than Kmart, all the above stores I’ve been to have had plenty of them.
I paid $96 shipped for my first case of 12 from an online retailer. I can save over $1 per individual item buy buying it one at a time at Walmart as opposed to by the case.
The actual distribution of Cars items tends to vary between the above 5 stores and even between Walmart stores, Target stores, etc.
It shouldn’t be that hard for Mattel to send cases of Night Vision McQueen to Canada and the other countries that haven’t gotten them.
Night Vision McQueen is everywhere. He makes a fine example of what would happen to the Cars line if everything was easy to find.
NVMQ is definitely a peg-warmer at my local WM. In fact, he has been clearanced to $5.00!
SO, what can we learn from this…perhaps and NEW cars alone in a case is not the answer…..
OR does it have more to do with the $$$…more than double the price, or double the older price?? I think that is more what it is about than anything else…or could be cuz he is the 100th McQueen Heinz is celebrating??
Price.
This was the first time that 12 like items were shipped. I’m sure the buyers at the retailers thought this would just be another item on the pegs. But, they forgot to address one simple issue. Price. I’m sorry, but us collectors are a SMALL portion of the buying public. The buyers DO NOT CARE what we think nor do they cater to us. NV LM went up on the pegs and with a $6.+ price tag, there it sat. Sure, some were sold as us collectors came across them, but as I said, it’s not about us. The regular shopper saw the NV LM sitting on the pegs and decided that the little booklet wasn’t worth $3. That simple. The booklet might be worth something to us collectors, but not to the general public. And that’s who these products are for. The general public doesn’t want it, need it or even simply “get it”.
I hope somebody at Mattel reads this. Or maybe we should all email them a copy!
The folks at Mattel are most likely still using Western Union to send telegrams back and forth via the Pony Express, so I doubt they are aware of this new-fangled thing called “email”.
They’ve upgraded to the Pony Express? Last thing I heard, they were still using pigeons!
dot dot dot dash dash dash dot dot dot
Just keeping on…it’s a loooong road, but it’s bound to lead somewhere…
Ever notice the race track is oval! You keep ending up in the same place for 500 miles! 🙂 I got to go watch the dog chase his tail! 🙂
Wake up Mattel… Well said, Met and Steve AKA:Poppa.
How many people are buying 90% of the Cars product? Wouldn’t it make sense to put out selections for them (us)?
With the Target.com haulers pre-sale, I was hopeful that perhaps it was a special Target case with one of each of the 6 new haulers. There’s no way I’m paying $90 for a case of 6 haulers when Trunk Fresh is the only one I need. There’s no way I’m paying $100 for a 24 Car case A of Lenticular eyes Cars when there is only 1 new Car in the case. I’ve bought 20 cases of Cars since August 2008 for myself and to help others.
If Mattel doesn’t want or need my business, I can find other things to spend my money on. My wife would definitely like that. I started buying Cars for my grandchildren. My 7 year old grandsons are starting to outgrow them, my almost 4 year old granddaughter still loves them.
I’m hopeful that I’ll have C case launchers, the racing 3 pack D case, and the Singles H case and Mega Size H case soon, and then I’ll take a good look at where I go from there.
A good example of this is an acquaintance of mine who owns a “Mom & Pop” toy store. Last year, he ordered one WOC case R. Of the 18 cars in that case, 14 are still on the pegs (I bought the other four). This year, he ordered one ROR case E. Of the 18 cars in that case, 12 are still on the pegs. He already told me he won’t be ordering more cases until he sells the 26 older cars he already has in his store, because he’s simply not making any money this way. Well, good luck with THAT…
Seriously, I have personally seen stores give up on the line because the cars “aren’t selling”…. It’s not exactly their fault that no one buys them: if Mattel would ship out more than 5 new cars in a case of 18 some major problems would be averted.
Yep, the name of the retail game is to churn inventory-no matter what the product line may be. The financial pages attest to the current economic situation. The companies that churn inventory the quickest are doing the best. Stagnant inventory is a killer. You do not make money selling markdown items at cost. It is more critical to mom and pop operations where credit may be limited and seasonal merchandise must be bought in advance. Guess wrong and you’re sunk. Buy too many McQueens and you watch them stagnant on the shelf. Therefore, you figure the line is a non seller and you ignore it when new material comes out. TGT, WM, TRU can sell the cost of stagnant inventory over the profitable lines. Anybody for Star Trek figures, next up in the toy world.
Maybe I’m first this morning! 🙂
Unless somebody just types in first without a serious comment! 🙁
Yep, I knew it- somebody beat me to it because they had nothing much to add!
boring, no pics
LOL
FIRST
thats the same thing i thought lol~!