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Post by The Hegemon on Apr 25, 2021 18:32:09 GMT
Say what you want about LEGO's absolute command of three full walls from floor to ceiling, but Mega totally has a lock on half of the bottom shelf at the very end of one section of the toy area, and if that means that they're tucked behind a Playmobil Delorean, so be it!
Seriously. Just came from two Walmarts, and between them they had fifty-four He-Man/Beast Man two-packs, fourteen flocked Panthor packs, and eighteen Roton sets.
Other than that they had (between them) one Halo helmet and half a tray of the most recent Heroes figures.
What TF is going on? Mattel seems to have some kind of market presence, judging from the wall full of Hot Wheels & Matchbox, not to mention the full aisle of Barbie stuff. So why does Mega consistently get buried behind other products. Why are they so consistently unable to make the products visible at retail?
Even when TRU existed, Mega's inventory was generally split among four or five separate sections of the toy area, whereas LEGO completely filled a whole quandrant.
I love the brand and have loved the brand for more than a quarter century, but this goofy marketing strategy has baffled me the whole time.
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Post by lokisveil on Apr 25, 2021 19:19:18 GMT
Well, I don't know how many times I have heard people refer to "any" building block of the brick variety as a LEGO as if they are the only company that makes them.
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Post by The Hegemon on Apr 26, 2021 15:50:58 GMT
turricanster's post here reminded me of a point relasted to the above. Mega's plan too often seems to be "send 50 copies of each of these two sets to our stores," rather than "send five copies of each of these 20 sets." This is borne out by the current surplus of MOTU sets I reported, already on discount and no doubt headed for deep clearance. Does any other toy producer work that way? Saturating the market with large quantities of a few sets rather than offering a diversified and engaging product line? To look at the official website, it seems that Mega offers a bunch of cool products, but when you get to retail you see that it's mostly three or four sets plus a tray or two of figures. Target is actually doing better than the norm, but even there it's a very limited and tightly focused market push. Sorry to keep complaining, but as I mentioned above this has been bothering me for decades. |
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Post by turricanster on Apr 26, 2021 16:56:34 GMT
I think a lot of toy stuff is make something you think is cool, throw it out there and see if it sticks, but the retailers have to buy into it, thus Toy Fairs. So some toy buyer at corporate bought them/wanted the product. Or, say the flocked panthors and he-man vs. beastman were shown as a cost effective way to get figures out to kids? I think stock at a store is at a corporate level. Some of the new GI Joe figures are Target exclusives, and some Targets get them and some don't.
As for product getting to stores, large corporate ones like WalMart and Target, it all goes to a Distribution Center and then is sent out to stores from there. For store by store ordering, I'm not sure who's in charge of ordering for a store, if it's a person who works at a certain store, or a person at corporate? I know certain Targets, and WalMarts only get certain items and it really seems random.
Mattel would probably be well served with a direct to customer online store. Maybe they got too many complaints with Matty Collector, but Hasbro Pulse seems to be going good.
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Post by Gramps on Apr 28, 2021 14:54:43 GMT
Well, I don't know how many times I have heard people refer to "any" building block of the brick variety as a LEGO as if they are the only company that makes them. I think a lot of that is about "Brand" building. I am old enough to remember when Lego was probably the first and only blocks out there even in small podunk places. Now older folks, and parents, grandparents just use it as a generic term for all brands of block sets. Kind of like making out a shopping list and writing down "Kleenex" instead of facial tissues, "Clorox" instead of bleach, etc. Companies really value the brand thing. When I worked at a Coca-Cola distributor, they would take an account in the hinterlands that you know they weren't making money on, just to have their name out there instead of a competitor. |
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Post by Gramps on Apr 28, 2021 15:56:32 GMT
Also, when I was collecting 1/6 scale stuff, every 12" action figure was a "G I. Joe".  |
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Post by The Hegemon on Apr 29, 2021 23:52:27 GMT
About a year ago I unexpectedly retrieved my original copy of the LEGO "Idea Book No.2," copyright 1977. In it, "Susan Williams" explicity requests that people avoid the term "LEGOS," in order to protect their brand name. Interesting that they were already mindful of brand purity back then, even before Tyco or any other early competitors had entered the market.
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Post by turricanster on Apr 30, 2021 0:34:51 GMT
Wow I didn’t realize “Susan” has been around that long!
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