Subject:
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Re: TLG and "Seeding"
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Wed, 28 Feb 2001 23:02:37 GMT
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Viewed:
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970 times
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In lugnet.general, Eric Joslin writes:
> What buying from the discount bins *does* do, on the other hand, is send the
> store a message that this particular item was not very popular (well, assuming
> there are lots of them that get the discount) and over time that can lead to
> the store buying less and less from TLC, or stopping altogether.
Yes and No. I'm not sure how much the store's Corporate office watches a
particular set (unless it proves to be extremely unpopular). I'm of the opinion
that the corporate buyers are watching the overall performance of: 1) Lego
products, 2) a play theme and 3) Lego at a given store (or geographic region or
MSA). The only set (which I've seen) that seems to have been uniformly
overstocked is the 4930 Rock Raider's Crew. Wonder if that has anything to do
with no new minifig collections from TLC.
Whenever I'm in a store buying, and happen to run into management, I always try
to chat with them, introduce myself, see if they know why they had so much left
to clearance at the end of a season. One manager told me that the corporation
(WM in this case) was going to give the stores more control to 'fine tune' the
quantities that they order. In the case of Lego, I suppose that this would have
to happen in case lots multiples.
That particular store still had 10 of the big 7190 Millineum Falcon sets still
on the shelf. I wonder if that was the original drop ship from the warehouse.
That store was one of two that was still trying to get rid of some King Leo's
Castles.
Also keep in mind the timing of the orders. The corporate buyers get to go to
the toy fairs, the local store managers do not. At some point, the corporation
has to place a general buy order with TLC. That order has to be far enough in
advance for TLC to ramp production to get product in the supply chain in time
for rollouts. Right now, we are seeing Alpha Team making initial store drops.
When did TRU place those buy orders ? When will it show up at WM, KM, et al ? My
guess is May. WM, KM should have already placed those orders for Alpha Team,
possibly before the christmas season had finished. Even if the stores get local
'fine tuning', thats only going to be for drops from the warehouse to the store,
not from TLC. Eventually, if the local stores don't 'pull' enough product,
corporate may have to dump product to the various liquidators.
Ray
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: TLG and "Seeding"
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| (...) TLC makes the same amount of money on a set you buy from the discount bin as they do on a set you buy off the shelves of the same store the day it first comes in. What buying from the discount bins *does* do, on the other hand, is send the (...) (23 years ago, 28-Feb-01, to lugnet.general)
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