Subject:
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Re: PaB Inventory On-line for the iPhone
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:44:58 GMT
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Viewed:
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10415 times
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In lugnet.general, John Gerlach wrote:
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In lugnet.general, Michael Huffman wrote:
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I want to keep iPaB’s information up-to-date and accurate; I really DON’T
want to cause issues for LEGO retail stores.
snip
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I was at the Mall of America store a few Saturdays ago. In my less than
half-hour there, I saw them have to bring out three new boxes of PaB parts
to fill empty ‘holes’ in the wall.
Keeping this data timely is going to be very difficult.
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Agreed, for LEGO Imagination Stores, yes this will be difficult; they’re very
high traffic. But for some of the smaller stores, no.
But it comes down to some information vs. no information at all. In my case,
I’d rather have some information that’s about 50-70% accurate vs. no information
at all. And to empower fans (and others) to update that information when they
find it inaccurate...
And I’ve visited similar sites in the past before making trips out to
Legoland... I understood that the information was out-dated & inaccurate, but it
helped in planning my purchases when I arrived. I think the benefits will
outweigh in the end.
And I remember have ‘fun’ asking people to pick up parts for me when they went
to the LIC Mall of America. About half way through my friend’s vacation, I’d
get a call saying, “I’m here at the store, now what do you want?” I’d be nice
to print off a list ahead of time, mark the parts I’d like for them to pick up
for me (if they have them in stock), and asking them to pick up a few cups for
me -- it’d make shopping via friends much easier. :)
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(dream mode ‘on’)
If there was only a way for the stores themselves to keep their PaB online
inventory up to date. Perhaps when they bring out a new box, they could
scan the code using their cash register scanner, and that would update their
inventory webpage. That way people like us could see just what they have
available. Heck, we could even set up ‘alerts’ so that if a particular
element became available, we’d be notified. (dream mode ‘off’)
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You’re talking about an inventory control system with a way to push out
information from the front end... no, in theory, this wouldn’t be hard to
implement, but not knowing the details of LEGO retail’s computer systems, it
might be a nearly impossible task -- larger companies’ computer systems aren’t
agile enough, and have a lot of legacy systems to deal with. Older systems
weren’t designed with the web in mind... but it would be a fun project.
I’d more opt to do a handheld scanner like the ones you’d see at Target over
using the cash register’s scanner, but the idea is the same.
The alerts are a little tricker, but that’s what RSS is for. :)
(dream mode ‘on’)
And heck, I’d go one step further, why not allow someone to order part directly
from LEGO based on current production runs & have them shipped to you local LEGO
store -- buy them up front and by the box. With the understanding that there
might be a lag time before they show up at the store; but we do this with
pre-orders now...
Or better yet, let local shopper vote on-line what they’d like to see show up on
the PaB walls -- the idea of building local “LEGO communities” around LEGO
stores.
But you have to weigh development costs for a system like this vs. potential
profit made via this new type of business model. And that’s where we’re back to
(dream mode ‘off’).
--Mike.
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: PaB Inventory On-line for the iPhone
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| (...) There are certain elements that I'd pay a nice premium to be able to get in specific colors. Do you hear that, LEGO? You have customers that want to spend lots of money on your product, if you can figure out a way to make it happen. We want (...) (16 years ago, 11-Apr-08, to lugnet.general, FTX)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: PaB Inventory On-line for the iPhone
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| (...) I was at the Mall of America store a few Saturdays ago. In my less than half-hour there, I saw them have to bring out three new boxes of PaB parts to fill empty 'holes' in the wall. Keeping this data timely is going to be very difficult. (...) (16 years ago, 11-Apr-08, to lugnet.general, FTX)
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