Subject:
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Re: eBuisness Model
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.dear-lego
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Date:
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Sat, 9 Dec 2000 17:32:43 GMT
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Viewed:
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1554 times
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In lugnet.dear-lego, Amnon Silverstein writes:
>
> Let the FOL market the sets they design. To order, people just click the
> FOL's web site, and they get bounced to a S@H run ordering web site. People
> buy the set directly from S@H. The FOL submits the plan to Lego, and
> registers it as an original design.
I can't see this being too practical. Since the consumer ultimately
ends up purchasing the product from TLC, then the customers
believe they are dealing with TLC through the entire process.
This includes the browsing of all the FOL sites you mention.
So TLC would need to enforce standards across all those sites,
essentially making them TLC controlled. They might be better
served just keeping all the sets on LEGO.com in one big
browsable cross-linked catalogue. Then people could browse
by theme, size, price, most-popular, whatever...
> If a set sells over a certain number of units, send the designer a 5% cut of
> the list price for all additional units that are sold. If the set sells
> enough units, it could give the designer a bigger price cut and the general
> public a small price cut as well.
I can't see this happening either. The set would either be
available for sale or it wouldn't. By allowing TLC to sell
the set, the designer is giving away their copyright on
the design (I doubt TLC would be willing to sell under
license to Joe FOL like it does with Lucas, Disney, etc.) So
at most if a design is accepted by TLC, a small one-time
royalty fee might be paid but then the FOL is cut out of
profits after that, regardless of quantity sold.
To come to this conclusion I look at it this way. Let's say
TLC today has about 50 new set designs introduced each year.
Let's say with FOL designs made available, that rises to
50,000, or 1000 times as many sets available for sale. The
market would never rise so that 1000 times as many sets
are sold for each design. So far fewer sets would be
sold per design (intially 1/1000th the sales). Overhead
costs are going ride heavily based on the number of unique
items in inventory, which has gone from 50 to 50,000.
Ultimately the profit margins plummet..., unless prices
to consumers are raised and/or production costs are
lowered (lower quality, plain bagging for e-sales instead
of pretty boxes, etc.).
With no guarantee that any given set will sell, TLC risks
the overhead cost on each and every design. And with very
low sales volumes per design, the FOL is almost going to
have to *pay TLC* to get them to try selling it.
> If someone complains that their design has been ripped off, take a quick
> look at the design that was registered first. If the two are too close,
> unregister the copy, and send the designer an email saying that the design
> is not sufficiently original to register. This could probably be automated
> to some degree by a computer comparison of the CAD files. The rip-off design
> would be pulled before it sold enough units to start paying off, so people
> would be discouraged from doing this.
Again, a lot of tedious product management that will cut into
profit margin.
> This could create a whole new market, really harness the creativity of the
> FOLs, and give the consumer a bunch of new choices, for a big win win win.
I could only see this working on this scale if TLC ran an
ebaY or BrickBay. Let the FOLs sell whatever they want. TLC
gets a percentage cut of all sales. However, the FOL sellers
are responsible for getting their own parts, printing instructions,
etc., etc. TLC bulk ordering would provide their supply, where
practical.
I for one would not want to wade through 50,000 new designs
each year to look for things to buy. It's too baffling to
the average consumer. Remember we as "harder core" LEGO
enthusiasts are by far in the minority (I'll say 0.01%).
KDJ
_______________________________________
LUGNETer #203, Windsor, Ontario, Canada
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: eBuisness Model
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| (...) No, this could be made to look like the customer was dealing directly with the FOL. Check out the T-shirt ordering system here. Go to the main page, go to the left corner, order a shirt. Everything you see in the following process is LUGNET. (...) (24 years ago, 10-Dec-00, to lugnet.dear-lego)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | eBuisness Model
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| Dear Lego, I love the idea of CAD designing a set and being able to order it, as you describe on your web page. An added feature that would really include the enthusiasts could work something like the group that sells T-shirts for LUGNET. It would (...) (24 years ago, 9-Dec-00, to lugnet.dear-lego) !
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