Subject:
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Re: Polybag Racks (was: Shopping Anecdote and Suggestions (Long))
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Sat, 10 Mar 2001 15:22:20 GMT
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Viewed:
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610 times
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In lugnet.lego.direct, John Neal writes:
>
>
> "Marc Nelson Jr." wrote:
>
> > <snip>
> >
> > That (LEGO's current HTO concept) is not what I'm talking about.
> >
> > As Mike said, $5 is not an impulse buy. Also, the current displays lack
> > variety. One set is not an adequate selection for a really interesting • display.
> > I have also seen the Ninja sets fly out of the Food Lion at $2 a pop.
>
> *Flying* Ninja sets? (quick, TLC! License with "Hidden Dragon, Crouching
> Tiger"!;-)
>
> > Also as Mike said, the current HTO scheme is not available enough. If really
> > dedicated AFOL's have to search out these sets, than they certainly aren't
> > impulse items.
>
> You miss the whole point of "impulse items". You don't go searching for them.
> You buy them without having planned to in the first place.
That's exactly the point. Sets that can only be found at a few widely scattered
locations (as the HTO items are) can't be really called impulse buys. If you
could only find Slim Jims at 1 out of 20 gas stations, and you had to visit
several before finding one that stocked them, they would mostly be sold to
hardcore Slim Jim fans.
> > I really would appreciate a response from LEGO Direct because I think this
> > is very different from what they do now, and I think it's something that
> > work to LEGO's advantage as well as benefiting us.
>
> I'm curious. What kind of response are you expecting from LD? First of all, • LD
> is not responsible for *retail sales*-- that is why they are called "Direct".
Well, since Brad Justus seemed to be fairly informed about the HTO plan in the
earlier post you referred me to, they must know something about it.
All
> of the HTO sets are also available AFAIK from S@H anyway, so you can get one • any
> time you feel like it, day or night.
Set available in a catalog aren't going to be bought on a whim by a mom in a
checkout line or drugstore because her kid sees it.
> Even still, how does my local supermarket or
> 7-eleven carrying 50 types of $2 sets of LEGO benefit me, anyway?
As I said, I think it would be good for LEGO because it would get LEGO into the
hands of kids more often, which is good for everybody. LEGO's has stated
repeatedly that their target market is kids, so giving them ideas which would
only benefit AFOL's doesn't help them much. Wider availability of small, cheap
sets is a good thing for kids, AFOL's, and LEGO.
> And who is
> going to be responsible for keeping all of these 1000's of racks stocked?
The same people who keep thousands of racks of Pokemon cards or other stuff
like that stocked. This isn't a logistical nightmare. If Matchbox can keep
racks stocked with toy cars or L'eggs can keep racks stocked with pantyhose,
this doesn't seem like something that is outside of the realm of possibility.
> Seems
> to me that that would take a lot of time and energy spent by TLC which may or
> may not work out to be advantageous for them.
It would be less time and energy than they spent on stupid video games or
garbage like Bionicle. Those seemed not to have been too advantageous. LEGO
said (in the recent press release) they wanted to:
a: get back to basics
b: use low-risk strategies
Small polybag sets (especially existing or re-released ones) are about as basic
and low-risk as you can get.
> And what if the reasons why they are
> doing what they are doing are more complicated than that? Do you expect a
> complete explanation of their marketing strategy every time someone tries to
> micro manage their company?
>
> You expect way too much here, and your near demand of a response puts LD in a
> lose-lose situation. You expect them to allocate the resources to answer or
> comment on every suggestion made here in .direct, and when they don't they get
> vilified.
I am pushing this idea so much because I think it is something which would help
LEGO. So many things brought up here are ideas which would only appeal to
AFOL's (a small slice of the market that is not LEGO's target audience), or are
just griping. This is a constructive idea that I think would do a lot of good
for LEGO, and frankly, after posting the kind of losses they did, they need all
the help they can get.
-Marc
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