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Subject: 
Re: Target market
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.lego.direct
Date: 
Sat, 10 Feb 2001 19:12:15 GMT
Reply-To: 
johnneal@uswest.net+stopspammers+
Viewed: 
2220 times
  
Todd Lehman wrote:

> In lugnet.lego.direct, John Neal writes:
> > lol  Richard, Richard, are *YOU* listening?  AFOLs are not their market!
> > [...]
> 
> John,
> I snipped a lot of stuff, including where you talked about an AFOL:KABOB
> ratio, so I get what you're saying, but I want to focus on the above.
> 
> Richard was making a point about the secondary market and bulk offerings.
> That's basically AFOL territory that TLC is currently not capitalizing on.
> It's impossible to know how much money is being lost, but I'd speculate that
> it's far less than how much is being lost by not capitalizing on ways to sell
> bulk to kids.
> 
> Where it can become confusing is things like this...
> 
>    http://www.lego.com/info/pressspecific.asp?PressReleaseId=163&Year=2001
> 
> ...wherein it's mentioned that "There appears to be no uper age limit for
> the popularity of LEGO MINDSTORMS.  Around half the owners of these sets are
> adults between the ages of 25 and 45."
> 
> And things like this...
> 
>    http://news.lugnet.com/general/?n=11596
> 
> ...wherein it's mentioned that "the LEGO Company asks to open a dialogue with
> you, our consumers. Whether you are an AFOL, or a parent purchasing a first
> DUPLO set, or a KABOB (Kid with a Bunch of Bricks - we just made that up),
> here are some words that should gladden your hearts: We are listening. And
> more than that, we will endeavor to be very responsive to your needs and
> desires."
> 
> From statements like those (and there are other examples), I think it's
> perfectly reasonable to conclude that AFOLs are indeed part of TLC's market.
> But just *how big* a part?

Yes, the $64 question.

>  How important relative to kids?  I don't think
> TLC has ever really said definitively (as in straight from the horse's mouth,
> in a press release or annual report, for example), but I think we can still
> draw conclusions.  The conclusion I draw from all available evidence is that
> TLC still markets primarily to children but wants to very gradually expand
> that to include teens and adults.

I agree completely.  And I think LD's offerings will reflect that.  I would love
to see the stats on who is primary purchaser of the bulk offerings.  I would bet
that an impressive share is AFOLs.

> What we need here is a year-by-year pie chart showing the percentages of
> product going to various age ranges.  Only LEGO knows that info and I doubt
> they'd share it (for competitive reasons), but I'll bet you that the segments
> containing age ranges 20+ are on the rise -- gradually -- over the past 10
> years.

Without a doubt.  And I would even argue this: that although we as AFOLs don't
have the financial impact that 100,000s of KABOBs have, we are organized (LUGs
and LTCs), and have clout as a major presence on the WWW (thanks to your efforts
through LUGNet, Todd:-)

-John

> And that's good.
> 
> --Todd



Message has 1 Reply:
  Re: Target market
 
How do they know who's buying what percentage? I mean, when I buy a set at Walmart or Meijers or K-mart (hooray for BOGO) nobody is tracking who I'm buying it for (almost always me, but I do get them frequently for Birthday kids). How do I express (...) (26 years ago, 12-Feb-01, to lugnet.lego.direct)

Message is in Reply To:
  Target market
 
(...) John, I snipped a lot of stuff, including where you talked about an AFOL:KABOB ratio, so I get what you're saying, but I want to focus on the above. Richard was making a point about the secondary market and bulk offerings. That's basically (...) (26 years ago, 10-Feb-01, to lugnet.lego.direct)

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