Subject:
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Re: 10170 TTX Intermodal Double-Stack Car Preview
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.market.theory
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Date:
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Tue, 3 May 2005 05:25:20 GMT
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Viewed:
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9347 times
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In lugnet.trains, John Riley wrote:
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It’s not the upfront money, it’s the projected sales that determine whether a
new mold is produced. Trains, while popular among AFOLs, just don’t sell
well among Lego’s target market.
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Perhaps the lack of sales of trains with LEGO’s target markes is because THEY
DON’T EVEN KNOW LEGO TRAIN EXIST!!
In the USA, train sets have been available at standard retail outlets only
sporatically ever since the introduction of Lego trains a few decades ago. For
most toy buyers, a big expensive train set is not an impulse purchase--it must
be planned and money must be saved in order to make the purchase. But when the
desired items are not even available on store shelves when it comes time to make
that purchase, then the money will go towards something else and LEGO trains
will be forgotten.
Take for example the LEGO train sets marketed by TARGET retail stores back two
years ago. Those items were only on store shelves at regular prices for less
than six months before they were reduced to clearance prices and shoved out the
door as fast as possible. No replacement items were introduced to follow them,
either. The LEGO trains were there for only a short time and now there are ZERO
Lego Trains on the shelves. Part of this problem is TARGET’s retail strategy.
Fine, I understand that. But LEGO offered no replacement product. THAT is what
baffles me.
I am not a marketing expert, but I believe that the LEGO GROUP is as much famous
for missed marketing opportunies as they are for making little plastic bulding
blocks. Too stupid, too bad, tuff luck.
Okay, I can’t leave without giving at least one example of why I think this
about missed marketing opportunies. So, here is one actual example:
Enfield, Connecticut, is the North American headquarters for LEGO. The home of
LEGO Systems, Inc. They have a nice corporate campus that they keep pretty well
isolated from the outside world. BUT--just a few miles away is a nice shopping
mall with a children’s play area. This play area is filled with stuff for young
kids to sit on, ride on, climb on, etc. All the stuff is generic animals or
whatever. It is NOT LEGO. Now, if that is NOT a missed marketing opportunity I
don’t know what is!
This play area is just 20 steps away from a TARGET store that carries LEGO and
not more than 100 steps away from a KBToys store that also carries LEGO. This
place is just a five-minute drive away from the North American LEGO headquarters
yet there are probably a large percentage of parents in town that do not even
know much about LEGO or even have any Lego products in their homes.
Perhaps none of the marketing people in Enfield have ever set foot inside this
shopping mall. Again, too stupid, too bad, tuff luck.
.
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Message has 3 Replies:
 | | Re: 10170 TTX Intermodal Double-Stack Car Preview
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| (...) Dealing with a mall can be tricky. Often they are owned by companies that have several malls in an area. They often only accept larger deals, in which a chain has to commit to put a store/play area in EACH of those malls. Also, having a Lego (...) (20 years ago, 3-May-05, to lugnet.market.theory, FTX)
| | | Re: 10170 TTX Intermodal Double-Stack Car Preview
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| (...) OK, so let's be realistic: most retailers (especially the big three toy retailers in the US: TRU, Wal-Mart, and Target) are not going to sell Lego trains year-round; trains tend to be strictly a holiday purchase, and otherwise languish on the (...) (20 years ago, 3-May-05, to lugnet.market.theory, FTX)
| | | Re: 10170 TTX Intermodal Double-Stack Car Preview
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| (...) I don't think it's missed market opportunities but the nature of the product. Most kids who want a train set want something they can set on the track right out of the box and don't want to have to mess with building the train first. So by its (...) (20 years ago, 3-May-05, to lugnet.market.theory, FTX)
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