Subject:
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Re: Slim Pickings at Target
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.market.theory
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Date:
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Wed, 29 Dec 1999 16:59:59 GMT
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Viewed:
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620 times
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Mike Walsh wrote:
>
> Ray Sanders wrote in message <386A232E.8C1F287E@gate.net>...
>
> [ ... snipped ... ]
>
> >
> > What you speak of seems to be *very* dependent on the particular store
> > and their philosophy of markdowns. My local WM-sc seems to be of the
> > mind "don't clearance it until we have tried ever other way to sell it.
> > Once we start marking down, do it in rapid increments to get it the heck
> > out of here". Additional markdowns are not affected by how much has
> > sold, only by *if* there is any remaining stock to be sold. I watched
> > 6332 Command Post Central sequentially drop in price: $48, $42, $36,
> > $30, $24 & $15 (I took the last two at $15). At each stage they sold one
> > or two, finally they reached a price that did the deed.
> >
> > Ray
>
> How long did this process take? This also begs the question - how
> frequently does Target typically drop their prices? I have been to three
> Target stores in the Raleigh area. I found a few things, nothing
> spectacular. The Target closest to me is already clean of anything on
> clearance with the exception of Sith Infiltrators so Larry P.'s post applies
> around here. If I had waited for the next round of reductions I wouldn't
> have gotten anything.
Of course the counter is that occaisionally they screw up. This same
Target (which Mike has said the stock people have said they "never" put
any LEGO on clearance), clearanced 5978 earlier this year. They then
continued to re-stock all fall at the "clearance" price. Both Mike and I
have taken advantage of this.
Like Larry says, you have to buy at the price point which is suitable
for you. Mike Stanley finds enough deals that he considers even 50% off
to high a price. Others of us almost never see any deals so we take the
first sale which comes along. You also need to decide how long you can
wait for LEGO. If I had waited for the first LEGO set I bought out of my
dark ages to go on clearance, I would not yet be an AFOL (I have yet to
observe Mindstorms RIS on sale, though I did get a 2nd and 3rd copy for
20% off with the Zany Brainy scratch off sale).
I would expect we will see fewer and fewer deals (as Larry has
predicted). As more FFOLs (fanatic fans of LEGO - usually adult) come on
line, and get hooked into the community, sets will be more quickly
cleared out. I suspect that if a few more FFOLs appeared in Mike
Stanley's neighborhood, he would either stop buying LEGO, or would
change his expectations (or at least only buy the extremely undesireable
sets). LEGO sets wind up in steep discount when there is insufficient
interest in a set. Without FFOLs, this will tend to occur once a set is
a year or two old since kids will tend to want the latest sets which are
being promoted, and people chosing a set for a present to someone
without knowing their preferences, will not chose the old beat up box.
FFOLs of course realize that you can never have too many of a set which
has usefull pieces in it, so will scoop them up when they go on sale at
a price which meets their interest. As more FFOLs appear, it will be
more likely that a set will meet one of their price points the first
time it is put on clearance. Additionally, the power of the internet to
bring remote FFOLs into the picture will add even more oomf. In fact, I
could almost see a point where we never see any clearancing at all (new
FFOL discovers he is interested in last years theme, asks on Lugnet if
they are available anywhere, someone pipes up "sure, my store still has
one", item gets sold).
Of course if LEGO Direct comes through on the bulk ordering, the
clearance prices could drop to new lows as we all skip buying set X for
70% off just to get one piece, and instead buy 100 of those pieces from
LEGO Direct.
--
Frank Filz
-----------------------------
Work: mailto:ffilz@us.ibm.com (business only please)
Home: mailto:ffilz@mindspring.com
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Slim Pickings at Target
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| Ray Sanders wrote in message <386A232E.8C1F287E@gate.net>... [ ... snipped ... ] (...) How long did this process take? This also begs the question - how frequently does Target typically drop their prices? I have been to three Target stores in the (...) (24 years ago, 29-Dec-99, to lugnet.market.theory)
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