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In lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands, David Laswell wrote:
> In lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands, Mike Petrucelli wrote:
> > Interesting. I think Mega Bloks is directly responsible for saving The Lego
> > Company. If not for Mega Bloks successfully taking a portion of the market
> > share and forcing TLC to reevaluate its direction of straight down the
> > toilet a few years ago, TLC would be in a very bad position.
>
> I disagree. TLC had been losing market share to video games, movies,
> sports, action figures, and pretty much anything else that a kid could use as a
> quick source for distraction. MB probably only made the difference between
> being slightly in the black and being slightly in the red.
Uh... Mega Bloks soared in popularity (based on increased shelf space devoted to
them) durring the period of crappy LEGO set design a few years ago. Mega Bloks
filled the void of mostly brick based sets that LEGO had seemingly abandoned.
>
> > Competition breeds quality and value.
>
> Only if it plays by the rules. Knock-offs dilute your market share
> regardless of what you produce, since people will look at it and assume it's the
> same thing that you're selling, only they can charge less because they didn't
> have to invest in R&D (after all, you did it for them), and they'll probably use
> cheaper materials because they cost less, so that will bring their MSRP down
> even more. The only way you can reclaim that market share is to throw quality
> and value out the window, and that's going to drive other customers away.
Really? Take a look at what LEGO has done since losing market share to Mega
Bloks. They have reverted to produceing good sets instead of the crap they were
trying to shove into consumer hands when they thought they had a monopoly.
Competition has brought us NASA sets, Designer, Inventer, and all of the LEGO
Direct sets. My main problem with LEGO right now is that most of their best sets
(the LEGO Direct stuff by nature of being LEGO Direct) are only available via
Shop @ Home.
-Mike Petrucelli
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: A serious clone question
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| (...) According to TLC's annual report, the Americas (US+Canada+Mexico+SouthAmerica) only accounts for one-third of TLC sales, whereas Europe accounts for more than 50% - and as MegaBlocks has never been big in Europe (here in Denmark they only sell (...) (21 years ago, 22-Aug-03, to lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: A serious clone question
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| (...) I disagree. TLC had been losing market share to video games, movies, sports, action figures, and pretty much anything else that a kid could use as a quick source for distraction. MB probably only made the difference between being slightly in (...) (21 years ago, 19-Aug-03, to lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands)
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