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In lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands, Mike Petrucelli wrote:
> 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
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 pre-school MB's, and not much of it), the argument that MB has forced TLC
to reconsider their product lines is not completely valid. In Europe Playmobil
is a much bigger competitor than MB, and Playmobil usually only copy TLC's
lines, although this year they released a Viking line - so maybe TLC will copy
that?!?
Arne, Copenhagen
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: A serious clone question
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| (...) 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. (...) (...) (21 years ago, 19-Aug-03, to lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands)
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