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> Hasn't this already begun to happen? 5-10 years down the road is anyone's
> guess, and I'm not holding my breath for sweeping changes, but I'll be
> surprised if traditional businesses can keep up -- we're just at the tip • of
> the iceberg right now and already many people are buying major book and • LEGO
> purchases online rather than offline -- that's where so many of the deals
are!
True, many AFOLs are buying Lego on-line but they are probably a group
well-suited to e-tailing. Why? AFOLs will usually know exactly what they
want to buy -- they know they want Lego, they know they want certain themes,
and usually they will know exactly what sets they want. Also, many AFOLs are
probably in the full-time workforce (to feed their Lego habit) and so have
less time available for traditional shopping.
However, not all Lego is purchased by AFOLs. Think about all the people who
have to buy a birthday or Christmas present for some child in their life.
These people don't leap onto the WWW and go straight to a Lego e-tailer. No,
they go along to a local toy store (or toy section of a department store)
and they wander about. They know they want a toy suitable for a certain
age/sex, and they probably have a price range in mind, but they expect to
find the specific kind of toy by browsing and comparing. Will I get a jigsaw
or a Barbie doll or a Duplo set? Also, many of these people (especially
homemakers and retired people) probably enjoy going out shopping; they don't
want an e-tail experience.
I would be very interested to know what proportion of Lego is purchased:
* for personal use
* as a gift
Despite the vast sums of money AFOLs seem to spend, I suspect that the
majority of Lego sales are gifts, and that most of those gifts are purchased
through traditional shops. Therefore, factors like "shelf appeal" are very
important. This is why I suspect that bulk sales will always be a small part
of Lego's sales. I can't see Mum, Dad and Grandma buying a bulk pack of a
single kind of piece as a gift (unless under specific instructions from the
recipient)! A bulk pack of assorted pieces, yes, but of the same piece, no.
The AFOLs who want bulk parts know exactly what they want, will not care
about shelf appeal, and are therefore good targets for e-tailing.
I think in any analysis of Lego marketing, one has to consider the two very
different kinds of customers, and (from TLG's point of view) the volume of
the market of the two kinds. While LUGnetters see a huge number of e-tailing
AFOLs, what we don't see is the huge number of retailing Mums, Dads, and
Grandmas!
Kerry
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Are you paying attention, LEGO?
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| In lugnet.general, Kerry Raymond writes: (snip) (...) My first bulk purchase was in 1986 or so, and was from the UK. Sampsonite here had a crummy selection!. I got, IIRC, 25 quid worth of lego, including the (brand new) double acting pnumatics, and (...) (24 years ago, 6-Nov-00, to lugnet.general, lugnet.lego.direct, lugnet.dear-lego, lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands)
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