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Post by Next Man’s Knowing Rock on Jan 17, 2020 17:13:09 GMT -5
If every company in the world just built their entire business model around catering to what I want, they would all be experiencing record-breaking profits. Yep. I spent stupid money throughout November and December at Target...almost all of it in the toy section, and none of it on WWE branded product, or even the action figure category, for that matter. Liar. I'm pretty sure that all sections outside of WWE action figures at Target only make pennies -- all the other aisles of the store are just there to give Mrs Stomp (my mom) something to look at while I'm hunting for goodies. And it sucks, because she should be using that time to go buy my tendies, and that store space should be taken up by more WWE Mattel figures. Why do we still not have a Ted Arcidi or Jim Powers? Lazy! Real Talk: If Mattel cancelled the basics and Ultimate Editions and Ghostbusters and He-Man and used DAT BUDGE to make all elites cost $10 and come with CLOTHCLOTHCLOTH accessories and clumps of the wrestler's real hair, and be customisable to every past gimmick of whichever wrestler I want, then Walmart and Target execs would be diving into their cash stacks like Scrooge McDuck by now.
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captaintriumph
Mid-Carder
Joined on: Mar 9, 2019 6:51:16 GMT -5
Posts: 163
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Post by captaintriumph on Jan 17, 2020 17:20:13 GMT -5
Wow.....so much for filling the void in the toy market left by Toys R Us closing!
Toy sales being down falls squarely on the retailers themselves.
The mentality that customers will buy anything that we put on the shelves is an outdated idea.....you put the right items on the shelves to get the sales.
The customers are there but you might actually have to do work to get them in your stores and keep them coming back.
I’m talking here not as a collector but a person with 5 children in the immediate family that are 7 years old and under.....the targeted market I think.
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czw4life
Main Eventer
Refs: 23
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Posts: 1,774
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Post by czw4life on Jan 17, 2020 17:21:28 GMT -5
Toy sales down huh? Maybe if they'd actually stock their shelves with toys to buy...every time I go to them the pegs are empty or has the crappiest selection of figures (no elites or 20 of the same figure)
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Post by PJ on Jan 17, 2020 17:37:05 GMT -5
I was talking to a Mattel rep today while at Walmart. First she was surprised to learn that Mattel lost the DC action figure license (minus Fisher Price, Hot Wheels and the DC female dolls like the WWE ones) but she was saying that retailers like Target/Walmart don’t want to keep stuff in the back rooom anymore. They want their DC’s to hold it and send one or two cases to the stores and not send anything else until it’s almost out or out of stock at the stores.
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Post by BadGirlRyleigh on Jan 17, 2020 20:19:31 GMT -5
Can’t make money if you don’t stock anything. Ever since TRU went down they’ve been very complacent with toys because their only competition is Amazon now. Stores used to always have some peg warmers like E12 Orton or E18 Brodus or overstocked E33 JYD. Now they just set empty for extended periods of time. You can’t make money off an empty shelf.
At least Walmart always keeps Barbie stocked so they have something, but I don’t buy those so that doesn’t do anything for me. They used to get like three cases at a time around E8-E11; now you gotta be lucky and get there right away because they get one at a time and often never get that series again.
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Post by Midnight: Dark Knight on Jan 17, 2020 21:10:59 GMT -5
I was talking to a Mattel rep today while at Walmart. First she was surprised to learn that Mattel lost the DC action figure license (minus Fisher Price, Hot Wheels and the DC female dolls like the WWE ones) but she was saying that retailers like Target/Walmart don’t want to keep stuff in the back rooom anymore. They want their DC’s to hold it and send one or two cases to the stores and not send anything else until it’s almost out or out of stock at the stores. I work in retail and am in the back room of grocery stores and others such as walmart almost on a daily basis and i can confirm that the "truck to shelf" mentality is in full force. back rooms are getting condensed down and controlled more an more by human and computer, especially the latter. It boggles my mind that these stores are willing to sacrifice sales for a empty stock room, and sit on empty shelves or pegs until a computer orders or tells them to put said item out.
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powerfred3k
Main Eventer
Joined on: Aug 12, 2012 22:12:11 GMT -5
Posts: 3,757
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Post by powerfred3k on Jan 17, 2020 22:15:43 GMT -5
All we need is target to give up selling wwe exclusives and giving this recent news I hope it goes that way.
No more target exclusives and walmart will give them up as well. Why compete with no one but yourself ??
Then we don't need to go into stores anymore, cause its not like mattel is gonna just magically fix there terrible distribution problems now.
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Post by elitecollector89 on Jan 17, 2020 23:21:39 GMT -5
Marvel, Starwars, neca ultimates, WWE all around the holidays were old stock left over. If the stores got then in, it was 1 set and that was the end of it. It's the middle of January and the stores still dont have nothing
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Post by BadGirlRyleigh on Jan 18, 2020 2:55:44 GMT -5
I was talking to a Mattel rep today while at Walmart. First she was surprised to learn that Mattel lost the DC action figure license (minus Fisher Price, Hot Wheels and the DC female dolls like the WWE ones) but she was saying that retailers like Target/Walmart don’t want to keep stuff in the back rooom anymore. They want their DC’s to hold it and send one or two cases to the stores and not send anything else until it’s almost out or out of stock at the stores. I work in retail and am in the back room of grocery stores and others such as walmart almost on a daily basis and i can confirm that the "truck to shelf" mentality is in full force. back rooms are getting condensed down and controlled more an more by human and computer, especially the latter. It boggles my mind that these stores are willing to sacrifice sales for a empty stock room, and sit on empty shelves or pegs until a computer orders or tells them to put said item out. I can confirm this, even my local grocery store has this attitude. I left for college and when I came back my coworker was like “yeah we get smaller trucks now and they try to get everything out immediately, they don’t want a lot of stock.” I have no idea where this came from especially since it’s the complete opposite of the way they used to do things but that’s what they want now.
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buddyboy101
Superstar
Joined on: Dec 26, 2004 12:34:57 GMT -5
Posts: 926
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Post by buddyboy101 on Jan 18, 2020 5:44:10 GMT -5
The toy industry, like many others, is a "victim" of the internet - kids are not playing with action figures, dolls, games, etc. like we did growing up; they are using apps, watching YouTube videos, playing online games, etc. I think Target had the right idea of starting the "collector's" section in its electronic departments, but even there, it's not well stocked, a bit of a mess, and subject to scalpers (sympathies to anyone who tried to track down Bebop/Rocksteady from NECA this past winter...).
Big box retail values every square footage based on sales, so it's only a matter of time when the 5-6 aisles of toys are shrunk down to 1-2 (much like CDs, DVDs, etc.), to make room for higher value items. The irony is highly demanded figures do sell very quickly, so it's really up to Target to calibrate with its suppliers to ensure the peg-warmers are cleared out and higher demanded inventory is well stocked. This means action figures are tracked and SKU'd at an individual character level, not the series/line level. I'm sure it's easier said than done, and Target/Walmart probably do not have the desire to invest that much into toy sales, nor can the suppliers control production so quickly at such a granular level.
The future of action figures will continue to be driven by a smaller market of enthusiasts/collectors willing to pay a higher dollar to keep their hobby going - which means specialty retailers, online retailers, direct to consumer, conventions, etc. will continue to be the way of the future as big box retailers will no longer find the current use of shelf space financially viable.
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Post by Triple S: POOR on Jan 18, 2020 5:56:03 GMT -5
There’s SO much more to this, besides Target and WalMart “not stocking shelves” and “being lazy”... or whatever other nonsense that gets spewed on here.
Competition is getting stronger and stronger. Online collectible retailers, Amazon (in general). I bet Ringside’s sales weren’t down from prior years.
The internet. It’s been this way for over a decade now. More and more each year, more people shop online. Granted they may be using Target/WalMart’s online services. Again, there’s still tons of options now.
Kids aren’t playing with toys as much anymore, or at least for a long of a period (age). Not sure how much that effects these numbers, but it sure isn’t helping.
Also, can the collecting community accept and understand that we aren’t the only people looking for these things (WWE, ML, etc)? It might be a niche collecting category, but people are still out buying these things. The Target employee isn’t hoarding the exclusives in the back to buy at the end They’re being sold. Plain and simple.
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captaintriumph
Mid-Carder
Joined on: Mar 9, 2019 6:51:16 GMT -5
Posts: 163
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Post by captaintriumph on Jan 18, 2020 7:02:08 GMT -5
Target and Walmart did not aggressively attack sales in toys last year....at least in my area.
They set their aisles a couple of times but they never had the selves and pegs regularly stocked.
It was definitely showing after Christmas. Usually there are an aisle or two made into clearance sections but very few stores had any real amount of clearance items at all.
They certainly didn’t over buy items last year...more like under buy.
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Post by ~*Young $ Money*~ on Jan 18, 2020 7:19:44 GMT -5
My target aisles are pretty crowded with old stock across many lines it seems. I don’t know if people aren’t buying or they just don’t have the figures everyone wants and are left with the shelf warmers. I also feel like this year there weren’t any hot have to have toys but I could be wrong.
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Post by keegandimitrijevic01 on Jan 18, 2020 7:59:48 GMT -5
Maybe if Elites weren't 29.99 plus tax in Canada, they'd sell more
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Post by ~*Young $ Money*~ on Jan 18, 2020 8:36:29 GMT -5
Maybe if Elites weren't 29.99 plus tax in Canada, they'd sell more I was looking for stuff on eBay that I’m missing and see stuff 26$ shipped and 30$ and I’m like damn aren’t elites like 18$ at Walmart? I go to target last week and got royal rumble Lita 21$. I haven’t bought in a while and realized how much they are again. Not the 30$ you guys pay but still sucks
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Post by LA Times on Jan 18, 2020 8:48:25 GMT -5
Maybe if Elites weren't 29.99 plus tax in Canada, they'd sell more I was looking for stuff on eBay that I’m missing and see stuff 26$ shipped and 30$ and I’m like damn aren’t elites like 18$ at Walmart? I go to target last week and got royal rumble Lita 21$. I haven’t bought in a while and realized how much they are again. Not the 30$ you guys pay but still sucks $30 CAD is about $23 USD, not that much of a difference especially factoring in import and duty fees
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taserface
Superstar
Joined on: Oct 28, 2017 16:10:39 GMT -5
Posts: 890
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Post by taserface on Jan 18, 2020 9:09:07 GMT -5
All we need is target to give up selling wwe exclusives and giving this recent news I hope it goes that way. No more target exclusives and walmart will give them up as well. Why compete with no one but yourself ?? Then we don't need to go into stores anymore, cause its not like mattel is gonna just magically fix there terrible distribution problems now. If Wal Mart quit doing Exclusives, the only one out of all of those released, thar would make it into the Elite line is E69 Rock. The way the line is now no way Backlund, Sherri, Stooges, Gorilla, Blassie would ever make it. And if they did it would take years, placing one here or there in a subset So the way I see it, at least they’re out, and you can get them Target on the other hand, most of those would fit into the Elite lines anyway so we wouldn’t really be missing out. As they would come eventually anyway It is a very flawed system though. I’ve already asked Steve why not include an Elite assortment of 7 characters or 8 characters to expand the line, and that got shot down quick.
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mpw
Mid-Carder
Joined on: Nov 20, 2016 13:44:38 GMT -5
Posts: 100
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Post by mpw on Jan 18, 2020 9:57:51 GMT -5
Oh sure, blame the lizard people. Humans are the absolute worst. 🙄
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Post by legendsguy on Jan 18, 2020 9:58:31 GMT -5
yea I almost never go to a store to buy any figures anymore. for the obvious reasons. its a duel edge sword in store, because if you store cant order them regularly. and then if they do, there not put on the floor for days , sometimes weeks... so by the time you see them , you prob already have bought elsewhere or changed your mind about it.
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Post by ~*Young $ Money*~ on Jan 18, 2020 10:32:15 GMT -5
yea I almost never go to a store to buy any figures anymore. for the obvious reasons. its a duel edge sword in store, because if you store cant order them regularly. and then if they do, there not put on the floor for days , sometimes weeks... so by the time you see them , you prob already have bought elsewhere or changed your mind about it. I hate hunting for figures now. I used to enjoy it when stores stocked and I found new stuff but man do I hate going to 3-4 targets and Walmart’s and seeing the SAME 3 figures everywhere. It’s just a feeling of wasted time and a why bother feel.
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