Post by RedDevil on Nov 21, 2024 7:25:12 GMT -5
Retros should be sold at smyths too. I wonder why mattel doesnt take asvantage of that. Even if they made less money, they could at least sell out quicker keeping the line going longer.
They did stock the first two series back in 2016 (not sure if that was the first Walmart exclusive line we had in the UK? I wasn't following Mattel until they launched the Retros which lit a fire under the Hasbro collectors community).
I suspect that will have been a special case though due to the nostalgia of the line making the marketing argument perhaps easier to pitch to a retailer, but even then we didn't get the first few cases that had Kevin Owens and Roman Reigns, instead we got the cases that had them replaced with Taker and Lesnar so we had to import Owens and Reigns from the US on eBay since Walmart obviously don't serve outside the US (nor inside the US it seems).
As with in the US though, series 3 of the line ruined everything since there were millions of them produced that were appearing in discount stores here for like a year or so afterwards at least; after that Smyths dropped the line. Not sure how receptive they'd be to taking the line on again, but it would need a US store to carry it as well since the UK won't be big enough on its own to justify a line.
Plus you keep all those customers who will then go and buy other mattel products. Again companies dont value the customer like they used to. Smyths however gets it. They also have a very good inventory system. Very precise and updated. You guys have it good there in the uk.
We have it good with the MNW line, but generally we're not well served on exclusive lines - I think we didn't get any of the Ruthless Aggression line for example, and most of the Ultimates were missing after the third series. Legends appeared recently, but at a much higher price than the usual Elites, so that didn't last long understandably. SuperStars are being carried by online retailers I believe, but that's a pretty new thing. We didn't get the Collectors Editions up until the Bulldogs Davey Boy figure, and many of the usual Elite series have figures missing (usually female figures I believe).
So in many ways we're in the same place as US collectors - we hope that Ringside get the figures we want, and cringe when Mattel announce exclusive lines (particularly Walmart lines).
But these lines aren't really my area of expertise - other UK-based forum members would be better to confirm the history.
However there's no doubt that Smyths is amazing, and having visited the US a few times in recent years then Smyths have to be protected at all costs!
