Quote:
Originally Posted by Napseeker
Someone more knowledgeable can correct me, but in order to get the best wholesale price from Hasbro, a retailer should have an account with Hasbro Canada. But that then entails that the retailer has to order a certain minimum quantity of Hasbro stuff each month.
Could it be that TRU no longer has an account with Hasbro because they're not buying the necessary minimum any more? They would then have to go through some middleman like Everest to get their Hasbro product, which means a higher wholesale price which leads to a higher retail price.
Just a theory... it could still just be greed / price gouging or some mix of all of it.
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Putman Investments, the company that bought TRU, and also owns Sunrise Records, FYE, and HMV Retail UK, amongst others, also owns the Everest Toys distribution company, which was actually started by his parents. (
https://retail-insider.com/retail-in...ail-interview/,
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/can...ound-1.5026218)
I believe the higher prices on Hasbro items are a kickback to Everest, and/or a shady accounting scheme, though I have no proof, and it's just a hunch. That being said, I know Toy Snowman gets stock directly from Hasbro, so I don't think size is an issue here. Toys R Us is massive, and they could get the best contracts with Hasbro, if they wanted. But it's not in their interest, because of their common ownership with Everest.
Lego is Lego, and McFarlane is distributed by Grosnor in Canada, so it makes sense that the items TRU hikes prices on are the ones they distribute themselves. Also, Hasbro's recent price hikes give them a bit of cover, and they could say it's not their fault. But obviously, they are far exceeding Hasbro's new MSRP at this point.
On the flipside, McFarlane doesn't have the same pressure to raise prices because they are a private company, and are not beholden to the whims of shareholders by squeezing their profit margins. If Todd wants to absorb the extra costs, instead of passing them onto consumers, he's free to do that, and, for the most part, that seems to be his current game plan.
Of course, this is all just based on cursory research, and a rudimentary understanding of business practices, and I have no proof one way or the other. But it's not difficult to put two and two together…
