Case Assortments

[Nugundam2.0]

Ok. This has been nagging at me for a while. I would like to understand the fucking concept of short packing certain figures over others.

For instance, I find that the figures that would compliment other characters in a collection since there appearance is supported in some form of media.

So now with Prime we have dozens of BBs and CJs yet Wheeljack, and Soundwave are short packed?? WHY

Voyagers We get more primes and we have been primed to hate prime with his uber versions yet megatron one of the most pivotal characters in the whole dam franchise gets shortpacked to one per box. Explain that??

I just dont get it. Retailers are left with overstock and customers are left with shelf warmers which turn collectors to other sources ie third party.

[Nomad]

Characters like Optimus & Bumblebee need to always be in stock to avoid losing sales & advertisement opportunity, and of course because they're what sell the line. That's why they're packed more than the others, as this is how retail outlets can buffer. This creates consistency & reliability of what's there, and it's what retailers need to make money. We as collectors might not like it, but we're pretty much an irrelevant demographic because we'll find what we want regardless, and because our numbers account for next to nothing. I hate seeing nothing but shelfwarmers too, but that's the reasoning as I've come to understand it.

/2cents

[alternatorfan]

Originally Posted by Nugundam2.0

Ok. This has been nagging at me for a while. I would like to understand the fucking concept of short packing certain figures over others.

For instance, I find that the figures that would compliment other characters in a collection since there appearance is supported in some form of media.

So now with Prime we have dozens of BBs and CJs yet Wheeljack, and Soundwave are short packed?? WHY

Voyagers We get more primes and we have been primed to hate prime with his uber versions yet megatron one of the most pivotal characters in the whole dam franchise gets shortpacked to one per box. Explain that??

I just dont get it. Retailers are left with overstock and customers are left with shelf warmers which turn collectors to other sources ie third party.

wait it gets better as ratchet is one per case in a case of 8. get your hunting shoes on cause they will be bought up and sold at a higher price if you can even get your hands on one!

[Nomad]

They'll cost 19 bucks after tax & it'll be at least 9 to ship em anywhere (already 28 bucks if sold at cost), so I dunno how people will even make profit on them, especially seeing how much easier they'll be available through the states & through online retailers.

Just view your sightings thread, make a trip every week to TRU, wait like a month, and you'll find it, maybe even on sale. Heck, the big cities are even finding FE stuff all the time, so the PRID line shouldn't stay taboo for very long.

[pandaprime]

yah well check out this example

according to Protoman the RescueBots case assortment# 33051 for Canada is as follows:

2 Optimus Prime
2 Chase
2 Heatwave
2 Boulder
3 Bumblebee
1 Blades

WTF? why is Blades shafted?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vSX6M2lwg4

ffwd to approx. 6:08

[Nugundam2.0]

Originally Posted by Nomad

Characters like Optimus & Bumblebee need to always be in stock to avoid losing sales & advertisement opportunity, and of course because they're what sell the line. That's why they're packed more than the others, as this is how retail outlets can buffer. This creates consistency & reliability of what's there, and it's what retailers need to make money. We as collectors might not like it, but we're pretty much an irrelevant demographic because we'll find what we want regardless, and because our numbers account for next to nothing. I hate seeing nothing but shelfwarmers too, but that's the reasoning as I've come to understand it.

/2cents

Your explanation is confusing. Prime and BB are not moving and retailers dont want overstock. If they want advertising they can get a billboard. TRU at Vic Park Terrace has so much overstock that the merchandiser had told me they specifically requested not to send anymore stock because they dont know where to put it. Millions of BBs of all versions.

[Grimlock4Prime]

Originally Posted by Nomad

Characters like Optimus & Bumblebee need to always be in stock to avoid losing sales & advertisement opportunity, and of course because they're what sell the line. That's why they're packed more than the others, as this is how retail outlets can buffer. This creates consistency & reliability of what's there, and it's what retailers need to make money. We as collectors might not like it, but we're pretty much an irrelevant demographic because we'll find what we want regardless, and because our numbers account for next to nothing. I hate seeing nothing but shelfwarmers too, but that's the reasoning as I've come to understand it.

/2cents

I think this is basically it. Outside of the collector base, I'd wager than Optimus and Bumblebee are in fact the most popular characters and there's that need to keep them available to be bought. In all fairness though, the wave 1 PRiD deluxe assortment isn't that bad. 3:2:2:1 of Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, Wheeljackand Soundwave respectively. I think the best we could have hoped for would have been 2 of each.

Now if you want to get all conspiracy theory about it, try this out: Based on fan reactions to up coming toys, approximate popularities can be created. The figures that will be most sought after are diliberately shortpacked so that in order to fulfill the demand, more cases have to be purchased. In the end, Hasbro sells its toys and makes its money. The retailers are then left with the endless walls of Bumblebees that they have to deal with.

I'm not officially suporting that conspiracy theory mind you. It's crazy enough to be true, but it's also crazy. I'm going to stick with the first theory that Optimus and Bumblebee are out there whoring it up to keep the franchise going.

[razin]

Originally Posted by alternatorfan

wait it gets better as ratchet is one per case in a case of 8. get your hunting shoes on cause they will be bought up and sold at a higher price if you can even get your hands on one!

Ratchet is waves 2 and 3, so there is still opportunity to grab him again.

[gagagalvatron]

Originally Posted by Grimlock4Prime

I'm not officially suporting that conspiracy theory mind you. It's crazy enough to be true, but it's also crazy. I'm going to stick with the first theory that Optimus and Bumblebee are out there whoring it up to keep the franchise going.

It's not that crazy. It just means that Hasbro is now playing both ends of the market.

Hasbro has made a definite shift. We didn't see this kind of shortpacking with DOTM. Why the change? I believe the following things are true:

1) Optimus and Bumblebee are the most popular
2) Collectors and scalpers will target shortpacks
3) Hasbro believes shortpacks will drive sales

In a different world, this might actually work. Optimus and Bumblebee are the most popular, so having more of them and less of the others that only geeks want makes sense. In a perfect world, all the Bumblebees and Primes would be snapped up, and all the lesser known ones would be snapped up too, and retailers would then order new cases.

But we don't have a perfect world. As anyone with eyes has seen, the Primes and Bees don't magically disappear. The artificial demand may work in the short term, but won't as unsold product piles up. Last week in TRU Kitchener, I saw 27 FE Bees and 1 FE Arcee; 29 Leader Bees and 1 Leader Sentinel. Who is going to buy that product? The mix is so out of whack that it's never going to sell.

The fatal flaw is that retailers are not set up to handle this. Most people who work in big retail stores have no idea about their products, and CSRs do not have the ability or desire to order restocks. They often do not understand what their customers are telling them, and I've talked with employees who work only in toy departments who don't understand the case assortment issue. They'll listen when you tell them about the figures they don't have, smile, and then do nothing. As we saw with DOTM HA, retailers are not going to order new stuff so long as there's stuff clogging the shelves and the computer tells them there's buckets of unsold crap.

This move smacks of desperation on the part of Hasbro, because it won't end well. There will be boatloads of unsold Primes and Bees, pissed off collectors, and formerly loyal customers who tire of this kind of garbage. It will be DOTM Soundwave all over again.

I'm about there myself. When I picked up Soundwave and Wheeljack (full WM price), I felt a little relief, but I didn't feel like doing my customary happy dance. I wasn't even out of the store before I was thinking I'd have to continue doing this for Megatron, for Arcee and Ratchet, for Cyberverse. It sucked all the joy out of the moment.

[Oreobuilder]

If you try thinking like Hasbro for a minute, who are the shortpacked characters?

Wheeljack? He was in one episode. He won't be popular with most kids. Plus he's not really shortpacked as there are 2 in a case of 8 and he'll be back in wave 2.
Cliffjumper? See my remarks about WJ.
Soundwave? The only truly shortpacked figure in wave 1. He is in more than one episode, but he's far from a prominent character in the show. Plus bad guys don't sell as well as good guys and he'll be in the wave 2 assortment as well. So he'll be available.
Megatron? This one has me scracthing my head. I get the 3 for 1 ratio in the case with Prime, but I'm surprised that he won't be repeated in wave 2. Bad guys don't sell as well as good guys, but it's still Megatron. My guess is we'll be seeing a repaint in a later wave.

I'm not trying to defend the case ratios, I'm not crazy about them either (If it were up to me, all figs would have equal quantities in a case, but what do I know?). But the reality is that Hasbro is aiming this line at kids, while trying to get collectors what they want.

OB