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Enough with the Exclusives already


darthhenning

Exclusices  

37 members have voted

  1. 1. Do you like the practice of releasing exclusives?

    • Yes, always
      12
    • Only rarely
      19
    • No, Never
      6


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You're points are well thought out and valid JayC, but I find it unlikely that stores would choose not to carry Joe figures if they had the chance right now. Although they are limited market, they are flying off the shelves everywhere as far as I can tell. Ok, there are a few pegwarmers, but even those are usually gone within a few weeks.

 

If the stores are worried about how many they can sell, just order a few test cases for some major stores, and if they sell, order more for more stores, and repeat cycle.

 

My problem is that Hasbro appears to dictate that they will only release a limited run to a single chain making it hard for a collector, such as those on these boards, to find them, especially if they do not live near a Target (for example) or the nearest Target does not get that specific wave.

 

Its just unfair. Both Hasbro and the stores could maximize profit by distributing a smaller number to individual stores, but supplying more stores. IMO.

 

Well unfortunetly that perception I think is somewhat an optical illusion. I think these things have the appearance of flying off the shelf for the simple reason that stores haven't been ordering them in large numbers. My Wal-Mart puts out 1 - 3 cases per wave at most for the single carded figures, and out of the 3 wal-marts in my area only 1 of them even carries GIJoe so sure they are gonna dissapear quick, and even still I've managed to find on the shelves every single figure , comic pack and vehicle thats been release so far. The Comic Packs are everywhere. Just go to a store and look at the number of Star Wars figures on the shelf compared to GIJoe. And sure if you live in a more rual area with maybe only one or two stores carrying these things they are gonna be tough to find when the store maybe only gets a couple cases.

 

Now Im not saying GIJoe isn't popular. I think overall the stores are selling them fairly well and slowly increasing their orders. Hasbro even said they were going to increase product, but I dont think the stores just jumped at the chance to carry lots of GIJoe. They've started out slowly and as they continue to see demand grow they continue to increase product and a movie will only help that, cause retailers always think movie means instant promotion which increases demand.

 

Large vehicles though are hated by retailers cause they take up alot of valuable shelf space, so even with bigger lines like SW you usually see the larger vehicles released as exclusives. Im amazed that the upcoming new Falcon and AT-TE for that line are getting a general release. Hopefully they will both sell well and show them big vehicles do sell. However lets take a min and show an honest raising of hands. How many of you if it were ever made would really be able or willing to spend something like $150-$200 for a Flagg?? Yeah it's one badass toy but especially in this econmey how many of you really have that kind of money to spend on one toy or have the space to really make use of it. My guess is when it comes down to it there are not that many of us who do.

 

So it's not a consipircy against you all but all these places are business' and they have to have a reasonable expectation that if they cary something it will sell, and the bigger the item gets the more expensive it gets, the more space it takes up so it means the less overall product they can carry which in their eyes means less likely to make a profit from it, and so exclusives are one of the main ways they try to get around that.

 

Lets see another show of hands, how many of you when you didn't think the item would be hard to get and it was big and expensive decided to wait on buying it figuring it would eventually go on clearance and you'd buy it then?????

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I really like the exclusives Hasbro and various retailers put out there (when they're done well). Mainly since I find it easier to find them a lot of times then mainline product which is sold mostly in mass retail stores like Wal-Mart, Target, and K-Mart which are not always well stocked or well kept when it comes to their toy products. Perfect examply would be the new Extreme Conditions troop builder packs; BBTS and Entertainment Earth make it easier for a COBRA army builder for myself to get my hands on as many of these sets as I want without having to spend money on gasoline and hours hunting in various stores to find them. The same could be said for the TRU exclusives which have been the only constant G.I. Joe product at my local TRU for last three months.

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I have to ask, do they WANT to sell toys or NOT?? @grumpy@

 

I see the same crap (other items) on the shelves for months and months, big stuff, little stuff and it's usually always MOVIE related action figures and their rides and everything else under the sun they can manufacture for it, and yet it's always G.I.Joe they worry about over stocking, even when it's constantly sold out, or IS IT?

 

So now it might just be an illusion that they're selling well, selling faster than it allows some of us to even sneak in there and GET some for ourselves? Is it (instead) just a matter of them merely selling out of the measly two cases each store gets, which explains the appearing and quickly disappearing act of most the stuff. So with that scenario, you have to wonder why Hasbro keeps making something that's not REALLY all that popular (ENOUGH) with the retailers, who only EVER order the bare minimum? Is it just for the fans, as a show of gratitude, or is there something to be said about these little Joes, that still means bringing in a PROFIT? Yes...No?

 

G.I.Joe toys seem to be the only toy that's required to sell OUT (in mere weeks from it's being stocked) or it's considered clutter by the retail chains and no more orders placed. Does Hasbro have to "bribe" these chains to even get the few cases stocked that they do? Are the "exclusives" part of this "bribery" or does Target actually ASK for such an item to be sold ONLY thru them, as though they're sorta, kinda acknowledging that such an item will certainly sell well, like they have some knowledge of the crazy fan base BEHIND the line? When the one case of vehicles disappears within hours, do they quickly order more, to keep the HOT item stocked so that maybe they can sell MORE and make more PROFIT, or did they honor their obligation to Hasbro to carry at least ONE friggin case of these things and that's it?

 

That new HULK figure, (the target exclusive one) is stocked pretty plentiful right now, and i can run out and buy about 20 of them...no problem. They'll still be around in 3 months probably, but is there this much DIFFICULTY in dealing with these items, like it is with G.I.Joe?

 

Obviously, I've never worked in the retail industry or toy industry, and I'm ignorant to the BS round table dealings that go on between all the suits of BOTH, but it sure sounds like one big crock of SHEEEEEEEET and a lot of unnecessary 2nd guessing and politics over....TOYS??? @hmmm@

 

Was Target the only store that told Hasbro they'd carry the vehicles if they made them? Is this why they're exclusive to Target only? If so, then why the suggestion that Target doesn't really want to carry such items but WILL...in SMALL quantities? So that's where the notion is coming from that we're just "damn lucky to even be getting any of this stuff at all" theory is coming from?

 

It'd be nice to get some clear, concise and legitimate answers on just how some of this bizarre interaction (between Hasbro and the retailers) goes down.

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Your throwing words like bribes out which I don't think is the case and I certainly never said. Why does Hasbro push GIJoe? because its their baby thats been around for decades. Why does Mattel keep trying to push MOTU??? same reason.

 

Hulk is a movie line. Movie is magic to these guys like I said before because they are self promoting and even though movie stuff always seems to clogg shelves for months, the stores must sell enough that it makes it worthwhile. I don't think they are massacistic and stock stuff they constanly take a loss on.

 

Was Target the only one willing to carry these vehicles? I don't know for sure, but sometimes you just have to use common sence and think a little. If a business could sell hundreds of thousands of something as opposed to a couple thousand at least when your talking about major corporations like Hasbro do you honestly think they wouldn't? Some of you act like its some kind of conspiracy against you like Hasbro is turning down the opportunity to make more money to screw you over or that Wal-Mart doesnt want to carry alot of something they know will sell out cause they decided they didn't want to make more money that day.

 

I don't mean to sound harsh or mean, but some of you decide you don't like something and act like it's a personal vendetta against you and seem to think by just sitting on here or any other message board bitching about it is going to change things. Instead of always attacking and tearing down things, why not try to understand why things happen and really work to change things. That's why I suggested ways to try and bring new people into the hobby not chase them away. The bigger your numbers the more influence you will have. The more sales Hasbro makes the more willing they are going to be to do new things. The more stores sell the stuff the more they will be willing to carry stuff.

 

When someone new comes on to this board or any other and sees nothing but threads like this sucks or that sucks or I hate this or I hate that, do you honestly think it's going to encourage them to want to become part of the hobby? Would you want to become part of something like that??

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@popcorn@

 

Wow this has been an entertaining read lol. I too do not like exclusives that much, however that is why you meet some great people at the con and everyone looks out for each other. That is the way to get this all done. With the TRU and TARGET exclusives coming out. This is a great time to be a Joe collector, and if we all help out each other, then we all benefit, on the other hand if people just want to keep everything for themselves, then that is on them too, I guess, but then people "might not" want to help those people find what they are looking for. Again, nice read though.... @popcorn@

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Your throwing words like bribes out which I don't think is the case and I certainly never said.

 

Oh, I know you didn't. I'm throwing a LOT of stuff out there as just a rant, because the situation is frustrating me to no end. I'm irritated with the whole business of G.I.Joe collecting and the games that seem to be played between the makers of them and the sellers of them.

 

 

Why does Hasbro push GIJoe? because its their baby thats been around for decades.

 

Of course, but are they doing so at a Loss?

 

 

Hulk is a movie line. Movie is magic to these guys like I said before because they are self promoting and even though movie stuff always seems to clogg shelves for months, the stores must sell enough that it makes it worthwhile. I don't think they are massacistic and stock stuff they constanly take a loss on.

 

You wouldn't think so anyway, but are we just "thinking" or do we (any of us) know? I don't have any sales figures in front of me on ANY of this stuff (G.I.Joe sales included) to make an accurate statement on whether Joe's are actually sellin poorly, but they're Hasbro's baby so they're willing to take a loss on them just to give the fans a few more runs of it? I don't know for sure if the poorly stocked shelves (in many cases) are an indication of just the opposite either, and that sales are pretty good, so the missing stock is because it's all SOLD OUT? Same question with the movie line items, like SW, Hulk, Spiderman, Batman, Indy Jones or Power Rangers and wrestling stuff...is that stuff selling anymoreso than the G.I.joe stuff, just that they keep THEM fully stocked and replenish the shelfs just as soon as they all sell out, before i get there and see the empty spots, like i do of the Joe stuff? TONS of those items for not selling or from being more quickly restocked? I don't know for sure. :(

 

Some of you act like its some kind of conspiracy against you like Hasbro is turning down the opportunity to make more money to screw you over or that Wal-Mart doesnt want to carry alot of something they know will sell out cause they decided they didn't want to make more money that day.

 

Well, I'm not much into "conspiracy theories" so I hope you're not lumping me in with THOSE nutjobs? :P I'm TRULY just befuddled by the whole business, and what would SEEM to make sense to me, like making money and making MORE of the stuff that's MAKING you the money, shouldn't be so complicated, but apparently 9at least from what I read and gather sometimes) it IS?

 

I don't mean to sound harsh or mean, but some of you decide you don't like something and act like it's a personal vendetta against you and seem to think by just sitting on here or any other message board bitching about it is going to change things. Instead of always attacking and tearing down things, why not try to understand why things happen and really work to change things. That's why I suggested ways to try and bring new people into the hobby not chase them away. The bigger your numbers the more influence you will have. The more sales Hasbro makes the more willing they are going to be to do new things. The more stores sell the stuff the more they will be willing to carry stuff.

 

Well, there's a lot of ways to disqualify the opinions of those that complain "too much" (as seems to be the charge here) and making them out to be "paranoid" or being negative just for the sake of being "party poopers" is as old of a way as it gets, but i don't let what everybody else thinks of these toys, bother me so much...it's just for fun and i spend maybe a little TOO much time on it (the hobby as a whole) already, so some of your suggestions would seem valid, but probably not so likely. Besides, just because ONE fan doesn't like this or that, on a particular item, doesn't mean that Hasbro will jump right to it, in getting it fixed, and you're right though, if MANY fans don't like it, they MIGHT make a change to it, but that's why we're HERE.....we all chime in with our opinions and by THAT alone, should get the message out, and I believe it does. Did some group organize themselves to get Flints arms changed, or Dukes arms, how about the diaper crotches at first on some of them? Were these changed by hasbro by petition or just the overall vibe they picked up on (maybe from reading one or two of them? ;)) from the ongoing chatter of fans of sites like this?

 

 

When someone new comes on to this board or any other and sees nothing but threads like this sucks or that sucks or I hate this or I hate that, do you honestly think it's going to encourage them to want to become part of the hobby? Would you want to become part of something like that??

 

I already am! When I joined here, there was just as much complaining and fussing about the toys as there is NOW, probably even MORE back then. It's like that everywhere and for EVERY subject, not just G.I.Joe toys, don't fool yourself (or listen to others) into believing otherwise. if you're getting some grief by someone that TNI (your site) is too negative or something, it's a bunch of BS! There's folks that like to have more control over the discussions about these toys and you've never been into that, at least not with JUST G.I.Joe (as you have many interests) and that's what makes this site the best of the bunch. I still see waaaay more positive comments, in each and every thread, but what we all see is what we WANT to see, and if we're focused on some notion that TNI Joe fans are bitter and negative and whatnot, then that's the stuff that will get our attention, and we'll gloss right over the good stuff, and it's here, believe me.

 

Your members are pretty good people and they make up a portion of the members for other sites as well, so for the most part, it's a lot of the same people all over the place.

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I have to agree with ViperHunter, we're not trying to decry Hasbro, or sales of G.I. Joe or anything else. We just find the practice of exclusives frustrating.

 

JayC I'm not suggesting that every store in the US and Canada get dozens of each exclusive, I don't think anyone is. It would just be nice if each store got ONE case. The problem is that if a store carries an exclusive, they only seem to release it to a few randomly selected stores, and anyone who doesn't happen to live near them is SOL.

 

As for most stores not wanting to carry a lot of large sets that is far from true. I don't know when you were last in Toys R Us, but the store is filled with large sets. Not only for movies like StarWars, Golden Compass, or Speed Racer, but also for lines that have no ties to movies - huge wrestling playsets, huge military playsets produced by matel (forget the name right now but they include Jets, hummers, tanks and the like) and many other lines that I don't remember offhand.

 

Many stores actually prefer to stock a few large sets rather than a lot of small ones because they require fewer customers who each buy one or two large sets to get more revenue than more customers who buy 2 or more single figures (Do the math 1 customer x 1 $50 set vs. 2 customers x 2 $8 figures each).

 

As for your comment: if you live in a more rual area with maybe only one or two stores carrying these things they are gonna be tough to find when the store maybe only gets a couple cases.

 

I live in Calgary, with a metro area with a population of over 1.1 million, the third largest city in Canada. You're not telling me that Hasbro considers a market like that RURAL?? We have 4 Toys R Us in the city, only one of which is even ALOWED by Hasbro to order Joes (I've asked if the others can, and found they cannot) and 4 WalMarts only 2 of which carry Joes (at which Joe is a non-replenishable item, meaning that the store is again NOT ALLOWED to order more when they run out, they only get what Hasbro choses to send them). And if you're about to blame Walmart or TRU Canada, don't waste your time, each store in this city orders Directly from Hasbro Canada.

 

5 comic stores that sell Joes (Thank Heaven, they are the only place I find most things) attempt to sell Joes. 4 of them only get one case at a time and, as they are small retailers, I can understand this. However, one of them ordered 10 (ten) cases of wave 7 due to the demand they had for them. You know what happened, Hasbro sent them 1 (one) the week of release, and a second (thats two) the next week with a letter saying that they would not (not could not, but would not, their words) fill the order and that the payment received for wave 7 would be used as a credit towards future purchases.

 

Now, I'm not accusing Hasbro of a conspiracy, but in my area, it seems that the retailers are more than willing to carry a larger number of G.I. Joe items for sale, but are not able. If you could explain how this makes sense JayC, please try.

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Well I wasn't really trying to point fingers at anyone specific and there is no drama here as Tazzman seemed to indicate, just a dicussion on current state of affairs, and I was simply trying to point our some explanation as to maybe why things are the way they are. When you understand why something happens, I think it can sometimes help lessen some frustration and also helps you to maybe look at ways to objectively try to improve things. While at the con this weekend and often times on the boards I read alot of complaints that make it sound like people do take it personally, like it's a conspiracy against them or something. I certainly understand the frustration of not being able to find something as I'm a collector to and have made many a toy run and come back empty handed.

 

Tazzman's idea of collectors helping each other out, looking at online etailers who take pre-orders for these things, posting area report finds as soon as you find something, listing things like DCPI #'s when people get them ect ect are all ways I think can help lessen the frustration of finding these toys which is one of the reasons these boards are here.

 

I mean (and a guess this is a little finger pointing here) but instead of starting a thread off on a negative tone like "Enough with the Exclusives already, Isn't availability bad enough already?"

 

Why not start one like "Ok we gotta a bunch of cool exclusives everyone is gonna want, lets brainstorm on ways we can help each other now to make sure everyone can get em."

 

Maybe it's just me but trying to have a positive outlook like that not only could really have a shot of lessing the frustration many of you say you have, but possibly bring some fun back into the hobby and really get people involved. Just something to think about.

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i agree with jay it seems its always negative stuff said about everythign and never positive/constructive things.

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Well I wasn't really trying to point fingers at anyone specific and there is no drama here as Tazzman seemed to indicate, just a dicussion on current state of affairs, and I was simply trying to point our some explanation as to maybe why things are the way they are. When you understand why something happens, I think it can sometimes help lessen some frustration and also helps you to maybe look at ways to objectively try to improve things. While at the con this weekend and often times on the boards I read alot of complaints that make it sound like people do take it personally, like it's a conspiracy against them or something. I certainly understand the frustration of not being able to find something as I'm a collector to and have made many a toy run and come back empty handed.

 

I appologize if any of my comments implied that I took the release of exclusives personally. That was certainly not my intention. I mearly meant to imply that the current methods for distribution of these exclusives is sorely lacking. It does help to know why things happen to lessen frustration, but if you look at my previous post, you can understand why the curent ordering methods leave me disappointed. I know that we collectors always make many toy runs and come back empty handed, thats part of the job, but when these empty runs become the norm, and finding something is a very rare ocassion, something is wrong with distribution, and thats what I'm trying to get across.

 

Tazzman's idea of collectors helping each other out, looking at online etailers who take pre-orders for these things, posting area report finds as soon as you find something, listing things like DCPI #'s when people get them ect ect are all ways I think can help lessen the frustration of finding these toys which is one of the reasons these boards are here.

 

It does help when collectors band together to help one another. I rely on the sightings posted here and elsewhere to determine when I will make my toy runs.

 

 

I mean (and a guess this is a little finger pointing here) but instead of starting a thread off on a negative tone like "Enough with the Exclusives already, Isn't availability bad enough already?"

 

Why not start one like "Ok we gotta a bunch of cool exclusives everyone is gonna want, lets brainstorm on ways we can help each other now to make sure everyone can get em."

 

Maybe it's just me but trying to have a positive outlook like that not only could really have a shot of lessing the frustration many of you say you have, but possibly bring some fun back into the hobby and really get people involved. Just something to think about.

 

Fair enough, admittedly the title is somewhat (ok, completely) negative, but it was the only way I could think of at the time to express my shere frustration. It would be good to brainstorm ideas on how to help others find the exclusives, and if anyone has suggestions, feel free to share here, I for one would greatly appreciate it.

 

As for the negativity of the original post in the thread, I should clarify as it seams most people missed my main point. Yes, the practice of releasing exclusives annoys me, however, under most circumstances, I'm willing to ignore it. My two problems are that:

 

1) at this time there is no coherent plan to evenly distribute the exculsives across North America, certain highly localized clumpings always appear, and the colectors and ebay scalpers in that area are the ones who get lucky, and;

 

2) the vast number of exclusives for the rest of the year. Wave 9 and Wave 1 vehicles are being spotted now, CP wave 5 is expected later this month. That leave 1 waves of vehicles, and 2 waves of single packs for the next 5 to 6 months. At the convention both I and someone else pointed out in this or another thread that other than the wave 7 figures, Firebat and Sharc, and DVD sets that we already knew were coming, the only things they showed WERE exclusives. Hasbro made no attempt to introduce new mass market products, and instead provided us with a vast conglomeration of exclusives. If hasbro limited the number of exclusives to 2-5 per year, I would have no problem, but there are at least 10-15 sets this year that will be nearly impossible to find exclusives.

 

Basically my major issue is with the number and availability of exclusives for this line this year, not the basic concept of having an exclusive. If these two issues were solved, I would have no problem with exclusives.

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I mean (and a guess this is a little finger pointing here) but instead of starting a thread off on a negative tone like "Enough with the Exclusives already, Isn't availability bad enough already?"

 

Why not start one like "Ok we gotta a bunch of cool exclusives everyone is gonna want, lets brainstorm on ways we can help each other now to make sure everyone can get em."

 

 

The thing is....we're ALL different animals here, and being ultra positive is ONE breed of animal, being ultra negative is another breed and being somewhere in the middle is yet ANOTHER. That's the whole thing about any community and what adds a bit of entertainment, in all the variety it brings to the table, without everybody being the idealistic cookie-cutter boy scout, helping old ladies cross the street when traffic is bad.

 

Some of us critique things like Simon Cowell, while others are more like Paula Abdul, and I doubt I really need to cite the difference in styles...do I? ;)

 

 

Maybe it's just me but trying to have a positive outlook like that not only could really have a shot of lessing the frustration many of you say you have, but possibly bring some fun back into the hobby and really get people involved. Just something to think about.

 

I'm frustrated about the "exclusives" (particularly the ones TARGET is suppose to carry) never being available to me. I read the topic title, and related to the "negative" tone of it and agreed with how "enough is enough" and something needs to change in this area, or at least I'd like to see an improvement in some of it. I guess darthhenning struck a common chord with me, I related and responded. I never gave one iota of thought to the negative-ness of his post, just the same as i don't think too much about whether or not somebody is being too POSITIVE about something i think is all wrong and sucks. It goes both ways, but all I ever see is somebody getting personally knocked down and ridiculed for being negative about plastic toys and the folks that either make them or sell them, I don't think I've seen much of the opposite where members are being told their "stupid" and "annoying" for being all warm & fuzzy and POSITIVE all the time.

 

Why are we so focused on HOW each of us presents themselves anyway? Nobody here is a "professional" critic to begin with, we're just fans and collectors and the line has a LOT of variety within it, so the opinions will vary just as much as the line has. it's unavoidable that conflicting viewpoints are going to exist and most the silly stuff is for fun and amusement to keep things lively and entertain each other. It's hardly worth it, if we get all anal ultra SERIOUS about this stuff, I have a REAL life for all that business.

 

I say everybody just needs to lighten up and stop being so sensitive about what others are saying about toys and movies and whatnot. Let the women cry about all their soap operas! ^_^

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A case of Target exclusives was one of each item btw...

 

So, if one person sees them, and wants them, that's one case gone.

 

If one person wants one of each to keep sealed and one of each to open, that's two cases gone.

 

In my case, I ended up with three full cases, and was evil and took five more hiss tanks.

 

-Kevin

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The thing that I don't understand in all of this, is if these exclusive items SELL OUT, why aren't they just ordering more? If Hasbro wants to make money, Target wants to make money and something is actually flying off the shelves (or at least selling well enough) why is there never a restock? If they ARE restocking, but I just keep missing out (due to exclusive whores like Admiral here @smilepunch@ ) then i have to STILL ask, why aren't they keeping them coming?

 

Are these limited collector items on top of being exclusives? I mean, even the online shops sell out of most this stuff fairly quickly and i don't even see THEM restocking a whole lot.

 

If it ain't rabid fans and collectors gobbling them up, then it's ebay sellers grabbing all the "hot" items, or it's collectors "networking" for OTHER collectors on G.I.Joe boards, so they're buying them all up to help out everyone else having fits about the lack of adequate numbers of stockable Joe toys.

 

How do you WIN? @grumpy@

 

 

 

I'd just like to buy the stuff for myself, without all the hassle and difficulty, but I guess that's a thing of the past as well.

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The thing that I don't understand in all of this, is if these exclusive items SELL OUT, why aren't they just ordering more? If Hasbro wants to make money, Target wants to make money and something is actually flying off the shelves (or at least selling well enough) why is there never a restock? If they ARE restocking, but I just keep missing out (due to exclusive whores like Admiral here @smilepunch@ ) then i have to STILL ask, why aren't they keeping them coming?

 

Are these limited collector items on top of being exclusives? I mean, even the online shops sell out of most this stuff fairly quickly and i don't even see THEM restocking a whole lot.

 

If it ain't rabid fans and collectors gobbling them up, then it's ebay sellers grabbing all the "hot" items, or it's collectors "networking" for OTHER collectors on G.I.Joe boards, so they're buying them all up to help out everyone else having fits about the lack of adequate numbers of stockable Joe toys.

 

How do you WIN? @grumpy@

 

 

 

I'd just like to buy the stuff for myself, without all the hassle and difficulty, but I guess that's a thing of the past as well.

 

This is the same thing I've been wondering about the entire 25th Anniversary line.

 

I know I saw it mentioned that Hasbro stated at the con that they would work more towards keeping hasbrotoyshop.com in stock. Well, what I don't get is why it took them 9+ waves to figure out that they weren't keeping enough in stock on their site? Does it really take a rocket scientist to look at previous sales, and go "well, last wave, we released 'x' amount of figures, and they sold out in 'x' amount of time...maybe next wave we should try producing more to keep up with demand."?

 

Just recently, I questioned BBTS why I hadn't received my case of Wave 6-Revision 1, and Joel informed me that they only received 5% of the cases they ordered for that wave. 5%! WTF? I'm not really sure how sales to websites work, but you'd think if Hasbro had ANY distributor ordering from them, they would try to fulfill more than 5% of the requested order.

 

I just really don't get it...

 

The thing is, any good merchandiser knows that in order to maximize profit, you need to know what your max sales are. Now, tell me, how will you ever maximize your profit if you don't friggin' know what you are capable of selling, because you constantly under-stock product? The rational thing to do, from a sales prospective, is to OVERSTOCK, and then trim your production down according to previous sales.

 

You'd think as many years as Hasbro has been in business, they would understand this concept, but obviously, they don't.

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The thing that I don't understand in all of this, is if these exclusive items SELL OUT, why aren't they just ordering more? If Hasbro wants to make money, Target wants to make money and something is actually flying off the shelves (or at least selling well enough) why is there never a restock? If they ARE restocking, but I just keep missing out (due to exclusive whores like Admiral here @smilepunch@ ) then i have to STILL ask, why aren't they keeping them coming?

 

Are these limited collector items on top of being exclusives? I mean, even the online shops sell out of most this stuff fairly quickly and i don't even see THEM restocking a whole lot.

 

If it ain't rabid fans and collectors gobbling them up, then it's ebay sellers grabbing all the "hot" items, or it's collectors "networking" for OTHER collectors on G.I.Joe boards, so they're buying them all up to help out everyone else having fits about the lack of adequate numbers of stockable Joe toys.

 

How do you WIN? @grumpy@

 

 

 

I'd just like to buy the stuff for myself, without all the hassle and difficulty, but I guess that's a thing of the past as well.

 

This is the same thing I've been wondering about the entire 25th Anniversary line.

 

I know I saw it mentioned that Hasbro stated at the con that they would work more towards keeping hasbrotoyshop.com in stock. Well, what I don't get is why it took them 9+ waves to figure out that they weren't keeping enough in stock on their site? Does it really take a rocket scientist to look at previous sales, and go "well, last wave, we released 'x' amount of figures, and they sold out in 'x' amount of time...maybe next wave we should try producing more to keep up with demand."?

 

Just recently, I questioned BBTS why I hadn't received my case of Wave 6-Revision 1, and Joel informed me that they only received 5% of the cases they ordered for that wave. 5%! WTF? I'm not really sure how sales to websites work, but you'd think if Hasbro had ANY distributor ordering from them, they would try to fulfill more than 5% of the requested order.

 

I just really don't get it...

 

The thing is, any good merchandiser knows that in order to maximize profit, you need to know what your max sales are. Now, tell me, how will you ever maximize your profit if you don't friggin' know what you are capable of selling, because you constantly under-stock product? The rational thing to do, from a sales prospective, is to OVERSTOCK, and then trim your production down according to previous sales.

 

You'd think as many years as Hasbro has been in business, they would understand this concept, but obviously, they don't.

Both of you have hammered the tail on the donkey with a baseball bat. Hasbro has way too many economic analyst, and not enough business opportunist.

Any good board member would say "Let's go for it!", but many of the board members are bankers, and bankers only go for things that are "guarantees".

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I'm not being a jerk about this Henning, I swear... but... don't you feel you might be over reacting just a smidge?

 

I mean, we're getting wave 9 and 10 in stores, right? The DVD Adventure sets and most of the vehicles (Firebat, Sharc) aren't exclusive to any specific outlet.

 

What we have is a couple of items that they didn't HAVE to make, but did, and decided the best venue for those particular items were specific retail outlets. I mean, how many times have we heard it... vehicles without lights, sounds, blazing colors and OUTRAGEOUS gimmicks don't sell? While I don't entirely agree with it, I'm not one to risk the safety of the line by putting Rattlers and Conquests on every shelf of every store, ultimately finding them on clearance.

 

And contrary to what folks think, 'clearance' doesn't mean they sold so many they can afford to cut back the price. It means they didn't sell, Hasbro's leaking cash and the line will suffer for it. All you guys who say "I'll wait until it's on clearance" ... Curse you!

 

As if this isn't enough of a slap in the face, the Arctic and Desert sets will be online exclusives - OK where and how many will be made - will more than 50 people even be able to get a hold of them?

 

While I understand the argument of Canadians and the cost of exporting toys, I can't really accept this as a fair argument. Slap in the face? Again, the Arctic and Desert sets strike me as a TOTAL "We didn't HAVE to do this" piece. I mean, I've NEVER been one for it, but Joe fans frequently demand Joes and Cobras in enviornment specific outfits. I've never heard any child cry out "my playtime would be so much better if Cobra Commander was wearing a parka this winter" It's adult fans. Thus, these sets come to be in a way that - in all honesty - only adults will have the means and motive to acquire. If anyone wants them, Bigbadtoystore still has them for pre-order, and I, for one, ordered like ten sets. So, there's enough for everyone, I reckon. They didn't sell out already.

 

I know BBTS ships outside the U.S. - I've had them ship to me in Iraq, and it's not too harsh on the S&H even! So, reasonably, it's a question of how badly you desire something. I've had to pay scalper prices, sure... but I wanted to, ultimately. I can't believe BBTS charges more than anyone else out there, and I'm almost certain will carry every exclusive out there.

 

Like I said... it's a question of whether you want it or not.

 

Tom

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Just thought I'd add that I chose "yes, always" for the poll.

 

Montana sucks. Everything is EXTREMELY spread out. Hell, it takes a full day of travel just to cover the length of this state.

 

I have 1 Walmart, 1 Target, and 1 Kmart where I live.

 

The next nearest Walmart is 70 miles away (Polson, MT), and in a small town. I've never been in it before, but I doubt they stock product any better than the larger area I live in. The next closest one after that is 120 miles away (Missoula, MT). The next closest after that is about 230 miles and in the next state over (Coeur d' Alene, Idaho).

 

The next closest Target is 120 miles away (Missoula). The next closest is 230 miles (Coeur d' Alene).

 

For TRU, I'm pretty much screwed. The ONLY TRU in Montana is in Billings...and that's well over 400 miles from my house. If I want to continue to go east from Billings, the next closest TRU is in St. Cloud, MN...that's well over 1000 miles. The closest TRU south of me is in Salt Lake City...that's about a full days drive from my house. The closest TRU is east in Spokane, Washington...which is 2 states over, and about 250 miles away. What really sucks about this, is GI Joe has had a TON of TRU exclusives in the past, so I have to either bother people here on the boards, or go the ebay route. Both choices suck IMHO.

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Just thought I'd add that I chose "yes, always" for the poll.

 

Montana sucks. Everything is EXTREMELY spread out. Hell, it takes a full day of travel just to cover the length of this state.

 

I have 1 Walmart, 1 Target, and 1 Kmart where I live.

 

The next nearest Walmart is 70 miles away (Polson, MT), and in a small town. I've never been in it before, but I doubt they stock product any better than the larger area I live in. The next closest one after that is 120 miles away (Missoula, MT). The next closest after that is about 230 miles and in the next state over (Coeur d' Alene, Idaho).

 

The next closest Target is 120 miles away (Missoula). The next closest is 230 miles (Coeur d' Alene).

 

For TRU, I'm pretty much screwed. The ONLY TRU in Montana is in Billings...and that's well over 400 miles from my house. If I want to continue to go east from Billings, the next closest TRU is in St. Cloud, MN...that's well over 1000 miles. The closest TRU south of me is in Salt Lake City...that's about a full days drive from my house. The closest TRU is east in Spokane, Washington...which is 2 states over, and about 250 miles away. What really sucks about this, is GI Joe has had a TON of TRU exclusives in the past, so I have to either bother people here on the boards, or go the ebay route. Both choices suck IMHO.

 

**EDIT**

 

Meant to edit my previous post and accidentally hit "reply." @lol@

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The next closest is 230 miles (Coeur d' Alene).

 

I wouldn't go there on principle. That's a ridiculous name.

 

Tom

 

That, and it's a breeding ground for Neo-Nazis.

 

No joke.

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The thing that I don't understand in all of this, is if these exclusive items SELL OUT, why aren't they just ordering more?

 

Well only time will tell if they were telling the truth, but as mentioned before at the con they said that they would be upping production on all these items. That would indicate to me that the initial stuff did sell well and now they are willing to take on more and therefore Hasbro will make more.

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A case of Target exclusives was one of each item btw...

 

So, if one person sees them, and wants them, that's one case gone.

 

If one person wants one of each to keep sealed and one of each to open, that's two cases gone.

 

In my case, I ended up with three full cases, and was evil and took five more hiss tanks.

 

-Kevin

 

You are an evil man @nono@

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Usually on exclusives the company and retailer decide the numbers in advance so that explaines why there is never more later to restock. Hasbro makes all that was agreed on and gives it to whovever and that is that.

 

Both Hasbro and the retailers will have to decide if previous sales were good enough to raise the quantities the next time. I think Hasbro would probably go as high as a retailer wanted it's just getting the retailer to go with more in the first place.

 

Wal-Mart especially has all kinds of internal problems on the corporate end so I doubt we will ever see any improvements there. Toy, especially exclusives are not something they care much about.

 

There is not any one big reason why the exclusives availabilty is so screwed up all the time. There are like dozens of thing factoring into it.

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Man, you guys should plan a vacation to Iowa. We had so many Target exclusives that they went on clearance. Well... wait a couple of weeks so we can get this flood water out of here.

 

On the down-side it takes us forever to move enough product to get the lastest waves of single packs out. We're just now getting Vipers in stock on a regular basis.

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