Consumers and Retailers doing what HASBRO Wont!

Greetings all!

Welcome to part two in my articles on "Plastic Free Packaging" in action figure lines. In the last post I discussed clearanceing and discounting, so here I will elaborate on why the general consumer are not buying and how the retailers are responding. 

Consumers, other than collectors, have been conditioned by the manufacturers to associate image with product, we know the term as "Branding". In action figures retro and vintage are expected to be graphic cards generally, with a figure in a bubble, and 6 inch lines are in stylized boxes with a display window. This is how we have been conditioned to expect to see these items and when we shop, it is what we look for. Now if you collect video games and DVD's etc... we expect them to be in a sealed box with artwork and imagery reflective of the product. Action figures are not DVD's so we expect to see what we are buying.

Now there are two trains of thought on this, the collector wants to see if the figure reflects the promotional advertising, often viewing a figure in person pushes a collector over the edge as it looks better in real life than in the promo shots. They also want to see the figure is free of defects, because lets face it they are mass produced in China, I will say no more. The other side of the coin is the general consumer (Parents and Rugrats) who need to be attracted to the figure as they are not invested in the lines, they see a flashy cool toy and want it, pictures don’t do this for the parent or the child.

So here we have retailers realizing what HASBRO seem to give two shits about, the consumer does not want what they are selling, they are not invested or the product does not suit their collecting styles. In response we have seen an increase in exclusive distribution, where HASBRO offer incentives to have the product stocked, substantial preordering increases, and online only purchasing of certain items. This is a direct response to HASBRO not offering products that they believe are appealing to the marketplace. Additionally, as this is such a drastic product change the market is yet to determine if there is actually a market for these products going forward. We have already seen a 30 percent reduction in toy sales globally this year and with this issue hanging over our heads and the upcoming recessions, the sad thing to realise here is we may be seeing the end of HASBRO action figures in big box retail outlets, and as HASBRO refuse to support the independent toy stores we probably wont see many available there either.

Here we have an example of the new "Plastic Free" vintage collection the intro price @$28 is well below wholesale, and even the stated after promo price is below the know wholesale for this line in Australia. The advised RRP on these units to independant retailers is $52.99

Here we have an example of the new online only order practice. This is priced at around wholesale, but was exclusive offered for sale in Australia, and not supplied to independant retailers. Note also that as this is a clearance item tis inffers this company has warehouse stock of this item and its sales have been so bad they don't even want to send it to retail for sales or consuming valuable shelf space.