| 12.30.2018 – Whenever you visit your usual toy store chances are there is new stuff to check it out. But in some cases these retail stores might not have the ones you’ve been seeing in community forums.
The retail market when it comes to these toys is either they get sold out immediately or there’s just one distributor who controls them. The common business in releasing the toys back in the day is not what they are now. Rarely, you’ll see a complete wave or set being displayed immediately without fanfare or without the need for a limited group of people to know that they have arrived, but that’s unlike in the Philippines with this so called “Distribution Day.” |
Being a casual consumer I could probably see myself an old school when it comes to expecting that the toys I want would just be available for the general public. But over the years my particular choice in collecting a specific toyline is no longer the same as a compared to a decade ago. I’m just practically interested now to a handful of characters that I really need not to feed my wants.
In the case of the latest Transformers Siege, which is the first range of characters debuting in the latest War For Cybertron Trilogy not to be confused with the videogame tie-in from eight years ago that also produced its own toyline within the Generations series targeted for adult collectors.
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| Hasbro's range of Bumblebee merchandise largely ignnored. |
The Transformers brand has grown to not only focus on their younger market, but also keep their fans that grew up with the brand, namely the collectors which is their actual market. The younger generation rarely get interested with the toys unless their parents are the collectors themselves. This gives Hasbro a wide range of market for the property, but what if the younger generation becomes aware that the toys their getting is not as cool as what the collectors are having?
A week ago I was by myself just passing through the usual toy stores in the area when I overheard a lady looking for a Bumblebee from the Studio Series line. She’s just one of the random consumers who is interested in the accurate version of Bumblebee from the movie and was not keen in the other versions like the one-step changers or the other things that are targeted to a younger market.
The staff at Toy Kingdom could not give a straight answer that they ran out of Bumblebee and that’s were they lack when it comes to customer service to be upfront instead or doing ‘sales talk.’ Some of the customers who go to these toy stores have become aware of the toys they want, but couldn’t find them as their limited with the idea that they can only buy them through Toy Kingdom or even Toys R’ US. They don’t have any idea that there are department stores like Landmark or Rustan’s that carry the same toys.
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| The current shelf display at the Toy Kingdom in SM Megamall minus the newly released toys. |
When you compare it to the old days when you go to Rustan’s you’d expect the price of the toy would be more than the usual when you go to Landmark. But in the present there’s only one distributor there’s a good and bad side for this. Unlike when I was in Australia I can see the price difference when I go to Big W and Kmart their prices are the same, but when I go to Target or Myer’s I can see the difference. Although I won’t have problems finding the same toys, but when I got to these stores as they are not limited with the release.
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| The Studio Series Bumblebee that everyone needed not the whole slew of highly ignored merchandise with Siege Sideswipe. |
Dropping it like Dope Shoes
In the Philippines, the retail culture is different when it comes to the toy release with the example with Siege being sold through this so called “Distribution Day.” Its not that immediately you’ll see them being displayed after that specific day inside Toy Kingdom I did spoke to the assigned staff and they told me after this the toys won’t be available for the general public until next month.
Its like Titan 22, a sneaker store released the Jordan XI “Concords” on a specific day and only their customers know when it is available. It’s the same how this “Distribution Day” was concocted when Playkit Inc released new Hasbro Toys for a specific community. They’ve been doing this in a long time its not new to me to go to these special releases as far back in 2013 its where I found out the release of the WFC version of the Voyager Class Grimlock. If it not for someone who shared in the social media have I not known that the first wave of Transformers Siege will be available.
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| Voyager Class Siege Optimus Prime and Megatron figure assortment that was released Saturday 29/12/2018. |
The Good, The Bad, and The Exclusive
What’s good is a collector would pick up the toys he’s been keeping an eye on. The other benefit for this is to curb up scalpers and toy resellers which has become a common business practice in the country. The bad side is you make the product limited for the general consumer who would not have any idea about it. The casual buyer will feel left out that the toys have already became available and by the time they see it on the shelf the first wave release would only have partial toys as it was already sold out before to a niche crowd.
There is going to be division there for some who are not part of any community or group who are only interested to buy the toys. It makes collecting these toys exclusive for only a specific group of individuals. These where sold for the mass retail not produced as convention exclusives. They are not gold editions but targeted to every consumer, but that becomes an unfortunate perspective in this country. Because if you’re a sole distributor you also have the option to dictate the price points, which defeats the healthy retail competition.
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| Deluxe Class assortment featuring Hound and COG also released Saturday 29/12/2018. |
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| Would you pay for PHP 449.75 pesos for a Basic Assortment? (Converted to $8.60 USD and $12.20 AUD) |
The Consequence of a Niche Market
A couple of years ago I was at Toy Kingdom just looking around the Transformers section when I overheard two guys sharing their frustration about how not all the toys where available, and they're not even part of a community to have access these toys. I understand their disappointments, but what can anyone do about this? There are other options, but with that, they will cost more in specialty shops. The outcome is not good for the general consumer that this is supposed product has become sort of exclusive to a specific crowd.
With all due respect to the distributor, they’ve done well to know their market, but it leaves the regular consumer sort of left out. The regular product becomes a premium commodity that it gets sold out to a set of customers first, before the rest can get their hands on the products. The mentality of most of the regular consumer will think the price point is expensive, and would think that they’ll just wait for the year end sale for them to get their hands on the toys. By that time the series ended, they would only have leftovers and unsold characters that nobody wants.
At the end of the day, they should be available for anyone without the need to be part of an exclusive group or community that needs to sign up their name and contact details to purchase these assortment. It’s good to track who are their customers to avoid scalping, but it’s also questionable that the community that has ties with the distributor would also have access to that list, which defeats the purpose of privacy. But for personal opinion who doesn’t need to be there? I’d just wait and see what I can get not to worry about the rest as I don’t need everything in the series but only a handful is just fine by me.
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