Author Topic: 2009: Worst Distribution Year Ever?  (Read 37866 times)

Offline McMetal

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Re: Distribution Whining
« Reply #60 on: October 27, 2009, 09:05 PM »

He's kidding. :) I've seen that wave at retail.

Yep, I was being a smart ass, hence the eyeroll. I did not mean to start any rumors, really!

Where on Earth have you seen this wave at retail? (assuming you mean a brick and mortar)

I've never heard a whiff online of anyone spotting this Wave in an actual store, so I'm super curious. Thanks for any help you can offer!
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: distribution
« Reply #61 on: October 27, 2009, 11:45 PM »
A month's hardly a long time to wait between waves.  one wave a month is actually a pretty steady pace.
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Offline Jayson

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Re: Distribution Whining
« Reply #62 on: October 27, 2009, 11:56 PM »
I've never heard a whiff online of anyone spotting this Wave in an actual store, so I'm super curious. Thanks for any help you can offer!

ANH and the ROTS wave have shown up at TRU and Walmart stores according for JTA.
« Last Edit: October 28, 2009, 06:01 PM by Jeff »
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: Distribution Whining
« Reply #63 on: October 28, 2009, 12:01 AM »
Still never seen 75% of the TPM wave here...

I've seen ONE ROTJ wave figure (Numb) here...

No hope in hell of seeing ANH figures.
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Offline Jayson

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Re: Distribution Whining
« Reply #64 on: October 28, 2009, 12:04 AM »
Still never seen 75% of the TPM wave here...

Same boat for me. I resorted to picking up the ones I needed online and plan on doing that more until this distribution works itself out.
« Last Edit: October 28, 2009, 12:07 AM by Jayson »
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: Distribution Whining
« Reply #65 on: October 28, 2009, 12:07 AM »
I just need Rum Sleg which I think I have lined up...  Got the others at HTS.

It really doesn't bode well for me finding ANH and ROTJ waves though, much less extras of figures I  actually would buy a dozen (or more) of like the Scanner Tech or Panno.  Really is sucking the life out of me these days because my stores are loaded with blue/white carded ****, and Clone Wars/Legends on the red card.
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Offline JediJman

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Re: distribution
« Reply #66 on: October 28, 2009, 10:48 AM »
A month's hardly a long time to wait between waves.  one wave a month is actually a pretty steady pace.

Amen.  I just got done picking up 50-some-odd CW figures the past few months.  A month or so off is a nice break! I do share McMetal's eagerness to get the mail away going on this though - Nahdar may be one of my top 5 CW figures thus far. 
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Offline shmashwitdaclub

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Re: Distribution Whining
« Reply #67 on: October 28, 2009, 12:20 PM »
I went to my local Target last night and they had almost 2 complete waves of ROTJ (non revision cases).  The only figs that were missing were Leia and the Ewoks.  I was pretty shocked by this because one of those 2 cases was there a couple days prior.  I woulda figured these woulda flew off the shelf - but then again there hasn't been any movement on CW and SL figs at that store either.

So, either Hasbro is right on Legacy (still don't really think so), or a lot of people in my area have moved to online ordering (I think I have obtained the last 7 waves at HTS).

Offline JES

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Re: Distribution Whining
« Reply #68 on: October 28, 2009, 12:43 PM »
I have to say local TRU stores here are complete and utter **** for quite some time now. I haven't seen a new Legacy wave at TRU since the blue carded ANH wave. No word of lie. They never got the Empire wave in, nor the AOTC... let alone the new red carded Legacy. I guess up here in the Northeast TRU is sucking some mighty strong gusts of wind.

I did see everything at WalMarts up to TPM so far, and that's not bad since ROTJ just started hitting. Target's here also blow hard. If it wasn't for Wally's and KMart (for ROTJ) we'd be waves and waves behind.

Offline McMetal

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Re: Distribution
« Reply #69 on: October 28, 2009, 01:09 PM »
Ok, I realize I am shouting into the wind on this one, but it's not as simple a complaint as "a month is too long to wait for new toys".

It's a complaint compounded by multiple factors. Among them:

1) When X-Mas is December 25th, and all the retail outlets are starting to ramp up for the seasonal shoppers, October is NOT the month you want to take off. Take off April. Take off June or July. But do not let the line sit idle when stores are actually ordering more product and clearing display space on the aisles.

2) TCW line is unique in that it has an awesome marketing tool to augment sales from October to May: the TV show on Cartoon Network. It's like a program length advertisement running every week! The fact that new CW toys stopped hitting at almost exactly the same time as the show resumed this Fall is utterly asinine. It's a wasted opportunity to maximize the profile of the line.

3) Stop showing new toys at SDCC with insanely unrealistic street dates. Wave 7 (Padme, Matchstick, etc) was listed as available 7/31/09. I realize these dates are "best estimates" and subject to change, but that one was not even remotely close. That shows a serious disconnect between marketing and production and distribution.

4) Stop shipping new waves to online stores weeks and weeks before they ever ship out to brick and mortars. If you want to give them a week or 10 days lead time I'm fine with that, but that damn Wave 7 has been in the hands of retailers for almost a month now! And not a single one has shipped to an actual store. WTF? If I was a Target or Walmart I would have a real problem with that. That kind of lag is inexplicable.

Ugh, I could go on but it's a tiresome rant. (I'm sure most of you would agree) I'm sick of the whole thing myself. It's just hard when you become accustomed to something and suddenly you're in total deprivation mode, with no warning and no end in sight. I'll stfu now.
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Offline McMetal

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Re: Distribution Whining
« Reply #70 on: October 28, 2009, 01:21 PM »
ANH and the ROTS wave have shown up at TRU and Walmart stores according for JTA.


Oh, no no no no...totally different waves. I was referring to TCW Wave 7 with Matchstick, Padme, Ziro's Assassin Droid, etc. I know this is the wrong thread but it just started as a tangential topic.

That Legacy stuff is hitting in droves around here. I'm strictly talking about those 4 TCW figures, which have been available online for weeks now but there hasn't been a single reported sighting at a brick and mortar reported ANYWHERE online.

I literally wake up EVERY day and check all the fan sites hoping to see that someone found one of these, but I am disappointed every single day.
« Last Edit: October 28, 2009, 06:01 PM by Jeff »
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Offline JES

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Re: Distribution Whining
« Reply #71 on: October 28, 2009, 01:55 PM »
If you've been in the game long enough to know (which I only assume you haven't) seeing online retailers get a wave or two a year a while before retail isn't a shocker. It's happened before and will again.

Also you say the Legacy is hitting in "droves" around you... but, where is "around here"?

Most people still can't find all the TPM wave so I find it hard to believe any Legacy is out in force anywhere.

Offline Jayson

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Re: Distribution Whining
« Reply #72 on: October 28, 2009, 02:02 PM »
I'm strictly talking about those 4 TCW figures, which have been available online for weeks now but there hasn't been a single reported sighting at a brick and mortar reported ANYWHERE online.

Oh?

Oh?

Oh?
« Last Edit: October 28, 2009, 02:08 PM by Jayson »
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Offline JediJman

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Re: Distribution
« Reply #73 on: October 28, 2009, 04:18 PM »
Ok, I realize I am shouting into the wind on this one, but it's not as simple a complaint as "a month is too long to wait for new toys".

It's a complaint compounded by multiple factors. Among them:

I think you have some valid points here, but I think you're over simplifying the issue.  I'm pretty sure that Hasbro wants to sell as much product as possible.  It's not like they're all vacationing somewhere and letting the line die or purposely trying to avoid new product at shelf.  The distribution on this line has been screwed up from the beginning because demand was much stronger than supply.  I think they've been playing catch up ever since and are just trying to send out whatever they can whenever they can send it.  

Most stores in my area have a bunch of older CW sitting on the pegs anyway - it's Legacy that needs to get some new product in.  If the show drives kid interest in the line, then we ought to see some of the older figs clearing out for kids.  That seems to make more sense than shipping in new stuff that both kids and collectors want only to sell the new stuff and not the old.  The show is designed to be a pull strategy not a push strategy...if you do it right, the interest in the show drives older product sales and makes room for orders of new products.

As for the distribution, there's a lot of added complexity here that I'm not sure you're aware of.  For starters, Hasbro takes massive orders from big chain stores vs. online merchants.  They're not going to sit and pick through each case to make sure everyone get's a fair share of each wave.  If Target orders 5,000 cases, then they're going to get the next 5,000 cases.  That may contain 3 different waves, but no one's going to hold the order up or ship less to make sure the last 1,000 cases contain a 4th wave that isn't ready yet.  Big chains order in massive bulk quantities - it's not like Hasbro is shipping out a few cases here and there piecemeal.  They also have to get product from Hasbro to the distribution centers, then from the DCs out to hundreds of retail outlets.  It's very possible that big chains have new product sitting in their warehouses, but they're not usually going to get that product out if there are older cases waiting in front of them.

Online retailers order less, so they can clear out supply faster.  They can probably also choose to order 'x' cases of each wave - something I imagine the big guys pay less attention to.  At the very least, they can better forecast what's going to sell online to minimize the amount of old product they have in the way.  Online also has the advantage of shipping from one location.  They don't have the added steps of getting product to a store, churning through older product first, getting it out to the sales floor, etc.  They get it in, add it to the site, and it's available for order - in many cases you can even pre-order to further reduce the wait.

Given all that, I think it's pretty difficult to offer accurate street dates every time (they are usually pretty close in most cases) and completely unrealistic to think that all retailers are getting the same product within a week or two timeline.  The only time that seems to happen is when there is a brand new line coming out and that usually comes along with an official "do not release until..." street date.

« Last Edit: October 28, 2009, 05:48 PM by Jeff »
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Offline CHEWIE

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Re: Distribution Whining
« Reply #74 on: October 28, 2009, 04:26 PM »
New Legacy stuff is damn hard to find around here, and most reports I've seen is that this is pretty much the case in most parts of the country.  The only exception has been the past week or so that I've seen the ROTJ wave hitting most Targets, a case here/case there.  I don't know if that's a good window into what to expect or not, but hopefull it is.

TRU has been really bad, though a few weeks back both stores in my area got in a couple cases of TPM and ROTJ... but what the heck good does a couple cases do?  Not a heck of a lot when there's more people that want them than can find them.  And of course, both TRU got in a ton more Legends stuff and more Clone Wars at that same time - for every new B.A.D. figure they get in, seems they get in 10 figures from Legends/Clone Wars. 

Wal-Mart really isn't a whole lot better, but for the past year they have been better than the other places in my area... until the red card line switched over.  Now it's Legends and Clone Wars galore, with a new B.A.D. sighting if you get extremely lucky.

I can say that I do find everything that I want at retail, but I live in a good area for finds because there are a lot of stores to choose from - many nice new Wal-Marts, Targets and a couple big TRU stores.  But I also go on a lot of toy runs too, and most collectors don't spend this much of their lives searching for toys.

This is getting aggravating for a lot of people.