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Post by boz1515 on Sept 30, 2023 16:35:50 GMT -5
Mainline elites have been barely getting to retail since like series 93, can’t make money if you can’t sell anything Yeah, how the heck can I look at Scarlett, Raquel Gonzalez, and Nash Carter for a year and never, ever see an Elite 100 Andre the Giant at retail anywhere ever? |
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Post by AxelSmackdown on Sept 30, 2023 17:09:09 GMT -5
Mainline elites have been barely getting to retail since like series 93, can’t make money if you can’t sell anything Yeah, how the heck can I look at Scarlett, Raquel Gonzalez, and Nash Carter for a year and never, ever see an Elite 100 Andre the Giant at retail anywhere ever? this isn’t Mattel’s fault it’s Walmart’s fault for being terrible at ordering |
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Post by stc13 on Sept 30, 2023 17:22:50 GMT -5
Yeah, how the heck can I look at Scarlett, Raquel Gonzalez, and Nash Carter for a year and never, ever see an Elite 100 Andre the Giant at retail anywhere ever? this isn’t Mattel’s fault it’s Walmart’s fault for being terrible at ordering Do you really think buyers for Walmart and Target are looking that closely at lineups? They're ordering a number of units based on inventory and time of season. I regularly buy NXT and womens figures. But the female figures are objectively an absolute albatross at retail. They move far, far more slowly and are regularly available for $3-5 on RSC. Maybe licensor requirements come into play. But you can't say that Jazwares or Mattel don't have some responsibility when a handful undesirable characters don't sell and clog up the pegs at thousands and thousands of stores nationwide. |
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Post by boz1515 on Sept 30, 2023 17:55:56 GMT -5
this isn’t Mattel’s fault it’s Walmart’s fault for being terrible at ordering Do you really think buyers for Walmart and Target are looking that closely at lineups? They're ordering a number of units based on inventory and time of season. I regularly buy NXT and womens figures. But the female figures are objectively an absolute albatross at retail. They move far, far more slowly and are regularly available for $3-5 on RSC. Maybe licensor requirements come into play. But you can't say that Jazwares or Mattel don't have some responsibility when a handful undesirable characters don't sell and clog up the pegs at thousands and thousands of stores nationwide. Yeah, even though Walmart and Target don't know/care, Mattel has to know what is shipping out to some degree. Someone eventually comes into the Walmart near me and takes the super old stuff away, so someone is paying attention to something. |
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Post by Chip on Sept 30, 2023 18:43:55 GMT -5
On the other hand appeasing the company who is buying your wholesale product to sell for profit in the first place, as a main distributer, is probably a good idea in the long run. Its kind of a catch 22. And Top Picks was something their major buyers asked for. Target and Walmart want Roman, Cody, The Rock, and John Cena on the pegs at all times. As much as hardcore collectors hate it, they're not going to tell their largest buyers no on something like that. and that's where the problem lies. because retailers think ONLY top guys will sell...instead of looking at their stores and seeing what's actually happening. pegs and pegs of basics, 2 packs, and top picks literally sit there and do nothing for months...sometimes YEARS Every Walmart in the country got at least 1 full case of Top Picks elite Orton earlier this year, 90% of them went on clearance a couple months ago for $14.97 because nobody wanted it. Meanwhile, earlier this past summer, they flooded every store with elites from EVERY series (98, 99, 100, 101, etc) and almost everything sold out within a few weeks. These clueless retailers still think that random mom & dad shopping at Walmart has a child who knows Roman Reigns and wants his figure. I'm not saying they shouldn't exist. I'm not saying it's wrong to have top guys in stores. I'm saying the fact that Walmart puts ALL their eggs in that basket instead of going through a more organized and maintained ordering process of the entire elite line, is what's causing these hangups. |
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Post by aggressiveperfector on Sept 30, 2023 19:45:09 GMT -5
A whole calendar year made up solely of Hogan figures and no one else will guarantee them getting out of debt… BROTHER!  Movin’ Merch in 2023 brother! |
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Post by Grenouille on Sept 30, 2023 20:22:55 GMT -5
And Top Picks was something their major buyers asked for. Target and Walmart want Roman, Cody, The Rock, and John Cena on the pegs at all times. As much as hardcore collectors hate it, they're not going to tell their largest buyers no on something like that. and that's where the problem lies. because retailers think ONLY top guys will sell...instead of looking at their stores and seeing what's actually happening. pegs and pegs of basics, 2 packs, and top picks literally sit there and do nothing for months...sometimes YEARS Every Walmart in the country got at least 1 full case of Top Picks elite Orton earlier this year, 90% of them went on clearance a couple months ago for $14.97 because nobody wanted it. Meanwhile, earlier this past summer, they flooded every store with elites from EVERY series (98, 99, 100, 101, etc) and almost everything sold out within a few weeks. These clueless retailers still think that random mom & dad shopping at Walmart has a child who knows Roman Reigns and wants his figure. I'm not saying they shouldn't exist. I'm not saying it's wrong to have top guys in stores. I'm saying the fact that Walmart puts ALL their eggs in that basket instead of going through a more organized and maintained ordering process of the entire elite line, is what's causing these hangups. I agree with everything you said here. I also think about the 2 Walmarts closest to me and how clogged the shelves are by Basics. They just don't move at these stores, while they can barely keep Elites on pegs after stocking. I know the Basics have their place in the market, but you'd think stores would see what moves quicker and try to have it on hand more often. |
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powerfred3k
Main Eventer
Joined on: Aug 12, 2012 22:12:11 GMT -5
Posts: 3,784
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Post by powerfred3k on Sept 30, 2023 20:45:02 GMT -5
Here is how i see this going down....
Within 5 years from now they will restructure or file for bankruptcy protection and layoff a bunch of employees.
Within 10 years they will be bought/taken over by someone else. If hasbro gets there sheet together then it will be them.
If not it will be some company like Bain Capital the same one that ran toyrus into the ground with similar results.
What needs to happen is someone with elon musk money needs to buy mattel. Someone who cares and wants to see mattel survive.
So they would need to clean house of all the dead weight in the company, and kill all toy lines that are losing money.
They also need to partner with amazon and sell everything online that they sell at walmart and target stores.
That would put pressure on them to do a better job to stocking there products or....
They should implement some kind of vendor or store within a store system with dedicated employees.
That will ensure there products are fully stocked in stores.
The problem is who is going to want to sink billions of dollars into this which they will probably never see that money back ?
So if i was a mattel or hasbro employee i would update my resume because long term there days are numbered.
Mattel loses money literally almost every quarter, year after year.
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powerfred3k
Main Eventer
Joined on: Aug 12, 2012 22:12:11 GMT -5
Posts: 3,784
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Post by powerfred3k on Sept 30, 2023 20:50:44 GMT -5
The problem is within 10-20 years, people might literally be able to make there own toys with 3d printers.
So if that happens all toy companies will be gone not just mattel.
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Post by ChuckPOORis55 Cody Gang 4 Lyfe on Sept 30, 2023 21:01:20 GMT -5
As great as it is (for some people) to have nxt guys in the main lines, i feel this has been a mistake. Iv been a wrestling fan all my life, but i never got into nxt. I go into my local smyths and i honestly dont recognise half of the figures. Iyo sky/santos escobar?/angel garza...they all ended up on heavily reduced and they still dont sell. I think if mattel were wise they would scrap all nxt talent until they have been proven on the main roster. Stick to what works Every time I enter the toy aisle it’s guys I’ve never heard of. This is what happens when a mark decides who goes in the lines. Mattel will live forever, but it would be great if they put actual stars on shelves. Get Macho Man back. His corpse has more life in it than 99.9% of people in the biz today. It's statements like these that remind me how out of touch this board is with the regular consumer. You can't only sell nostalgia and you especially couldn't do it forever. A person born the last day Macho was on TV is a full grown adult today, multiple generations of wrestling fans have been made and have never seen a match of his, every single day Macho Man becomes less and less relevant to the modern wrestling fan. This may be hard to swallow, but maybe, just maybe, wrestling figures aren't catered to your demographic anymore, and there's nothing wrong with that. |
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Post by mrbiggs on Sept 30, 2023 21:05:18 GMT -5
If they could get figures out in the right quantities that people wanted they'd be doing a lot better. For instance, Gunther has been the IC champion for what, 15-16 months? Never seem him at retail. No one will buy the 15 Big E basics hanging at my Walmart. Figure out a way to get these guys on the pegs: LA Knight Solo Sikoa Dominic Mysterio Gunther Cody Rhodes Damien Priest Too many figures that people won't buy hanging around forever. How many more Cody Rhodes figures do we need?! |
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Post by J-MANN on Sept 30, 2023 21:40:00 GMT -5
If they could get figures out in the right quantities that people wanted they'd be doing a lot better. For instance, Gunther has been the IC champion for what, 15-16 months? Never seem him at retail. No one will buy the 15 Big E basics hanging at my Walmart. Figure out a way to get these guys on the pegs: LA Knight Solo Sikoa Dominic Mysterio Gunther Cody Rhodes Damien Priest Too many figures that people won't buy hanging around forever. How many more Cody Rhodes figures do we need?! Every single one of them |
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Post by boz1515 on Sept 30, 2023 21:43:24 GMT -5
If they could get figures out in the right quantities that people wanted they'd be doing a lot better. For instance, Gunther has been the IC champion for what, 15-16 months? Never seem him at retail. No one will buy the 15 Big E basics hanging at my Walmart. Figure out a way to get these guys on the pegs: LA Knight
Solo Sikoa
Dominic Mysterio
Gunther
Cody Rhodes
Damien PriestToo many figures that people won't buy hanging around forever. How many more Cody Rhodes figures do we need?! He should have a basic available at retail for the Christmas shopping season. They would sell this year. There will be basics hanging around all holiday season, but it won't be him and probably not any of those other guys mentioned above either. If Mattel could get those 6 guys out in basics to Walmart during the Christmas shopping season they would sell a gazillion figures in those 6 weeks. But they can't, and they won't, and that's the problem. |
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powerfred3k
Main Eventer
Joined on: Aug 12, 2012 22:12:11 GMT -5
Posts: 3,784
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Post by powerfred3k on Sept 30, 2023 21:58:26 GMT -5
It still take a year or more to get a new wwe talents figure to market.
That is too damn long !!!
Prime Example: Aj Styes
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Post by boz1515 on Sept 30, 2023 22:04:39 GMT -5
It still take a year or more to get a new wwe talents figure to market. That is too damn long !!! Prime Example: Aj Styes None of these guys are new to WWE. They've all been employed there for way over a year. Their system isn't that good. If it were better, they'd sell more figures. Outback Jack hit retail faster 30+ years ago. These should be widely available at retail this year: LA Knight
Solo Sikoa
Dominic Mysterio
Gunther
Cody Rhodes
Damien Priest |
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Post by shanieomaniac on Oct 1, 2023 7:05:44 GMT -5
Guys. Uhhh... The thing about this whole deal is that WWE figures are unlikely a massive reason Mattel is in debt. That reason would be *nobody is buying toys anymore*. Toys were originally designed for kids and kids want to spend their free hours on youtube these days. WWE-Mattel as a company has actually begun to respond to the market that adults are their primary target audience now. But some of their other lines? For a company that put out a decidedly child-unfriendly Barbie movie this year, I don't see a ton of marketing for Barbies outside of children. And that's one of their flagship brands.
Saw that movie recently. In theaters. Amazing experience. I will be buying the DVD.
But beyond that, with the death ages ago of TRU, there's nowhere these days to even buy toys. Target and Walmart are the primary retail spaces in the US and of them, Walmart couldn't care less about the product on the shelves. And most online retailers, outside of RSC, while they do stock the product, there are frequently such lags in product that it can drive people away.
It says something that the current game for figures is "do I preorder, or wait for clearance" and most people are choosing the second. Because so much is going on clearance. People in general just aren't buying toys anymore and what used to be aimed at children has become almost exclusively a "kidult" market where, unfortunately for most toy retailers, there are way better options available for most major toy lines than you would see in the toy aisle at Walmart.
The whole system is failing, not just Mattel or Hasbro.
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Post by ChuckPOORis55 Cody Gang 4 Lyfe on Oct 1, 2023 7:31:46 GMT -5
Guys. Uhhh... The thing about this whole deal is that WWE figures are unlikely a massive reason Mattel is in debt. That reason would be *nobody is buying toys anymore*. Toys were originally designed for kids and kids want to spend their free hours on youtube these days. WWE-Mattel as a company has actually begun to respond to the market that adults are their primary target audience now. But some of their other lines? For a company that put out a decidedly child-unfriendly Barbie movie this year, I don't see a ton of marketing for Barbies outside of children. And that's one of their flagship brands. Saw that movie recently. In theaters. Amazing experience. I will be buying the DVD. But beyond that, with the death ages ago of TRU, there's nowhere these days to even buy toys. Target and Walmart are the primary retail spaces in the US and of them, Walmart couldn't care less about the product on the shelves. And most online retailers, outside of RSC, while they do stock the product, there are frequently such lags in product that it can drive people away. It says something that the current game for figures is "do I preorder, or wait for clearance" and most people are choosing the second. Because so much is going on clearance. People in general just aren't buying toys anymore and what used to be aimed at children has become almost exclusively a "kidult" market where, unfortunately for most toy retailers, there are way better options available for most major toy lines than you would see in the toy aisle at Walmart. The whole system is failing, not just Mattel or Hasbro. These are very good points, but its also worth noting that toys are a luxery and even if you had children who want toys, it's one of the first things on the chopping block when times are tough and its harder and harder times every single day right now. To further elaborate on your original point though, I saw somewhere recently that Targets are starting to do away with their DVD/CD sections, we are only going to see the toy aisles get smaller and smaller in the next 10 years and who knows if they will still be around in 20. |
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Post by shanieomaniac on Oct 1, 2023 7:41:01 GMT -5
Guys. Uhhh... The thing about this whole deal is that WWE figures are unlikely a massive reason Mattel is in debt. That reason would be *nobody is buying toys anymore*. Toys were originally designed for kids and kids want to spend their free hours on youtube these days. WWE-Mattel as a company has actually begun to respond to the market that adults are their primary target audience now. But some of their other lines? For a company that put out a decidedly child-unfriendly Barbie movie this year, I don't see a ton of marketing for Barbies outside of children. And that's one of their flagship brands. Saw that movie recently. In theaters. Amazing experience. I will be buying the DVD. But beyond that, with the death ages ago of TRU, there's nowhere these days to even buy toys. Target and Walmart are the primary retail spaces in the US and of them, Walmart couldn't care less about the product on the shelves. And most online retailers, outside of RSC, while they do stock the product, there are frequently such lags in product that it can drive people away. It says something that the current game for figures is "do I preorder, or wait for clearance" and most people are choosing the second. Because so much is going on clearance. People in general just aren't buying toys anymore and what used to be aimed at children has become almost exclusively a "kidult" market where, unfortunately for most toy retailers, there are way better options available for most major toy lines than you would see in the toy aisle at Walmart. The whole system is failing, not just Mattel or Hasbro. To further elaborate on your original point though, I saw somewhere recently that Targets are starting to do away with their DVD/CD sections, we are only going to see the toy aisles get smaller and smaller in the next 10 years and who knows if they will still be around in 20. This is very very true, although I do have to say when I was a kid some of my fondest memories were banging on pots and pans with wooden spoons, jumping on the bed, and pretending that sticks I found in the woods were swords and staffs. Sometimes you just gotta make your own entertainment as a kid. Still doesn't help toy sales though. |
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Post by ChuckPOORis55 Cody Gang 4 Lyfe on Oct 1, 2023 7:48:54 GMT -5
How many more Cody Rhodes figures do we need?! He should have a basic available at retail for the Christmas shopping season. They would sell this year. There will be basics hanging around all holiday season, but it won't be him and probably not any of those other guys mentioned above either. If Mattel could get those 6 guys out in basics to Walmart during the Christmas shopping season they would sell a gazillion figures in those 6 weeks. But they can't, and they won't, and that's the problem. Cody is the biggest babyface in wrestling and is constantly trading places with Roman as the number 1 merch mover in the industry, I don't even understand why anyone would bother questioning why we are getting so many lol. I know it may not be a popular answer, but I think a large part of Mattel's issue is not utilizing Mattel Creations. Before the hiatus of the Power Ranger Lightning Collection, I could go on Hasbro Pulse and buy recent waves of the line, hell Hasbro even sells stuff on Ebay too. Also after some time they put store exclusives on pulse. Why do I have to either pray to find main line elites in stores or pay a mark up online plus shipping from another site, instead of being able to just buy them directly from Mattel themselves? |
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Warriah'
Main Eventer
Joined on: Dec 22, 2019 19:46:02 GMT -5
Posts: 3,264
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Post by Warriah' on Oct 1, 2023 8:15:20 GMT -5
This is because they lost Macho Man to ZST
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