Improve distribution?

[alienwar9]

Something to remember is that Walmart believes there is no demand for them. It is important to let walmart Corp., not store manager, that you want them. If they get enough people complaining they will push Mattel for them. My Walmart has a larger space for south park then Cod or Halo.

Sadly They seemed to be proved right as the product on the shelf has been there forever. They will only believe product is worth shelfspace if it sells. Sellouts promote restock and space for new product, I know there are other behind the scenes contractual dealings that bear upon availability, but sales are the bottom line to retailers.

Problem is all the highly desired items are gone immediately, meanwhile the leftover items that are less appealing sit there forever and will likely never be sold. Normally, this stuff would be put on discount, with some contractual ability for the stores to say, hey, this line or this product isn't selling, and we're not going to order as much of it. Stores don't want to eat discounts. But MCX is already sitting on a tiny little corner of shelf space that big stores like Walmart are likely ignorant of. I've seen multiple Target stores where their stock and display is on-point throughout the store, with everything perfectly aligned and displayed ... but meanwhile, the ONLY area of the store from what I can see that is neglected is the tiny MCX spot.

What is worse, you can see that instead of restocking empty shelf space, the shelves are LEFT EMPTY for up to MONTHS. I'd blame remodeling ... but Target manages to keep the rest of the entire store in tip-top shape.

There is absolutely no reason shelf space should be left entirely empty without being restocked or at the very least shifted to another product (even from a different company). So either stores like Target are waiting on MCX/Mattel ***-poor distribution to even get items that are supposed to fill shelf space (and thus have their hands tied as to reorganizing), or they have some serious blind-spot issue.

... My bet is on the former.

As for Heroes lines, it's the great disparity in figure desirability. The Xenomorph is impossible to find ... but the Marine is tossed around shelves in almost every Walmart. Masters of the Universe is probably the WORST selling line, based on shelf presence.

Mattel/MCX need to get into more agile, rapid feedback loop manufacturing and distribution, and send that directly towards future line development as well. There's a lot of money sitting on the table for MCX; the product is solid, innovative, and unique hitting multiple niche areas that alternative brands avoid. They just need to get on-point with distribution, and more importantly, blast marketing to shift consumer perceptions of alternative brick brands.

There's clearly 2 markets they need to increase awareness on: standard marketing methods for kids 8-15 (itself shifting towards online venues as age increases), and the adult collectible/pro builder that imo, could eclipse the leader brand simply based on the much more adult leaning build complexity, themes, and features like pose-able more realistic figures. These throwback lines like Alien, Terminator, classic TMNT, MoTU, Star Trek, and X-Files ... they definitely increase awareness in collector circles. But they need progression steps, allowing figure collectors to step up into larger sets (that would themselves draw more interest due to complex and interesting builds with high quality).

[Bossofbricks]

I think they need to get a warehouses in Europe or the UK