New TF's - Are we impatient or are stores too slow ?

[Xtreme987]

So we all complain about stores having the same old stock or no stock at all but who's to blame ?

Are we all too impatient or are stores really slow in restocking shelves & pegs ?

[RNSrobot]

I'd say it's getting a bit ridiculous. There is usually a dead zone after Christmas when stores inventory and reset, but it's March now, and we haven't seen regular new product since December.

The platinum sets and G2 Superion have hit shelves, of course, but a. it's not really moving and b. that's not "regular shit kids will buy as well" toys sitting on the pegs. Other than that trickle of Combaticons in December.

I'm not bent out of shape over it, it's just kind of silly at this point.

[Xtreme987]

Stores seem to order way too much stock (eg. CW voyagers) & not enough stock (eg. CW Deluxes). Pretty sure the favourite class since I can remember is deluxe.

[Einstein]

It's most definitely the fault of the retailers.

The problem starts at when the first wave hits, the retailers always over order the stock and it sits and sits. Or they don't order enough, it sells out and they over order the second wave and it sits and sits.

The problem is, these things shouldn't be released in waves the way they are now. They should be released the way they were in the 80's.

We got the entire line of characters at once and they would restock those characters throughout the year. Then the second wave was released the next year and even though wave 2 was released they still released more wave ones.

My local TRU has more Motormasters than you can shake a damn stick at.

They need to released the entire line at once, give us dozens of choices again.

[RNSrobot]

I know Lego sells fantastically well so the comparison isn't fully legit, but they don't do "waves." They have two main parts of the year for new releases. And once an item is on the shelves, it is usually kept in stock for nearly a year or at least half a year. Some sets can be tough to find bit rarely is something impossible. I'm speaking of TRU.

Here is the spring product here is the winter product. They don't release every theme at once, exactly, but it's still largely in huge chunks.

[justprime]

I have to wonder how much is under hasbros control ...where ,when and how much is released, we here in the great white north see product much later in most cases than the states and we seem to get later waves if any in space or no supply and months later become a dumping ground for unwanted waves I believe that's hasbros doing by giving retailers clearing out prices on old stock too many times since g1 days have we been short changed in end or near end of line product...it would be interesting to list these shortfalls much like the no show lists .

[Jones]

It's hard not to get impatient when the stock on the shelves doesn't seem to make any sense. Tons of stock that hasn't moved in months, and barely any items currently in demand.

And distribution is all over the place. Reports come in from all over the world that waves have hit certain places, but are months behind or never show in other regions.

I've seen piles of the ugly gold MP Soundwaves and platinum Optimus primes at multiple TRUs that are dusty, and you can't find a simple legends class figure to save your life.

Mountains of simplistic RiD figures for younger kids that don't move, and one case of CW deluxes that sell as fast as they can put them out.

I visit my local TRU and two walmarts very regularly, and I've struggled to keep hope alive. It's the variance between areas that boggles my mind. Trucks show up with stock in January in one place, and the same stock doesn't hit others until 6 months later? It's inexplicable.

[zuffyprime]

I can agree with you jones about the variance lol

To answer the question that started the thread, it's probably a bit of both

I agree in the 80s it was cool to have all the characters out at the same time, but I think there may have been a progression in their way of thinking.

ie) if we space things out, there's more chance of product not getting "stale". Also it allows parents to save up money of the next wave.

Collectors only make up 30% of the market, and I don't believe most parents are like us lol who would buy the whole wave at once

All that being said, I can't wait to find me a new little shockwave, and thunder hoof.

Plus...new waves keep the excitement alive, and give me the fun of going "hunting"

[Obliterator999]

I seriously have no clue how retailers in Canada manage their stock, but it seems really unevenly distributed and released all out of order, which is really a pain.

If I take example on the Toysrus store I go the most reguraly to, at one point they had almost no deluxes at all except for AOE and RiD stuff, then a handful of CW wave 2... So I'm there waiting patiently for wave 3 to be released but it NEVER showed up once at that particular store. They were available online however, so did they just never got any stock at that store? [As a side story, I ordered all of wave 3 protectobots online with each figure clearly listed as "in stock" and yet a few days later I'm being refunded for 2 of them because they no longer are available. What BS is that...]. Then *bam* wave 5 combaticons suddenly fill the shelves before wave 4 even shows up. There seems to be little stock of them and sell like hotcakes within a week and are rapidly replaced with a staggering amount of wave 4 autobots... Wave 4 is all I've seen for the past 2 months. What am I supposed to think? Are combaticons gonna show again? Wave 6 is starting to show up in some places, so I'm doubting it... What a mess.

And don't get me started on Marvel Legends releases... TRU skipped over 2 entire series (Thanos & Hulkbuster), though I have a pretty good guess as to why. It seems as though they overstock the first Odin series, a series that's still pegwarming to this day, and so they got cold-feet when the other series came along... However series they later released (Hobgoblin, Rhino and Ultron) sold like hotcakes with the exception of 1 or 2 figures. So I'm gonna make a "bold" prediction and say that the next series will be overstocked and coming out of the ears.

[Jones]

Originally Posted by Obliterator999

Then *bam* wave 5 combaticons suddenly fill the shelves before wave 4 even shows up. There seems to be little stock of them and sell like hotcakes within a week and are rapidly replaced with a staggering amount of wave 4 autobots... Wave 4 is all I've seen for the past 2 months. What am I supposed to think? Are combaticons gonna show again? Wave 6 is starting to show up in some places, so I'm doubting it... What a mess.

You're not alone. What I am about to say is simply speculation, but it could explain this bizarre situation.

WHAT IF....

What if the Hasbro distribution center views all cases of deluxe CW figures as 'the same stuff', regardless of what wave it actually is?

What if they just ship out whatever box they grab first from the racking and deliver to whatever retailer happens to request more stock?

Could this be the situation? I highly doubt that individual stores are calling up the distribution center saying "I just had a guy ask for a deluxe Swindle, can you put some 2015 Wave 5 deluxes on the next truck?"

It would explain why my TRU mysteriously just threw a stupidly-excessive amount of Voyager Cyclonus and Hotspots on the shelf last week, when these have been everywhere since the middle of last year.

It would also explain why my two local Walmarts both have no CW deluxe figures, but a crap-ton of Motormaster and Battle Core Primes that have been there since before Christmas.

Like I said, this is just speculation, but at this point it wouldn't surprise me.