darkSpyro

Quote: siowm6

But by people wanting to get their collection complete, and not giving the supply to the consumer, it keeps the demand high. And keeping the Skylanders demand high while the impending Infinity is about to launch sounds like good business.

Or they could just release it all so you can buy it all, and get bored because there is nothing left to buy until October with Swap Force. Wonder how many would start Infinity then and possibly not come back for swap force?

*sigh*

You're missing the point by a wide margin.
In no way whatsoever was I suggesting that Activision should "just release it all" at once. In fact, earlier in this thread, I made reference to understanding exactly why they do not release everything at once.

However ... releasing the characters in pre-determined assorted "wave" box shipments is moronic. Activision is leaving money on the table by doing that. They are frustrating retailers by doing that. And they are frustrating fans/consumers by doing that. I agree that a certain amount of fan anticipation and artificially-generated demand is a good thing for the Skylanders franchise. However, the current sad state of the stale/stagnant Skylanders stock in retail stores goes way beyond that. You can put faith in whatever imaginary mystical "belief" about Activision's strategy you believe in. The fact remains that ignoring consumer demand for certain characters makes absolutely zero business sense, assuming Activision's cost to create all characters is roughly the same and the retail price of the characters is constant, across all characters, which it is.

I mean, if pre-determined assorted "waves" was the ONLY possible way to distribute the Skylanders characters, then fine, so be it ... but the simple fact of the matter = that is NOT the only way to do so ... it's not even close to the only way.

I can't believe the outpouring of apparent SUPPORT in this thread for the way Activision distributes Skylanders characters to retailers. Or maybe ya'll just like to be argumentative or contrary; I dunno. Either way, wtf? Ya'll are nuts.

Bahamut it is not that we are all nuts. Let me try it this way.......

So I am not sure if it was you that said it or if it was someone else but I will swing the other way of how they are doing this.....

Let's say Acti sells a box that has 12 Hex's in it to Store A. Store A puts those 12 Hex's on the shelf and let's say 6 sell. Now most stores won't order just one box. So they order another box of 12 that has Fright Rider in it. Well, you run into a problem. Most stores that I have seen after the initial release of giants only have room for 12-24 characters. (I am talking Wal-Mart and Target. Those are the places that most people have around them.) So now best case you have 18 figures on the shelf....... 12 Fright Riders and 6 Hex's. The store may have another box or two in back and they can order 3-4 of them and keep the shelf stocked. If Acti puts 12 of the same character in a box, then you would get the same end result with fewer characters (I mean, instead of having 4 or 5 shelf warmers you would have 1 or 2) on the shelf. Why? Most stores don't have room to keep 15-20 boxes of different characters in the back. The space that they pay for in the stores is not given a way for free. When I worked in retail at a gas station, Reeses paid us something in the line of 2 million a year to have what they thought was a good spot for impulse buys. We would lose candy bars left and right due to theft, we didn't move them. Why? Because of the money they were paying us was making more money for the store then what putting something that was just going to sit and no one wanted to buy or steal would.

I think the point that some of us are trying to get across is that it wouldn't be just a simple put more of the new characters in a box and all of the problems would be fixed. May it help? Probably. However, it is a delicate scenario as they more than just the US to think about when it comes things.

I get where you and others are coming from when wanting to get new figs and what not. I just don't think it is as simple as putting more of the new guys in the boxes. Eventually they will all sell... Remember how boomer was a shelf warmer for the longest time? Now, he is probably the most expensive non-variant from either series. For a more recent example take a look at Bouncer on Amazon. He was for sale a few months back for 5 dollars if I remember right. Now, he is only second in price to Ninjini.


I think maybe some of us give Activision a little too much credit, however sometimes it is cool or popular to hate on them because of the way they do things and sometimes things that we do not realize are what Acti has to do just to make all of the retailers and overseas customers happy.

Quote: GamingMaster_76

Making these figurines as is is an insurmountable task. Please try to remember that America is not the only country buying Skylanders and that you already get the majority of stock. Workers have to hand manufacture and paint every single piece made from machines, for each country, and we can already see that there is a botch of stock. My conclusion on that is... What they need to do is hire more workers(see bottom). They don't care much about the current demand, and it's because of that. They just make a bunch of figures so that they do have stock, any stock, to sell. And they just send those out when stores have nothing left. I'm not trying to justify Acti for not refreshing S2 Bam, just explaining my estimations on why...

They make 3237826489 LightCores and 0.3 Fright Rider. I won't act like an official source, but I'd guess that's to keep up demand, because if they time it right, when the character is sent in, they won't be on sale- which means, possibly less sales, but possibly more gross instead. If Acti only have one new character a box they're instantly rare and people will buy them straight away because they're scared to wait for sales in case they disappear. Many people buy characters the day that they come out rather than waiting for them to price drop, which you could abuse by making everyone except the extremely patient want to do so. I'm sure if Skylanders were common from the day they came out many would be comfortable waiting for price drops as well because this things are already expensive as hell as it is

I'm not saying that that's a better strategy and that they will make less sale but more gross doing it... But it's going to stay easier for them until/unless they hire more workers to actually make more stock. People actually have to make these Skylanders... Millions of them. What they need to do is get a buttload more workers, PR guys who listen to the toys the fans want to see, so that they CAN build up stock for every store order, and refresh stores monthly or something, but from what they're doing so far, it seems that they can't unless they have a huge amount of time where they don't make any stock whatsoever. Remember how bad it was between June last year to Giants' release?

Umm, where to start besides NO.

Hire more workers to make more? Sure, and then listen to people complain about the price increase.
Care about demand? I am sure they do, but from their angle they have already made the decision on how much of what and how to ship it before the game even came out. It isn't like Activision watched wave 1 go out, and then sat back and said "hmm, maybe since wave 1 did this we should do that for wave 2".

Before Giants came out, before wave 1, wave 4 was already decided on their business model.

As for the sales part, I am sure there is a dead stock clause in the deal, but Activision sells to the major distributors not to us. They sell to Toys'R'Us etc. So it is on Toys'R'Us to get rid of the old stock (And I am sure TRU has this built into their purchase price). The savings are not passed on to you. You are still paying more than TRU did for them in most cases. Sure exceptions happen like the $3 Swarm on Amazon.

As for your characters being sent in on time for them to not be on sale, I disagree there too. When Ninjini hit TRU nationwide it was during a b1g1 1/2 off sale. If what you say was the case there would be no way one of the most anticipated Giants would come during a sale.

for the 124325 lc to .03 fright rider, that is pure speculation out of what you think you know about what is going on. You have no idea about what back stock is out there that just hasnt hit the shelves of your local store lately. People report sightings of different things at different stores in different areas all the time here. so thank you for your opinion but it is based on pure .... i have no idea what to call it due to language rules here.

My thinking on the lightcores is they may have over estimated the popularity of those. Just by thinking of how many of those were actually in Wave 1 and how few we have seen since makes me think that they may have missed the boat big time on that.

Anyways, we will never agree on things like this. It really comes down to opinion on how you want to see things.

Personally, I am kind of bummed that we are not going to have any brand new never before played figures before Swap Force. I don't really care about the stock and what not, I care more that we are probably six months away from anything new.

I don't count the S2 of Drobot or Lightcore Hex as something new.

You are correct that I didn't necessarily account for the international markets. My bad.

However, I am puzzled by your assessment that "most stores" (Wal-Marts and Targets) only have room for "12-24 characters".
Every Wal-Mart and Target I visit has dozens, if not hundreds, of Skylanders out on their shelves/pegs, all the time. And I'm talking about having visited probably 40 or 50 of those stores in various cities and locations during my "hunts". So, it's not a small sample size. Where in the USA are these Wal-Mart and Target stores that only keep 12-24 characters out on the floor? I honestly think you're making that up.

I want to be clear that I'm not "hating" on Activision just to appear "cool or popular". That notion is absurd (no offense). I'm stating the obvious fact that lots and lots of retailers (in the USA!) have been "stuck" with large inventories of Skylanders that ain't moving over the past 4-6 weeks. And I am, justifiably, blaming the choices Activision made for the "wave 3" and "wave 4" single packs for this scenario.

Quote: siowm6

Care about demand? I am sure they do, but from their angle they have already made the decision on how much of what and how to ship it before the game even came out. It isn't like Activision watched wave 1 go out, and then sat back and said "hmm, maybe since wave 1 did this we should do that for wave 2".

Before Giants came out, before wave 1, wave 4 was already decided on their business model.

This is EXACTLY what's wrong with Activision's methodology and exactly what has caused the current stale/stagnant stock of Skylanders in retail stores right now.
Deciding in Summer 2012 what is going to be shipped in April 2013 is laughable. I mean, yes, they obviously have to have a plan in place, but the failure to build ANY flexibility into that plan, based on the market/demand for certain characters, is just that: a failure.

I agree on the assessment. 2/3 Targets in my area seem to keep 20-30 singles and less than 10 triples out any given time with the third having closer to 40 singles. My local walmart is about as bad with around 20 on a mini-shelf, not even pegs. Other walmarts a bit farther out will have around 30 with about 10-15 triples.
TRU is best having what seems like 40-50, albeit most are s1 at one store with it split rather even at another and closer to 20 triples.

You said that you live in the Charlotte area, I am going to assume that it is in North Carolina. Couple of things that might affect what you are seeing to what the majority of us see. You live in a big metropolitan area. A lot of people on here live in more rural areas. So that means smaller stores with less space to keep stuff. Also, you have to take into count a couple of other things.

A: We are into spring time. It should be getting nicer than it has been and kids are starting to gear up for summer vacation and what not. The hotter toys right now are not Skylanders or any other video game really, it is getting to be stuff to do outside. With that being said parents are retailers are starting to focus on outside stuff. That maybe why for me, I only see 24 or so skylanders on the shelf. (12 may have been a little low on the scale.)

B: I wasn't trying to say you were but people on here seem to blame activision for the problem of anything. It could be their dog peed on their favorite shoes. I have always said that Activision deserves some blame in what ever case it maybe. From scalping, TRU raising prices, to stock issues. However, people have to look at it from both sides of the street, or whatever you want to use. It boils down to that while they do deserve some blame in the grand scheme of things, they also do deserve some praise because without them no one of this would have started or would we be able to have a debate on the situation.

Quote: Seiki

I agree on the assessment. 2/3 Targets in my area seem to keep 20-30 singles and less than 10 triples out any given time with the third having closer to 40 singles. My local walmart is about as bad with around 20 on a mini-shelf, not even pegs. Other walmarts a bit farther out will have around 30 with about 10-15 triples.
TRU is best having what seems like 40-50, albeit most are s1 at one store with it split rather even at another and closer to 20 triples.

I want to believe you, but this is shocking, in my opinion.
I can drive to any one of a dozen Target stores that are located within an hour of my home, and every single one of them routinely has 50-to-100 Skylanders items on their shelves/pegs, usually in 2 or 3 different displays around the store.
Same for probably two dozen Wal-Marts within an hour's drive. There's one TRU store nearby that literally has an entire aisle devoted to Skylanders. I'd estimate there's usually two-to-three hundred Skylanders items on the shelves/pegs there, routinely. The other local TRU usually has 100-150 Skylanders items on the floor.

This isn't intended to sound like bragging ... it's just REALLY hard to believe that a big store like a Target or Wal-Mart legitimately has 20 or less Skylanders items on the floor ... anywhere.

Well no where in my posts did is say Activision would, could, or should release all xx figures at once. I think you are misrepresenting what i said on that one. (If i did please point me to where I did).

But lets just talk semantics, Lets assume your local Walmart has 30 hooks for Skylanders, each being 3 deep. And between S:SA and S:SG right now there are approx 90 retail figures out there.

They would have to keep 90 boxes in the back, and reorder each box as it gets low. And have someone keep checking to see when each figure gets sold to replenish that figure. Then have to buy more boxes for the Drobot S2, Lc Hex, Pop Fizz etc still to come. And then would have to remove certain characters still to make room for those new ones.

Where to put the old ones? No matter what choice people go with, the Skylanders will be much more expensive, or stock will be limited.

It would be interesting to see where Seiki lives.

The two TRU's that I can visit have maybe a quarter aisle and two small displays for skylanders. They are not even full. The Target I visit has about a 8-12 total packs on the shelf. This is in the Des Moines, Iowa area.

I've been to a Walmart once that had literally 3 figures. 1 Hot Dog and 2 GiTD Sonic Booms in the whole store. They've restocked since, but that day was a serious dissapointment during my hunting.

Most of the stores in my area keep them secluded a small portion of the video-game aisle. The one Target I mentioned to have more also has some on the side of an end-aisle in the toy area. TRU at least has the decency to keep a mini stand near the registers.

Quote: siowm6

No matter what choice people go with, the Skylanders will be much more expensive, or stock will be limited.

*sigh*

No.

Stock does not have to be limited. The problem currently is not the amount of stock. Now, I understand that amount of stock was a GIGANTIC problem back in the Spring/Summer of last year. I wasn't into Skylanders then, but I've heard enough stories from reliable sources, and I accept that (BACK THEN) amount of stock WAS the problem.
However ... currently the issue is NOT amount of stock. The problem is VARIETY of stock (how many times and how many different ways do I need to say this?).

Quote: BahamutBreaker

Quote: siowm6

No matter what choice people go with, the Skylanders will be much more expensive, or stock will be limited.

*sigh*

No.

Stock does not have to be limited. The problem currently is not the amount of stock. Now, I understand that amount of stock was a GIGANTIC problem back in the Spring/Summer of last year. I wasn't into Skylanders then, but I've heard enough stories from reliable sources, and I accept that (BACK THEN) amount of stock WAS the problem.
However ... currently the issue is NOT amount of stock. The problem is VARIETY of stock (how many times and how many different ways do I need to say this?).

I don't remember last summer being too terrible, I remember last Jan-Feb-Mar being bad. As in, no one had stock at all. In fact, I remember a sign at TRU telling everyone to come back on March 16th for new figures. That might have been when Dragon's Peak came ou

You obviously don't understand what I am saying either, By saying "stock will be limited" I in no way mean that there will be a limited number on packages on the shelf. For the most part there has been no shortage of Skylanders items on shelves of stores that I have heard of.

By limited stock, I am talking about Limited number of different characters on the shelf. The same thing you have been saying I do not understand for the last few posts. So now that you understand that by "stock" I mean different characters, feel free to continue your point.

Quote: Bazinga

It would be interesting to see where Seiki lives.

Texas, not far from Irving. The one I mentioned above that once had just 3 figures is in Arlington and is actually across the street from the cowboys stadium.

And if they commit to a production schedule, like I would assume they have to do, changing it is only going to cause even more grief than a lack of supply.

Say they see a demand for more S2 Slam Bam's. So to meet that demand they have to back up production of something else. So now LC Pop Fizz won't be seen for yet another month. They don't know what will and wont sell. And make production schedules based on what they think from the limited information they have. To change the schedule is both costly and time consuming. It isnt just someone picking up a phone and saying "hey do this instead".

Machine mold changes, paint stencil changes, print change outs, etc. Alot more goes into changing a production line than just flip a switch. The more a business has to change mid run the more it costs. and Activision doesn't seem to be hurting at this time.

I am not defending Acti by any means, or attacking anyone here. But from a real world perspective, it is great to say have them all available once the wave hits, but it just cant work that way.

The can not keep making all the figures based on demand. Some are bound to be more scarce, and some more plentiful.

They already have changed LC Pop Fizz. He went from two bottles to one. Which could be why overseas got him first.

siowm6, you don't get it.
I'm willing to accept that you probably never will.
I can't waste my breath trying to convince a stone wall that its stones are loose and rickety.

I hope other people reading this thread have gleaned much more from it than you seem to have.

I would respectfully ask that this thread be closed at this time.

Skylanders is not the first collectable to have this issue and other companies have proven certain methods work to resolving them. An example would be Disney's comparable to hotwheels "cars" line from a couple of years ago. They would have cases that contained multiples of the same repeated characters and than add one or two desirable and unique figures. This meant the pegs were filled with the same non-selling figures while customers were clamoring for other ones in order to complete their collections. The company had vendors start tracking inventory and replace it. To use a skylander example if a vendor discovered a store had twelve Stealth Elf, four Prism Break and nine Eruptor that had been sitting on the shelf longterm the vendor would be authorized to swap a specific set number of these figures with characters like Wrecking Ball and Spyro. These figures that were pulled from shelf would return to shelves when customers could no longer find them. For example imagine if they had taken Boomers off the shelf last year and returned them to the shelves this year.

I am closing this upon BahamatBreaker's request.