RodimusConvoy13 wrote:Isn't this stuff that's better suited for the UK Sightings thread?
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It's more suited to the complain about your stores thread - brag-or-cry-about-your-retail-transformers-section-t106967.php so I will move it here/there but I was just carrying on the conversation that has been going on over the previous 2 pages (on the other thread) about the inability to find certain things.
But i'm not complaining about The Retailers as I do actually think it's not their fault (in part at least). as when I've asked a independent toystore owner he says the same thing too as does even Hasbro's own wholesalers - you just can't get this stuff even if you do want to order it as a retailer - someone is screwing up somewhere.
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william-james88 wrote:But Hasbro UK doesn't handle that part, they just take the orders and have them ship out. The bad distribution part is on behalf of retailers alone. They order the toys and they put them on the shelves, that part is all up to them. The same situation happened in the US at the end of last year. Hasbro had delivered all their TR figures to retailers but it was retailers who did not put them on the shelves, so it looked like the only place stocking them was a pharmacy. So people moaned about how Hasbro could have such terrible distribution but in reality, Hasbro had no more toys to give, everything was sold out and retailers just didn't stock their shelves. And then they had too much in their warehouses, so places like Target and Walmart reduced the price.
No It's down to them not ordering extra and warehousing it they get small initial orders and only import it in tiny numbers - when the line sells the retailers got to order some more and they line is sold out.
it then takes months for them to be able to re-supply.
If Hasbro had warehoused some Voyagers they wouldn't be out of stock everywhere.
I have asked the like of the The Entertainer and Smyths and they both say that when they order things they don't get them or if they do they are months late - they even get sent the wrong stuff too. They do put them out as soon as they get them - as unlike walmart they don't have the space to store things for months.
lack of product knowledge by retailers is also an issue though as that is what leads to someone being an idiot and buying 2 packs of Leaders Soundwave instead of Soundwave-Optimus packs when Optimus had long since sold out and was still in demand.
It's bad planning. I'm not blaming them to hard as I expect the mess that Rogue One caused likely was distracting them a bit.
UK distribution isn't the same as America and trust me it worked a whole lot more smoothly Before Hasbro UK decided to not warehouse things as much.
But they are terrible at selling things too as exemplified by the gap that is always around pre-september.
Also it is Hasbro's fault that they made a pigs ear out of the Marvel 3.75" Line options or that that failed to sell the CW Stunticons in Europe (despite them being a key feature of the adverts they'd otherwise have used that they then couldn't as they had Menasor in them)
They don't make the effort to educate and inform their customers - they are a bit thick and that is why they keep buying RID as it has a cartoon - despite ignoring Rescue Bots even though it also has a cartoon.
I don' think they realise that Transforms can sometimes sell on name alone regardless of a show tie in as proven by how popular generations has been the last 2 or 3 years.
Also I doubt the retailers suddenly decided to all order Jurassic World toys at the same time out of no where - someone screwed up and thus they are only now showing up at lots of places at the same time.
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P.s.
I have also been told and I think it's been mentioned in trade publications that the reason Rogue One toys were thin on the ground was that retailers were gunshy of ordering them as they mostly overstocked the hell out of Force Awakens stuff so they jumped the other way this time.
Perhaps a bit to much so.
So in that case yes I would Blame Retailers - but I can't blame them when they want to buy the stuff and Hasbro UK makes a hash out of it - and also threatens them with de-suppling them if they try to buy the stuff direct from other suppliers in Asia themselves which was a lot more common to do when they were making things in China rather than Vietnam.
I'm going to be really curious to see how the muted move to India pans out too for product availability on Hasbro toys.