The Energon Pub

I’ve looked at Hasbro’s policies through a few angles and the thing that surprises me about the company is the confusing lack of desire for consumer data, feedback, and direct access to my wallet.

I would like to see Hasbro institute a pre-order program either directly or through a preferred retailer, such as the Hasbro Toy Shop or any number of toy retailers. The idea behind this is multifold:

1) Pre-orders would help determine the popularity of a specific toy. For instance, if the following deluxe figures are available for pre-order with the following number representing a pre-ordered amount:

Bumblebee 250
Airachnid 300
Ironhide 400
Vehicon 500
Rumble 450
Wheeljack 300

Okay, Vehicon is outselling Bumblebee 2 to 1. Maybe the next case assortment should look like this:

Bumblebee x0
Airachnid x1
Ironhide x2
Vehicon x2
Rumble x2
Wheeljack x1

“Hmmm... Bumblebee’s not selling as well as the others. Let’s drop him out of this case pack and move him back a month to see if orders increase. We can always fulfill the orders by recalling some of the immense amount of stock available in stores with a buyback program or making a small run of ‘Bee figures.”

Armed with the pre-order information, Hasbro can now extrapolate which characters consumers are looking forward to and whether or not certain figures should be discontinued. Making this data public would also help retailers decide what case packs are going to be popular during a given run.

Now if you’ve read this far and you’re thinking “But this only applies to collectors!” try this thought as well: Can you think of a parent who wouldn’t want to have the latest toys paid for or guaranteed for Christmas well ahead of Christmastime?

2) If Hasbro offered this pre-order program directly through its store, Hasbro would be the direct recipient of money. BBTS and other retailers would probably be sad, but as stated above the pre-order data would be useful for determining inventory. Additionally, places like BBTS could begin to offer more precise pre-orders as well, without being stuck with a bunch of figures a la three to four FoC Op and Jazzes for every one or two Shockwaves.

Additionally, this combats Hasbro’s poor distribution by letting Hasbro know exactly what will sell. With the added information from your store profile, perhaps this could also combat the glut of non-transforming merchandise on the shelves in certain areas.

3) Through the use of social media, Hasbro could ask consumers directly which toy did the consumer like best. If social media appears too limiting, then Hasbro could partner with sites like Seibertron.com to reach out to their consumers and find out answers to questions such as:

Did you like this mold?
What kinds of problems did this mold have?
If this mold were to be re-used for another character, who would you like to see it become?

And again, this information could be released to other retailers and help them decide on which exclusives to release if the option is available. It would help prevent a loss on the toys with figures such as BBTS’ Seacons and many of Wal-Mart’s Universe offerings. Or Target’s Exclusive Titaniums.

And again once more, this is the type of thing parents interested in their children’s toys and activities go for. “This toy broke too easily.” “The parts are too small.” “I don’t think the recommended age is correct.” “Can you release this again? My son and his cousin really like it but we could only find one.”

I’ll add more as time goes on, but this is the general gist of things I would be very happy to see implemented.

You need to set up a business meeting with Hasbro. You'd probably need a more thorough business plan but this all seems like good stuff.

You should also throw in something about improving distribution to other companies instead of improving it for one country to the detriment of the others that use to be well supplied.

Unfortunately Hasbro seems hell-bent on proving how stupid they are so they wouldn't use your idea.

Not bad. I like how you use Bumblebee as an example.

'Bumblebee 0X' I laughed.

Serously, good idea.

Genius. Now the next problem is to get Hasbro to listen to your suggestion...

Ah, a logical, well thought out plan. These are like sunlight and crosses to the vampire that is the corporate mind.

They don't like things that make too much sense.

I appreciate all the positive feedback so far.

Mykltron wrote:You need to set up a business meeting with Hasbro. You'd probably need a more thorough business plan but this all seems like good stuff.

I'd actually love to. I've written a few successful business plans before for small businesses, but for a larger company I'd definitely need more concrete data than what I have available.

Mykltron wrote:You should also throw in something about improving distribution to other companies instead of improving it for one country to the detriment of the others that use to be well supplied.

While I pull examples from NA stores, these actions could be readily implemented anywhere on Earth. I wanted to avoid saying the words 'North', 'America', or some combination of the two; if only because of the diversity of Seibertron.com's forum members. Canada, Australia, and the various consumers in the continents of Europe and Asia should have access to such a system. Maybe GDO Wheelie would have seen a wider release?

RhA wrote:Not bad. I like how you use Bumblebee as an example.

He's a quintessential example: Overpacked, shelfwarming, very bright and noticeable on the shelves, released multiple times (regular and Shadow), and released across multiple sizes (Legion, Revealer, and now Weaponizer). At some point in time a store representative has to say "There's too much of this character not selling anywhere".

I do think some lesson has been learned by Hasbro - the wave revisions involving later Revealer cases (woot two vehicons!) and the Bruticus + Op, Jazz and Shock wave revision is a huge step in the right direction.

Again, I appreciate the positive feedback so far. Thank you.

Very good stuff. Love it!

This is well thought out! Good stuff.

Fantastic, If you ever have this meeting with hasbro and you have concrete information to show them, let us know! we support you in this 100% Keep it up! Good information and long live the cons!

datguy86 wrote:

RhA wrote:Not bad. I like how you use Bumblebee as an example.

He's a quintessential example: Overpacked, shelfwarming, very bright and noticeable on the shelves, released multiple times (regular and Shadow), and released across multiple sizes (Legion, Revealer, and now Weaponizer). At some point in time a store representative has to say "There's too much of this character not selling anywhere".

I do think some lesson has been learned by Hasbro - the wave revisions involving later Revealer cases (woot two vehicons!) and the Bruticus + Op, Jazz and Shock wave revision is a huge step in the right direction.

Again, I appreciate the positive feedback so far. Thank you.

This overpacking and popularity of BB started in 2007, when BB was insanely rare due to find due to the movie. As for vehicons, Hasbro should have expected um to sell well. I guess kids really like earth looking vehicles. BB does get bough, but at the same rate as the other figures.

Oh, a warning for you people in US, whenever that case of GDO deluxes hit, grab wheelie 1st. He's impossible to find here in Asia. (Actually I saw one the other day, at a supermarket) But yeah, impossible to find in departmental stores/ TRU... He's not shortpacked... So maybe kids just really love bright coloured cars.

gavinfuzzy wrote:Oh, a warning for you people in US, whenever that case of GDO deluxes hit, grab wheelie 1st. He's impossible to find here in Asia. (Actually I saw one the other day, at a supermarket) But yeah, impossible to find in departmental stores/ TRU... He's not shortpacked... So maybe kids just really love bright coloured cars.

If that's true, it speaks well for the Energon-colored regular retail FoC Bruticus. xD