The Energon Pub

Yay! More soon-to-be shelfwarmers

Can't seem to get good Transformers on the shelves because Rattrap, Cheetor, etc. are currently taking up all the room

transformers_va wrote:Yay! More soon-to-be shelfwarmers

Can't seem to get good Transformers on the shelves because Rattrap, Cheetor, etc. are currently taking up all the room

I don't think it's a problem so much of the reissues not selling. It's more so that Walmart loves to flood the shelves with their exclusives. It's been a long running phenomenon. We had a bunch of Universe releases cancelled because they went nuts with exclusives and saw the clogged shelves as lack of interest. If only they invested so much effort in stocking non-exclusive items.

transformers_va wrote:Yay! More soon-to-be shelfwarmers

Can't seem to get good Transformers on the shelves because Rattrap, Cheetor, etc. are currently taking up all the room

That's a myth, and only been disproven time and time again. Walmart will put all they have on shelves. The exclusives are to ensure there is stuff on shekves but if there's anything new, they will be put on shelves too.

If only they'd put them out entirely it would nice. I keep finding Optimus Primals, but nothing else.
I don't need Primal or Cheater, but I want a Megatron since I never bought one in the 90s. Ratrpa would be nice too if I could find him.

william-james88 wrote:

transformers_va wrote:Yay! More soon-to-be shelfwarmers

Can't seem to get good Transformers on the shelves because Rattrap, Cheetor, etc. are currently taking up all the room

That's a myth, and only been disproven time and time again. Walmart will put all they have on shelves. The exclusives are to ensure there is stuff on shekves but if there's anything new, they will be put on shelves too.

Actually I've talked to several Walmart (and Target) employees who have said that they won't put out toys because there is no room on the shelf

transformers_va wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

transformers_va wrote:Yay! More soon-to-be shelfwarmers

Can't seem to get good Transformers on the shelves because Rattrap, Cheetor, etc. are currently taking up all the room

That's a myth, and only been disproven time and time again. Walmart will put all they have on shelves. The exclusives are to ensure there is stuff on shekves but if there's anything new, they will be put on shelves too.

Actually I've talked to several Walmart (and Target) employees who have said that they won't put out toys because there is no room on the shelf

And I have spoken to Walmart reps who say the reverse. If there's any kind if room it will be used. Hence why when there's a lot of a particular brand, they will put those toys in aisle displays.

I haven't jumped on any of the Beast Wars reissues yet, but I will for Scorponok. That is a cool looking toy I'd like to try out

william-james88 wrote:

transformers_va wrote:And I have spoken to Walmart reps who say the reverse.

Good for you, but when it comes to looking in Walmarts for these, I'll trust the employees that I've talked to, over you, any day.

william-james88 wrote:If there's any kind if room it will be used.

And therein lies the problem.. they run out of space

transformers_va wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

transformers_va wrote:And I have spoken to Walmart reps who say the reverse.

Good for you, but when it comes to looking in Walmarts for these, I'll trust the employees that I've talked to, over you, any day.

william-james88 wrote:If there's any kind if room it will be used.

And therein lies the problem.. they run out of space

I find that hard to believe when everyone on these boards has complained of empty Walmart shelves all year round. Walmart doesn't want stuff unsold in the back. No one here on these boards has shared a pic of their toy aisle where there is 0 space to put any figure. If people have such images, please share, I am curious.

transformers_va wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

transformers_va wrote:And I have spoken to Walmart reps who say the reverse.

Good for you, but when it comes to looking in Walmarts for these, I'll trust the employees that I've talked to, over you, any day.

william-james88 wrote:If there's any kind if room it will be used.

And therein lies the problem.. they run out of space

I’m going to chime in here as someone who has actually worked at Walmart in both the electronics and toy departments in the past.

The sections are all plan-o-gram, meaning the exact layout of what stock and where it’s placed is designed by head office. You get a printout of each 4-8” section with that lists exactly where to merchandise each product, sometimes it’s even so specific that it’ll even tell which skus to place where (I.e. two rows of Rattrap here, four rows of Cheetor there, etc). When products sell, the system will automatically send a report to the overnight guys to PIC x number of each product or sku to put into bins for the department staff to work to the shelf the next day. Eventually if there’s no more product or a specific sku to fill the shelf according to the plan-o-gram, the system will automatically order more stock from the distribution centre, and it’ll get filled when it arrives at the store a couple days later. Plan-o-grams are sometimes updated weekly, but it’s usually once a month or so.

In other words, Walmart shelves are filled with reissues right now because they want them to be.

TOO MUCH ENERGON! wrote:I’m going to chime in here as someone who has actually worked at Walmart in both the electronics and toy departments in the past.

The sections are all plan-o-gram, meaning the exact layout of what stock and where it’s placed is designed by head office. You get a printout of each 4-8” section with that lists exactly where to merchandise each product, sometimes it’s even so specific that it’ll even tell which skus to place where (I.e. two rows of Rattrap here, four rows of Cheetor there, etc).

TOO MUCH ENERGON! wrote:In other words, Walmart shelves are filled with reissues right now because they want them to be.

Thank you for chiming in! Your insight as an employee helps greatly!

This is almost exactly what I heard from the employees that I had talked to as well. The plan-o-grams are very specific, and to be followed to a T. Employees don't just place products willy nilly, and to their own discretion, they are specified by corporate. If the plan-o-gram says to fill 2 slots with product x, and they're out of product x, they don't fill it with product y just because the slot is empty (or so I've been told)

Black Zarak on the shelf there, and I just got an email about it being delayed for shipping here..

Rodimus Knight wrote:Black Zarak on the shelf there, and I just got an email about it being delayed for shipping here..

Yeah, I just got an email too

But hey, we've got a whole bunch of crappy BW reissues..

transformers_va wrote:

TOO MUCH ENERGON! wrote:I’m going to chime in here as someone who has actually worked at Walmart in both the electronics and toy departments in the past.

The sections are all plan-o-gram, meaning the exact layout of what stock and where it’s placed is designed by head office. You get a printout of each 4-8” section with that lists exactly where to merchandise each product, sometimes it’s even so specific that it’ll even tell which skus to place where (I.e. two rows of Rattrap here, four rows of Cheetor there, etc).

TOO MUCH ENERGON! wrote:In other words, Walmart shelves are filled with reissues right now because they want them to be.

Thank you for chiming in! Your insight as an employee helps greatly!

This is almost exactly what I heard from the employees that I had talked to as well. The plan-o-grams are very specific, and to be followed to a T. Employees don't just place products willy nilly, and to their own discretion, they are specified by corporate. If the plan-o-gram says to fill 2 slots with product x, and they're out of product x, they don't fill it with product y just because the slot is empty (or so I've been told)

Bingo. Sometimes you have what’s called “flex space” in a plan-o-gram that does let you put whatever you want there, but it’s always just a couple rows at most.

Emerje wrote:But just how strict is this? When Walmart fills the two pegs for Cyberverse Deluxe and two pegs for Cyberverse Warriors and the four pegs for simpler Cyberverse stuff with as many Generations figures as they possibly can and then cram a bunch of Voyagers where Leaders should be it doesn't sounds like Walmart cares less about the plan and more about getting as much stuff out on the floor as they can. Maybe it's just my local Walmarts or maybe it's the employees simply not caring, but it seems like they treat the plan o gram as more of a guide than a rule.

Emerje

I believe those plan-o-grams are agreed upon by the manufacturers, because they are being charged for product location. If the retailers aren't being faithful, that's on them. That being said, I'd expect a little bit of product bleed-over within a manufacturer's own agreed on space is okay.

Also, I wouldn't fully chalk product misplacement up to the employees.. remember that a *lot* of people take them off the pegs/shelves and put them back in the wrong place. In fact, I saw 5 customers do it whilst I was there just today

transformers_va wrote:This is almost exactly what I heard from the employees that I had talked to as well. The plan-o-grams are very specific, and to be followed to a T. Employees don't just place products willy nilly, and to their own discretion, they are specified by corporate. If the plan-o-gram says to fill 2 slots with product x, and they're out of product x, they don't fill it with product y just because the slot is empty (or so I've been told)

That is not what you said before. You said that employees told you that when shelves are full, they keep stuff in the back. Bringing planograms into this means that the shelves being empty or full have nothing do do with it, they just follow a plan. So if there's a space for beast wars reissues, then these new ones will just go right there with the others.

As for planograms, that doesn't cover the extra seasonal aisle near the toy area that can accommodate extra toys when there isn't enough space. All my Walmarts have them and there is 0 structure. He Man will be right next to Polly pocket and some legos.

transformers_va wrote:This is almost exactly what I heard from the employees that I had talked to as well. The plan-o-grams are very specific, and to be followed to a T.

In a perfect world this would be amazing, and I would not have my OCD kick in and have to reorganize the Transformers section of every Walmart I go into. I often call myself an unpaid employee, although It really only takes a couple of minutes (although I have seen some TF sections occasionally so messed up, I just don't even try).

I believe when the shelves are reset and the plan-o-grams are first introduced. YES the employees they have laying them out probably do adhere to it as closely as possible. However, once done, the day-to-day stocking and maintaining of those pegs/shelves is mostly employees that really don't care, and even though I am critical at times, I cant blame them.

"A Transformer is a Transformer" right? I mean if I was asked to stock scented candles and there were several assortments and price points, if I was expected to get them in the shelf as quickly as possible, I probably wouldn't get them all in the right space.

transformers_va wrote:Employees don't just place products willy nilly, and to their own discretion

For every customer I see pick an item up, and not place it back correctly, I've seen an employee do the same. In fact just recently an employee at a walmart I went to placed an RED figure on a random peg, I fixed it while she was still in eyesight of me. Not sure if she appreciated it or not.

Also I wonder (Seinfeld voice) what's the deal with all the toys that should be on Pegs, sitting on shelves?

I've seen it mostly with RED toys, but occasionally with Kingdom and Cyberverse Deluxe, and quite a bit with BW Reissue Cheetor and Rattrap. The all have peg holes, and should be on pegs... Taking up space on shelves is taking space away from bigger (Voyager & Leader) toys.

The latest planogram at Walmart puts voyagers on pegs too, funnily enough. As long as deluxes don't wind up on the bottom shelf.

To chime in on the Walmart planograms: Yes, they are specific, but how many employees actually know the specific product that goes with any given (somewhat generic) name on the peg or shelf, especially without taking the time to look up and compare codes?
I've seen many a product on the wrong shelf space in the grocery aisle; to top that off, they hardly stock Coca Cola Cherry, putting Coca Cola Cherry Vanilla (it's the same, right? ) in its place. I can only imagine the same thing happening in the toy aisles.

To tie this back to BW Reissues, when can we expect the next Wave in the US?

Does anyone know if these might get re-distributed outside of America in 2022? I'd love to have to actually own a scout/deluxe class Rattrap figure

Will they sell the Rattrap reissue in Alberta Canada?

Because I have been told there are no rats in Alberta.