AWI Retirements (1 Viewer)

I hope this is a mistake. If true then they need to increase the numbers that are being produced.

King's Man
 
Hi Guys,
Check the Britains' website there are many retirements across their product line. In my opinion this is definitely related to a weak US economy.
Just my 2cents
Benjamin
 
Yeah, all the WWII, most of the WWI, half of the Napoleonic, some of the ACW, and much more :(:(:(:mad::mad::(:(:. What does it all mean???
 
Hi There!
We have done two things, the first is to give plenty of warning that something will be retired. This means that in most cases there is still product in the warehouse.
The second is to make room for more new products in any one line. The are several new items for AWI in the next catalog. We have done this with several lines including ACW and Zulu War too. We tend to retire the more unique poses and reorder the standard poses that collectors could use multiples of.
All the best!
Ken
 
Hey Ken, I know I have been pestering you about this, but will the WWII ranges be continued in great amounts soon?
 
Does anyone know what kind of quantity is produced of a single soldier in a typical production run? Excluding limited editions etc.
 
Hi All:

Addressed this on a previous post a while back -looks like new posts took over before some folks got a chance to see it - we are clearly stating what is retiring to give collectors plenty of a heads up what will not be run again. In the past we have not given advance warning and simply said the item is gone - giving no one any warning (we are not retiring any more sets than in the past - you all are just better aware of it now). Many collectors and retailers like this new approach so they can all budget better.

As Ken said - for the vast majority of items there is still inventory in our warehouse, we try to plan on at least 6-12 months of stock before a retiring item runs out. There are of course always exceptions from the hot seller that is gone before it arrives to the not so hot seller that stays around for 24 months!

The fact that this issue still seems to keep coming up makes me wonder aloud again if we should go back to the old method and just advise when an item is gone or very very low and about to be gone.

We do not get into specific production numbers on all items -regard that as a trade secret that our competitors would very much like to know. That said you can clearly see how many we are making of the various limited edition sets we do.

Richard
 
The issue with the AWI items is that these are all new releases that have only been out either since June or are not due out until July. We were all aware of the 2007 Catalog retirements but the 2008 ones came as a surprise. Will it be general practice to retire items from the previous catalog when a new one is issued? Thus the issuance of the Spring 2008 Supplement and the subsequent retirements appearing on the WB site?
 
My two cents worth...

When Britains calls a set retired, that simply means that they do not have plans to produce any more. It doesn't mean that they are nearly out or that you have to buy it quickly or you'll miss it (with rare exception).

We are seeing this with other manufacturers as well...the desire for new products nearly always outstrips the desire for older ones, so it makes sense to put the limited resources at hand (factory space sounds hard to come by) into something new. Thus, one production run with enough produced to keep selling it for a while.

By giving the 'heads up' about retirements Britains is trying to help people set their budgets for the coming months. Helpful, if you ask me.
 
The problem, for collectors, as I see it with such early retirements is that it causes a "run" on the product thus more quickly depleting the supply. Many collectors are working with a limited yearly targeted budget (some collectors actually use Excel spreadsheets). If you have targeted particular items each month and are collecting from more than one manufacturer, then an item you were planning on picking up later may be sold out by that time due to such a "run" to purchase it before the stock is depleted. It is good as Ken Osen stated that items that are bought in multiples will have longer production runs thus taking some of the pressure off collectors.
 
Hi Richard,

Thanks for the clarifications, I for one understand the reasoning and also see the advantage of you giving us ample warning that we need to get the set or two we were missing IOT complete a line.

One question though, it seems like the life span of some sets is longer than others,(I am refering to the non-limited productions). Is this a reflection of numbers produced or do you think its due to popularity or a combination of the two? I know that lines like the Zulus generate a lot more interest than say the Indian Mutiny Line, but did you make a decision to produce more of one line than another, or is it more of a coin flip due to collectors whims?

I only ask because I have been having a discussion with a friend on this topic and we are not sure either way so I figured since this thread had popped up and you were discussing it too I should go ahead and ask. Thanks for participating in these discussions.

All the best

Dave
 
Peter Reuss said:
My two cents worth...

When Britains calls a set retired, that simply means that they do not have plans to produce any more. It doesn't mean that they are nearly out or that you have to buy it quickly or you'll miss it (with rare exception).

We are seeing this with other manufacturers as well...the desire for new products nearly always outstrips the desire for older ones, so it makes sense to put the limited resources at hand (factory space sounds hard to come by) into something new. Thus, one production run with enough produced to keep selling it for a while.

By giving the 'heads up' about retirements Britains is trying to help people set their budgets for the coming months. Helpful, if you ask me.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reminder. I remember that this info came out a while ago, but I couldn't remember exactly what was said. But clearly understandable, and seems like not only good business sense but also good customer relations.

Dick
 
Peter Reuss said:
My two cents worth...

When Britains calls a set retired, that simply means that they do not have plans to produce any more. It doesn't mean that they are nearly out or that you have to buy it quickly or you'll miss it (with rare exception).

We are seeing this with other manufacturers as well...the desire for new products nearly always outstrips the desire for older ones, so it makes sense to put the limited resources at hand (factory space sounds hard to come by) into something new. Thus, one production run with enough produced to keep selling it for a while.

By giving the 'heads up' about retirements Britains is trying to help people set their budgets for the coming months. Helpful, if you ask me.
Click to expand...

Peter - Is Treefrog re-ordering retired sets when your alotment sells out but Britains still has stock left ? A good number of retired sets are disappearing from the Treefrog site that still seem to be in stock on the Britains site.
 
DMNamiot said:
Hi Richard,

Thanks for the clarifications, I for one understand the reasoning and also see the advantage of you giving us ample warning that we need to get the set or two we were missing IOT complete a line.

One question though, it seems like the life span of some sets is longer than others,(I am refering to the non-limited productions). Is this a reflection of numbers produced or do you think its due to popularity or a combination of the two? I know that lines like the Zulus generate a lot more interest than say the Indian Mutiny Line, but did you make a decision to produce more of one line than another, or is it more of a coin flip due to collectors whims?

I only ask because I have been having a discussion with a friend on this topic and we are not sure either way so I figured since this thread had popped up and you were discussing it too I should go ahead and ask. Thanks for participating in these discussions.

All the best

Dave
Click to expand...


Dave:

You have just asked the $64,000 question. All of the run quantities are based on my best estimate - if it is a new line - it is an "educated" guess, if it is an exisitng line I try to base it on sales of similar items. So to answer your quesiton - it is a combination of both popularity and number made- the one certainly feeds off the other of course.

Now if I could only get every set exactly right every time (as the old saying goes I would not be doing this - I'd been doing it on the stock market!). Had a wise old boss once tell me if your over 50% right you're doing okay (needless to say we shoot for much more than that - and thanks to many of you guys opening your wallets and display case space we get many more right than wrong).

Clear as mud!

Richard
 
Dragoon said:
Peter - Is Treefrog re-ordering retired sets when your alotment sells out but Britains still has stock left ? A good number of retired sets are disappearing from the Treefrog site that still seem to be in stock on the Britains site.
Click to expand...

We will order from Britains as long as they have sets to sell us! We constantly are reordering as needed.

We keep track of what Britains has in stock and order it accoordingly.

The way our web site works is that when a retired item is out of stock the item is automaticlaly removed from the website (so people don't buy what we can't get!). In the case of these Britains, they reappear when we have them in stock. There are times when the Britains site isn't quite as updated as ours, so it looks like they are available when they are not.

If you have questions about a particular item, feel free to contact Mandi and she'll look into it for you.

Pete
 
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