Sales? (1 Viewer)

[Poppo]

In Europe ( i don' t know in the US or Australia), I have a feel ( it is my feeling, i don' t know if correct) that dealers have some huge problems to sell the "retired items" much more than a couple of years ago....Maybe because of the crise, maybe because they have been done in too many pieces, maybe because of the increasing competition and so on......

In general, in a similar situation when "sales" on prices are done, the stocks burn fast. I wonder why in the KC policy sales are never done.
In my opinion sales on prices would be positive for collectors, maker, and dealers.....

What do you think?

 

[desk11desk12]

Go lightly on "King & Country Sale" concept.

Many dealers have found out the hard way what happens when you do.

King & Country has a policy against it and has pulled their product from those that engage in it.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Carlos

 

[jazzeum]

No, Carlos, you're exactly right. A few years ago two long time dealers lost their dealership for offering discounts. Andy doesn't take these things lightly, and before anyone starts saying it's not fair, etc. every dealer knows the rules when they become a dealer.

 

[Phantom Warrior]

It sounds to me that Poppo may mean why doesn't K&C itself authorize sales prices on some items on occasion.

Terry

 

[jazzeum]

It's not the way they operate, simple as that.

 

[PanzerAce1944]

To Reinforce what was already put out, It "is" against company policy for any dealer to sell K&C products below the standard published retail prices.To me this is a very smart practice as it prevents
cut throat sales practices from occuring and keeps the "Brick and Mortar" shops in business and keeps all dealers on the same playing field.

 

[marco55]

Not if they can't sell them at the retail prices.Some dealers have sets that have been sitting for years.Maybe a 2 or 3 year limit forbidding sales should be agreed to between KC and the dealers.And I should add that I don't think KC is the only one with this policy so lets not single them out.
Mark

 

[Mitch]

whenever this subject is brought up we hear from some collectors that sets that have been retired are sitting collecting dust on shelves unable to be sold. Can someone or, the originator of the post tell me what dealers have this problem and what sets they are?

I think its a fiction as most of the dealers we hear from here don't say that so, its probably a stick for backing the argument to get K&C cheaper.

I would think regardless of what some may think K&C don't do, want, allow whatever you way to call it because they don't need to!!!
Mitch

 

[jazzeum]

Even if a dealer has inventory that is accumulating dust, do you think they would say so?

Dealers are salespeople who, by nature, look on the bright side. It doesn't set a good tone if you say, "yes, sales are slow,"'even if that's the truth. Moreover, if they tell K & C, yup, things are tough, that will not make Andy and Helen happy. Although obviously they have the sales figures, dealers will try to paint a rosy picture. If you can't move the merchandise, there may be others who can.

 

[Isandlwana]

Can you imagine the furore if someone paid £700 for the first eight ALH figures to then find that if he had waited a year he could have got them for £350? If as a buyer you knew this was going to happen then what would you do? And of course the business would cease to exist pretty quickly.

That said, the starting price is rising exponentially - the Eighth Army figures have risen in the UK by 9.31% in a calendar year (CPI is currently 2.7% in the UK) but that's an argument for another day and one I will gladly get involved in.

 

[Spanish soldier]

Europe suffers from a profound crisis, wages fall and unemployment rises, sales of toy soldiers have had to decline.

Francisco

 

[Isandlwana]

I have absolutely no evidence to substantiate what I'm about to say, so disclaimer out of the way I would hazard to guess that the Real West figures have hitherto been one of the slowest sellers. I only surmise this because every single figure is still available and has been for some considerable time now and not much is mentioned of them when compared with other ranges. I myself bought the native figures on a whim but quickly grew tired of them and in the end I practically had to give them away, so unpopular were they at normal retail price here in the UK.

Nevertheless I think the release of the Custer series is a stroke of sound marketing acumen that will breath new life into the native figures in particular.

Just shows that rather than offer them at a discount to shift them, a whole new range has been introduced to aide their sale!!! There will never be a K&C sale if the Real West is anything to go by!

 

[Poppo]

whenever this subject is brought up we hear from some collectors that sets that have been retired are sitting collecting dust on shelves unable to be sold. Can someone or, the originator of the post tell me what dealers have this problem and what sets they are?

I think its a fiction as most of the dealers we hear from here don't say that so, its probably a stick for backing the argument to get K&C cheaper.

I would think regardless of what some may think K&C don't do, want, allow whatever you way to call it because they don't need to!!!
Mitch

Well, it is simple, I just have a look at the available retired items in some dealers' stocks sites ( doesn t matter who), and I noticed that after longer time than before there are still available retired items in several ranges.
I just noticed this in reality, no fiction....You know, personally I don' t care at all what prices they put as I have got already all what i need and I don' t plan to buy more, at any price.
Just pure curiosity, just a matter for conversation.
I see you get very hot and somehow agressive about this subject, I don' t see why...

 

[The Military Workshop]

Ishandhlwana makes some good points.

I am on the record before as agreeing with the K&C pricing policy so no surprises on my opinion on this matter.

Many collectors naturally want a bargain but Ishandhlwana is spot on with this comment :

"Can you imagine the furore if someone paid £700 for the first eight ALH figures to then find that if he had waited a year he could have got them for £350? If as a buyer you knew this was going to happen then what would you do? And of course the business would cease to exist pretty quickly".

As a dealer with stock from multiple ranges I am not too excited when I see product devalued as it makes me
more cautious about quantities to order if I think their value might suddenly go down. In some cases in the past I
have dropped the product line completely (not talking about TS lines here).

In relation to retired items each dealer has to make his own decisions when ordering in items that K&C has
just announced as retired. This comes from experience and knowing your collector base. When the Despatches comes
out there are sometimes retired items that have already sold out or only have a few left. There are some which may
linger on the "retired" list for a long time. There have even been a couple of items which have been retired where
sales upon retirement were more than pre retirement ! With some retired items I have no problem ordering
multiples and with others I may not order even one. It is for each dealer to make up his own buying decisions.

As regards the Real West Indians it would come as no surprise to know that there has been an increase in orders
for the previously released Indians due to the new Custer figures. Some of these collectors had not previously been
interested in the Real West series so obviously the story/image of Custer is the attraction. Not only that but they are currently some of the cheapest K&C figures available. Not sure about the UK market but I do find American Indians have a bit of a
following (both K&C and Jenkins) and I put this down to collectors watching lots of Western movies when younger.

Just a few random thoughts.

Merry Christmas,
Brett

 

[Jack]

Europe suffers from a profound crisis, wages fall and unemployment rises, sales of toy soldiers have had to decline.

Francisco

It is clear that the impact of the financial crisis is never really uniform. I have a job and a wage which are not influenced by external financial issues (or competence{sm4}) and with the strong Australian dollar (1.04 US) there has never really been a better time than now to collect. I have no way of knowing whether sales are up or down, either in the one shop I frequent or across the board, so I wonder if the major manufactureres are actually experiencing a downturn. Speaking anecdotally, I trip over (literally) the mail orders at the TS shop I visit so I suspect at least in Brisbane sales are still quite strong.

With all this talk of retired items not shifting and covered in dust, does anyone have the Scots Grey casualty figure that they just cannot sell and are deperate to shift at rrp?

Jack

 

[TomNT]

With all this talk of retired items not shifting and covered in dust, does anyone have the Scots Grey casualty figure that they just cannot sell and are deperate to shift at rrp?

Jack

Watch out Jack, you might get inundated with retired items people want to get rid of....{sm4}

Tom

 

[Jack]

Watch out Jack, you might get inundated with retired items people want to get rid of....{sm4}

Tom

You shouldn't talk about Wayne that way!{sm4}

 

[TomNT]

You shouldn't talk about Wayne that way!{sm4}

Now there's a man jumping to conclusions!{sm4}

Tom

 

[waynepoo]

It is clear that the impact of the financial crisis is never really uniform. I have a job and a wage which are not influenced by external financial issues (or competence{sm4}) and with the strong Australian dollar (1.04 US) there has never really been a better time than now to collect. I have no way of knowing whether sales are up or down, either in the one shop I frequent or across the board, so I wonder if the major manufactureres are actually experiencing a downturn. Speaking anecdotally, I trip over (literally) the mail orders at the TS shop I visit so I suspect at least in Brisbane sales are still quite strong.

With all this talk of retired items not shifting and covered in dust, does anyone have the Scots Grey casualty figure that they just cannot sell and are deperate to shift at rrp?

Jack

Persistence is a virtue....and to think I grow up believing a 'Scots Grey' was a big mossie.....:wink2:
Wayne.

 

[Mitch]

Not sure you read the post properly. no hostility aggression etc simply responding to the comment. Just how you read it. I suppose if we look hard enough every post can be turned the way we actually would like or hope they are going to be for whatever reason !!
Mitch

Well, it is simple, I just have a look at the available retired items in some dealers' stocks sites ( doesn t matter who), and I noticed that after longer time than before there are still available retired items in several ranges.
I just noticed this in reality, no fiction....You know, personally I don' t care at all what prices they put as I have got already all what i need and I don' t plan to buy more, at any price.
Just pure curiosity, just a matter for conversation.
I see you get very hot and somehow agressive about this subject, I don' t see why...