The Walmart Campaign

kingfish · July 7th, 2004, 05:45 PM

http://pp226.proboards25.com/index.c...245739&start=0

jeditemple · July 9th, 2004, 09:23 AM

I seriously doubt this is going to have any effect on Walmart carrying merchandise for BSG. Specialty items are best handled by online retailers, like Entertainment Earth and Amok Time. I speak from experience (being a Star Wars collector) and the big chain stores, like Walmart and Target have little use for BSG. I've seen the Star Wars collectibles go from 1/2 aisle to 1/4 aisle...down to a few pegs. They just don't have the shelf space to support it anymore -- and Star Wars is pretty huge. I don't see them taking BSG seriously because the show doesn't have a huge company backing their merchandising (like Star Wars has Hasbro). They'd rather stuff the shelves with Digimon and Power Rangers, because that's what sells.

But good luck, regardless.

kingfish · July 9th, 2004, 12:41 PM

Thanks for the kind words. I remember when Sears-Roebuck's used to carry BG hobby kits. That was many yahrens ago but BG is about to rise once again.

shiningstar · July 9th, 2004, 06:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeditemple

I seriously doubt this is going to have any effect on Walmart carrying merchandise for BSG. Specialty items are best handled by online retailers, like Entertainment Earth and Amok Time. I speak from experience (being a Star Wars collector) and the big chain stores, like Walmart and Target have little use for BSG. I've seen the Star Wars collectibles go from 1/2 aisle to 1/4 aisle...down to a few pegs. They just don't have the shelf space to support it anymore -- and Star Wars is pretty huge. I don't see them taking BSG seriously because the show doesn't have a huge company backing their merchandising (like Star Wars has Hasbro). They'd rather stuff the shelves with Digimon and Power Rangers, because that's what sells.

But good luck, regardless.

They're not even carrying Digimon anymore. Believe me I know
my oldest kid loves Digimon. It's just NOT on the shelves anymore

Artemis · July 10th, 2004, 10:01 AM

Sorry but I boycot Walmart because their unfair labor practices and tendency to put local businesses out of business replacing those lost jobs with lower paying, no benefit jobs. They also force their suppliers to sell products to them at such low costs that they, the suppliers, must lower their pay and benefits or even layoff workers to not loose money.

jeditemple · July 12th, 2004, 06:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingfish

Thanks for the kind words. I remember when Sears-Roebuck's used to carry BG hobby kits. That was many yahrens ago but BG is about to rise once again.

Sure... I'm not trying to put a damper on the campaign by any means -- just being realistic. Yeah, I remember when Sears used to carry a lot of things...even role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons. Unfortunately, the market is different now.

BSGDAN · July 12th, 2004, 11:38 AM

As a collector, I can say that this particular campaign will not be successful. Wal-Mart's figure selection is rather limited. Right now, you can only find the big things like STAR WARS, GI JOE, WWE, and a bunch of that Japanimation garbage that the kids love so much. As for "tie-in" things, they can't give away the stuff from "Van Helsing", "Harry Potter", and "Shrek 2". If those lines (responsible for almost a billion dollars in ticket sales at the box office this summer) aren't selling, what chance does a BSG line have getting peg space on Wal-Mart shelves.

Wal-Mart used to stock the Playmates STAR TREK figures. However, when Art Asylum began to produce figures from "Enterprise" and "Nemesis", Wal-Mart didn't buy any. Sure, it can be argued that they made a good call, but they had no way of knowing that TREK would be in decline at the time. Only Target, Kay Bee, and Toys R Us picked them up. Now, despite good sales of the classic TREK figures online, no retailer has yet to give up shelf space for future TREK items.

The fact is that small toy companies like JoyRide Studios will always have a hard time getting mass-market orders from the likes of Wal-Mart. These companies must rely upon online dealers (Entertainment Earth, NewForce Comics, etc.) and speciality shops (GameStop, EB Games, Suncoast, Sam Goody, Musicland, etc.) to get their product to the consumers. I would love to see BSG items for sale at the local Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Toys R Us, etc. However, until something changes to show the buyers for the companies that BSG (and scifi toys in general) can sell well, we will have to be happy to get them from the smaller places.

Dan

PS These smaller companies are making better products than Mattell, Hasbro, etc.

shiningstar · July 27th, 2004, 07:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BSGDAN

As a collector, I can say that this particular campaign will not be successful. Wal-Mart's figure selection is rather limited. Right now, you can only find the big things like STAR WARS, GI JOE, WWE, and a bunch of that Japanimation garbage that the kids love so much. As for "tie-in" things, they can't give away the stuff from "Van Helsing", "Harry Potter", and "Shrek 2". If those lines (responsible for almost a billion dollars in ticket sales at the box office this summer) aren't selling, what chance does a BSG line have getting peg space on Wal-Mart shelves.

Wal-Mart used to stock the Playmates STAR TREK figures. However, when Art Asylum began to produce figures from "Enterprise" and "Nemesis", Wal-Mart didn't buy any. Sure, it can be argued that they made a good call, but they had no way of knowing that TREK would be in decline at the time. Only Target, Kay Bee, and Toys R Us picked them up. Now, despite good sales of the classic TREK figures online, no retailer has yet to give up shelf space for future TREK items.

The fact is that small toy companies like JoyRide Studios will always have a hard time getting mass-market orders from the likes of Wal-Mart. These companies must rely upon online dealers (Entertainment Earth, NewForce Comics, etc.) and speciality shops (GameStop, EB Games, Suncoast, Sam Goody, Musicland, etc.) to get their product to the consumers. I would love to see BSG items for sale at the local Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Toys R Us, etc. However, until something changes to show the buyers for the companies that BSG (and scifi toys in general) can sell well, we will have to be happy to get them from the smaller places.

Dan

PS These smaller companies are making better products than Mattell, Hasbro, etc.

That's so very true Dan.

kingfish · July 27th, 2004, 08:23 AM

Enterprise and nemesis figures- I saw some of them at Big Lots. Jerry van Dyke does the advertisements for the compant. I also saw a ton of Outer Limits VHS tapes for anybody interested.

shiningstar · July 28th, 2004, 06:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingfish

Enterprise and nemesis figures- I saw some of them at Big Lots. Jerry van Dyke does the advertisements for the compant. I also saw a ton of Outer Limits VHS tapes for anybody interested.

How did they look Kingfish?