The LEGO Shortage: Bricks, Bans and Boon

Recently, several major news outlets have stated that there is a “looming” shortage of LEGO bricks on the horizon in some European countries.  The continued strong growth of The LEGO Group...basically a Compound Annual Growth Rate of around 20% for the last seven or eight years, has taxed the production capacity of the company and has forced them to admit that there could be problems acquiring LEGO sets this Holiday season.  According to LEGO press officer, Roar Trangbeck, "The demand for Lego products during the first half of 2015 has been significantly higher than our and our customers' expectations and projections and this has put a strain on the Lego Group's manufacturing facilities globally."   In simpler terms, LEGO products are too darn popular...and for good reason mind you.

Recently, LEGO has made an effort to bring the LEGO brick to the Far Eastern markets, exacerbating the shortage situation even more in non-North American countries.  The LEGO Group is building a new LEGO factory in Jiaxing, China, but unfortunately, the manufacturing plant will not be ready until 2017.  It also didn’t help that The LEGO Movie was extremely popular and many of the company’s new non-brick products like TV shows and video games have become Über popular as well.  This is a situation that most companies would love...factories running at full tilt and customers buying up existing inventories at record rates.  But LEGO has always been mindful of upsetting customers and their customer service and satisfaction has always been exemplary.  So what’s the world number one toy maker to do?  How about ban some customers?  

Now, before anyone gets offended or questions my motives, I would like to state this is all pure speculation based on recent activities and happenings.  Over the past several years, there have been a faction of North American LEGO customers banned from the LEGO Shop @ Home VIP program and online purchases.  Granted, many of these banned customers bought in excess of The LEGO Group’s purchase limits and were obvious resellers, which in itself is not illegal, but some companies frown upon the process.  LEGO wants to sell to the end user first and would rather not have non-sanctioned resellers sell to the end user, unless a person goes through their approval process of becoming a brick and mortar toy and LEGO seller.  This makes sense and I completely understand (...but respectfully disagree with) their possible stance on the situation.  That being said, LEGO reselling has largely been a North American phenomena over the past ten years or so and European and British LEGO customers were rarely, if ever, banned for excessive LEGO purchases...until now.  

Over the past several months, more and more non-North American customers have been getting banned from LEGO Shop @ Home for exceeding purchase limits or just buying excessive amounts of LEGO sets in a short time period.  This is new...and news.  LEGO fans, collectors and resellers from outside the United States have never been subject to any sort of bans for purchases to my knowledge.  Many people far exceeded purchase limits and were not banned and this went on for years.  So why the change in philosophy?  How about a shortage of LEGO bricks?  Now, it’s possible that LEGO reselling has become rampant in Great Britain and Europe, thus the reason for the bans.  It is also possible that LEGO is feeling the pinch of the shortages and is making sure whatever LEGO sets they have for sale are going directly to the end user.  If they ban a reseller...so what?  The savvy reseller will find other ways to acquire LEGO sets.  But at least this way, LEGO assures that at least a portion of LEGO sets will go to end users instead of resellers, who could buy 10, 20 or more of one kind of set to resell on LEGO secondary sites.  

Personally, I found this recent revelation about a LEGO shortage in Europe and increasing bans from LEGO retail outlets too coincidental for there not to be a connection.  Just from speaking with many non-North American members over the course of the last several years, I don’t think reselling of LEGO sets in Great Britain and Europe to be anywhere near the levels of the United States and Canada, but it’s probably a growing concern for The LEGO Group, especially considering the fact that there is a possible shortage of bricks.  So what does this shortage mean for the LEGO fan and/or reseller?  Well, fans will have to wait for LEGO sets in many instances.  “Temporarily Out of Stock” has become commonplace on LEGO Shop @ Home.  Many “exclusives” are backordered frequently, so fans can get impatient, especially with the Holiday season right around the corner.  Resellers can take advantage of these shortages by being the only source for some of these sets.  But resellers also need to be careful and purchase within the limits issued by LEGO or fear a ban from LEGO retail outlets and VIP programs.  

All in all, it’s an interesting time to be a LEGO fan, collector and reseller.  The legendary LEGO brick has never been more popular, yet “everything is not awesome.”  Poor Little Timmy might not get that fancy new Ultimate Collector Series set in time for Christmas.  Good thing there are LEGO resellers ready to step in and sell their sets to Little Timmy’s parents...