10211 - Grand Emporium

[JRandall]

I think someone at target knows what's up with soon to be EOL Lego sets. If it's just some random algorithm, what's the algorithm based on? Is it looking at amazon prices maybe?

A Billion dollar company that makes their money from clothing, food, and furniture doesn't care about Lego sets. It's not even .001% of their sales. They sell more of their other toys than Lego day in and day.  What they have is millions in proprietary software similar to what Amazon/ToysRus/Walmart use that automatically adjusts prices, stock, and inventory on their website and Ebay site.  These online venues have little to do with in store pricing.

[Dr. Brick]

Today I received my 5 GE's from Lego and they all are 27R4 and I ordered them all on 7/11

[stephen_rockefeller]

So why the price hike so close to EOL? Someone must know that the supply is drying up and it will be gone soon. The hike certainly can't be just because their stock is getting low. My curiosity peaked when I called and was given a BS excuse for the price hike.

[newbie77]

A Billion dollar company that makes their money from clothing, food, and furniture doesn't care about Lego sets. It's not even .001% of their sales. They sell more of their other toys than Lego day in and day.  What they have is millions in proprietary software similar to what Amazon/ToysRus/Walmart use that automatically adjusts prices, stock, and inventory on their website and Ebay site.  These online venues have little to do with in store pricing.

if we are talking numbers i believe total sales of target is $73billion; with lego sales alone being over $200million. that's about 0.003%.

[33Lego]

I think someone at target knows what's up with soon to be EOL Lego sets. If it's just some random algorithm, what's the algorithm based on? Is it looking at amazon prices maybe?

I guess it is basically checking inventory across competitors.

 

If some items haven't been showing up in quite some time, like GE and they somehow still have them.

 

They might raise the price.

[Bold-Arrow]

So why the price hike so close to EOL? Someone must know that the supply is drying up and it will be gone soon. The hike certainly can't be just because their stock is getting low. My curiosity peaked when I called and was given a BS excuse for the price hike.

im pretty sure at this point their prices are tied up to amazon.

look at the friend 3186, ecto-1, GE, they all resemble amazon prices

[GhostDad]

Target is a very big company that sells lots of stuff.  However, they do not actually earn a lot of money.  Their profit margin, last time I checked, was about 4%.  I don't know what Target pays for a GE, but let's say it's half MSRP, or $75. So, before expenses, free shipping, etc., they make $75 if you buy one at $150.  In reality, because they have lots of fixed and marginal costs, their profit is probably more like $10 or $20.

 

But instead, let's say you buy a GE at $250 because you can't get them at MSRP anywhere.  Target surely does track competitor's prices, and it may also track an item's wholesale availability (or lack thereof) from Lego.  In any case, if you buy the GE for $250 (and since they go in and out of stock at Target.com, some people surely do), Target gets that additional $100.  They get all of it (minus a low single digits percentage lost to VISA or MasterCard) as profit, because there are no additional expenses -- they still have just the one set to pack and ship, etc.  So Target has made as much from selling one GE at $250 as they made selling 10 or 20 at $150.  In the case of some other items mentioned, such as clothing or (especially) food, the difference is even greater.

 

What I'm saying is that extra $100 of revenue from sale of a marked-up $250 GE contains as much profit as perhaps $1000 worth of MSRP-priced lego sets, or literally $10,000 worth of food (where Target's margin is more like 1%).  I used to own Target stock and pore over their earnings reports, but anyone interested can confirm all of this by requesting a prospectus from the company (ok, anyone REALLY interested).  The point being that this extra revenue from Target's "lego investing" has an outsized impact on the company's profits, and I would expect to see more of it in the future, and even Wal-Mart and Amazon joining in under similar circumstances (I would also expect the same to become standard practice in dealing with any other toy that appreciates in value post-EOL).  I think we'll increasingly find that when only one online retailer stocks an item, unless that retailer is LEGO Shop at Home, we won't be able to rely on still obtaining sets at MSRP.

[Neosphinx]

I guess it is basically checking inventory across competitors.

 

If some items haven't been showing up in quite some time, like GE and they somehow still have them.

 

They might raise the price.

I believe so too, just as we query shops database and review there prices, I am sure big companies like Target do the same.

[minicoopers11]

I only have 3.  There are members here that have WAY more then us.  I hope to one day acheive Jedi Lego status.

I have 1. That I bought when there were still sales on these....been holding awhile.

[CNH1974]

I have 4, with one built.

 

Interesting with....ahem....1500 posts!!!! .... mainly talking about shortages, OOS etc... the BP value for June has not moved at all. In fact the BP UK price has hardly moved holding at around

[Ciglione]

I have 5 MISB's and one built for my own collection. If I were in the US I would have bought more by now. Us here in Europe have some more time I guess to expand. Here it is not as scarce as in the US but I am seeing it demise slowly also here. I really believe 27R4 is the last production run. Just the question to ask is how big (in quantities) was this production run?

[vmnlogan]

I have had backordered sets for two weeks now - checked today and LEGO Shop at Home has the GE listed as "In Process" rather than "Backordered". Hoping this means they are on their way soon...

[xRebirthed]

LEGO Shop at Home: Call to check product availability

[stephen_rockefeller]

Called and was able to order 1 she said there were 4 remaining in the warehouse.

[No More Monkeys]

Called and was able to order 1 she said there were 4 remaining in the warehouse.

Considering the pattern of the availability in the last few weeks, they are getting maybe a little truck worth every day?

[Sandwraith]

I have had backordered sets for two weeks now - checked today and LEGO Shop at Home has the GE listed as "In Process" rather than "Backordered". Hoping this means they are on their way soon...

 

Likewise. Made 2 orders weeks ago (one order of 1 GE and 1 order of 2 GE's). The order for the 2 was just "Cancelled" yesterday, but my order for 1 is still "In Process".

[gorbasho]

Considering the pattern of the availability in the last few weeks, they are getting maybe a little truck worth every day?

With that pattern I'd say it's more like a dude on a moped shows up every hour with two sets strapped on the back.

[GhostDad]

Likewise. Made 2 orders weeks ago (one order of 1 GE and 1 order of 2 GE's). The order for the 2 was just "Cancelled" yesterday, but my order for 1 is still "In Process".

I've never had an "in process" order fail to actually be shipped (ditto for "backordered" in my case, but I think some have had the opposite experience with those).  As long as your order is in "customer service", though, anything is possible.

[Brickshopper]

Grand Emporium SOLD OUT on LEGO Shop at Home

[No More Monkeys]

Grand Emporium SOLD OUT on LEGO Shop at Home

for the ******-th time in last few weeks.... 

wait a few hours - they dude on a moped got stuck in traffic

[johnwray]

It seems like "call for availability" seems to be one of the more reliable signs of impending retirement, but can anyone confirm? I imagine it's like they're scraping the bottom of the pot of Mac ******' Cheese.

[Darth_Raichu]

It seems like "call for availability" seems to be one of the more reliable signs of impending retirement, but can anyone confirm? I imagine it's like they're scraping the bottom of the pot of Mac n' Cheese.

IIRC, this was call to check last week ? It is (back to) Sold Out now

[No More Monkeys]

GE was doing this cycle for the last 2-3 weeks  

Sold Out -> OOS. Ship date DD (add to cart enabled) -> Call to check -> Sold Out -> ... rinse and repeat. 

Occasionally, it would skip "call to check"

[Floyd214]

Toys R Us in Canada is also showing OOS today...both listings.

[MartinP]

GE was doing this cycle for the last 2-3 weeks  

Sold Out -> OOS. Ship date DD (add to cart enabled) -> Call to check -> Sold Out -> ... rinse and repeat. 

Occasionally, it would skip "call to check"

That is what the GE will be doing for the next two to three months. Then Lego will have a lot of them available for purchase during Black Friday, and then it will be officially retired.