Playmobil USA's treatment of small toy stores

[bonniebeth]

Yes, drastically reducing the minimum would help. As I understand it, the minimums aren't nearly so high on most brands.

[policeandplaymobiladdict]

My local toy shop has a lot of old stock because the owner is old and they had to close one of the 2 shops because he could not handle two stores, but that left them with a lot of old stock like the 4264 police station or the 4046, their prices are about 20% more than msrp though.

[Robbie]

I find the minimum a little hard to digest. Some stores only carry ten different sets at the most (newer releases and not just leftover old stock). There's no way they have $30K in inventory. 

[Rasputin]

Well it does make short term annual reports look good. If playmobil sold 100 sets to mom &pop @ $50 that is $5000 on the books . Now if the same sets are sold on playmobil.com @ $100 now they show $10,000 for the same 100 sets sold. It's a little extra work as the shipments are now individual but for the bean counter , it's well worth it.

It's sad to see what corporate America does to the independent but this has been going on for ever. Companies want total control and to eliminate every possible middleman. It's just for profit margin . We all do want to see playmobil maintain the ability to stay vibrant in a very competitive market. It's hard enough to just design nice looking toys let alone push them on children

[Tiermann]

I was talking to the owner of the local shop we order the figures from. He has a pretty full Playmobil line. He said the companies minimum for free shipping this fall is lower than it has been in years, making it much easier for him to get orders in at good prices for him. Freight costs are always a factor for stores these days. So he is  happy with them at the moment.

[bonniebeth]

Interesting! That's good to know they may be moving in the right direction.

[Baron Marshall]

My understanding from the sales rep I bump into occasionally at my local store is that the minimum purchase amount to be a Playmobil dealer is only $3,000.  However, they also have built into the plan priority fulfillment. So the more a store buys the sooner they get the goods. The highest threshold was $30,000+ worth of product

[Rasputin]

Does anybody know if Geobra  charges independent toy shops a franchise/dealer fee?

I am a bit nervous about how PlaymoUSA even handles the typical sets and now they will have to deal with pcc sets.

I am always surprised about their wholesale prices. I used to think Geobra let the toy shop earn at least 50% of MSRP. On some sets there is little to no profit for the independent if sold at MSRP