New DS-catalogue 2011/2012: 1st (small) picture

[Wesley Myers]

And also some NON-Playmobil-Train Drivers (LGB, USA Trains, Aristocraft, Piko,...) with US-Trains in G will buy water tanks and wind mills or some beer kegs to load it on their wagons.

Playmobil only has to make more advertising for the DS-catalog!!!

That's just it.  Here in Canada there is absolutely NO advertising done.  Not even before Christmas.  

Playmobil sells on its own because of how well it is made and designed and the play value parents see when their children do get to use it.  

I give Playmobil as presents as often as I can because I know how good it is and I know the kids will love it.  

I also know that most parents and children here (the VAST majority) have never even heard of Playmobil nor had any experience with it.  

[bonniebeth]

Exact same thing here. Even the people who work in toy shops that carry playmobil have never heard of it.

[highlandcattle]

I personally think Geobra and the PCC did a really great job with this! I hope they all sell and that many more are yet to come. I also like the fact that the old car is in a new colour. I wish they did this more often (loved the different coloured houses). That said  I prefer my water tower brown not pink ! Personally I feel that the barrel and the water tower will be the  best sellers especially if the G-scale scene gets wind of these

[Indianna]

Wesley, I think you have some good insights here, but none of us has the data to say for sure what Playmobil's marketing plan is or what sets or themes they deem to be a success or failure.  Each of us may have a sense of the things that sell in our own local areas but that may vary widely across the world.  The company is unquestionably successful - just refer to their website for their 2011 Toy Fair press release.  They have made huge investments in technology over the past few years and can now turn around a product idea from design to production in a fraction of the time it used to take.

I doubt that Playmobil needs any help from us in deciding what products to make for mass distribution.  I hope, instead, that they see that we are a new target market to be served in addition to their traditional target markets.  I believe that we can show them how a vastly increased Direct Service operation which includes re-issues as well as new collector-requested items (like a 4-way steck castle connector or elements of a larger-diameter Steck castle tower ) can give them a good return for a relatively low investment.  Think about it: their usual method means making a set, putting it into a pretty box which gets sent to a storage area, then shipping it to the retail store for sale.  By improving and expanding DS, they can eliminate most of the packaging as well as the interim shipping on items that are shipped directly to the customer.  They already have the websites and online ordering in place.  It seems like a no-brainer to me. 

[bonniebeth]

Amen.

[Wolf Knight]

Now that you asked ...  

Its a good proposition, but as you said, children are not playing much with toys any more...Thats why they've been changing the themes so quickly, almost every year. Geobra/playmobil does not need adult collectors to tell them which set will be more successfull... They know that if they keep changing their toys every year, or whatever chronological period suits them, they will still get a fair amount sold. You know, no shop in Greece is allowed by playmobil to sell their toys on discounts. they think something like that will make playmobil look really bad...''why are they lowering the prices? are they not doing good? are they going to shut down?'' nomater what, they know its the toy that sells most. They don't need us to tell them it is so, they have their plan. The toy shop owners know this as well. And you are right, there won't be an ancient greek theme because, as one of them toy shop owners told me, ancient themes are not popular with kids. It may do ok in greece but not in the rest of the world. And that from a playmobil company sales seminar to toy shop owners.

Again the issue is personal likes and dislikes, trial and error...

[Rasputin]

Maybe the pilot group should have taken the time to ask the rest of us ...

we were asked by Geobra not to ask in open view

Maybe they should have also asked all the other Collectors' forums.

The other forums were in the pilot-PCC so their representation is represented in the selections


I think these will sell just fine and seeing as the investment is so low the #'s will be acceptable  by Geobra. I do not want to borrow trouble and will do my part in buying as many of these sets as I can use. I will even buy

[Rasputin]

Please come to this tread and give your suggestions and see how this process works out. It takes everyone to contribute and we will see how an open vote compares to the pilot-PCC one

[Tiermann]

Claire, I like all of your suggestions. I think it's important to keep in mind that we didn't twist any arms here. We were asked for a list of things we would like and Playmobil took it from there. I don't know the full range of considerations that go into the choices for the catalog, but I do know they have multiple meetings to decide on these things. I think we are just going to have to trust that the largest toy manufacturer in Germany knows what the are doing. 

The Victorian Lamp post - I believe what they indicated was that European regulations for electronics had changed, so to produce it they would need to start over from scratch. Perhaps one day they will do something similar for a current theme.

[bonniebeth]

I think even if they do have to start over on this one for some reason, it would pay to do so. It is quite a versatile pice that could be used in a  lot of themes, and is the kind of thing people (collectors and parents) will buy in multiples. I could use dozens of them in my zoo, for instance. If they sold them in DS packs of 5, then many people would probably buy 2 packs, so they would have an even number if lining both sides of a street or walkway with them. So they would sell a lot of them. I think they would definitely get their money's worth out of a new mold on that one.