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There have been numerous complaints across the web about the poor distribution of the DC Universe figures.
One of the major gripes was the infamous Wave 5, otherwise known as the Wal-Mart wave. (Personally, I'm still looking for Atom & Black Lightning)
People are too quick to blame Mattel, when they don't know the entire story, nor do they want to.
I've explained before on how distribution works (see the article "Toy Distribution 101"), but it doesn't seem like anyone wanted to hear what I was saying.
I for one am sick & tired of all the complaining from the fanboys.
All they do is complain, safe behind their computers, & not take any action.
So I decided to call Wal-Mart and find out what the deal is.
Here are the details of my conversation.
I started out by calling Wal-Mart's Media Relations department.
I spoke to a representative who was extremely helpful.
I asked the rep some questions & concerns I had.
The rep, in turn, presented them to Wal-Mart's buyer of the Mattel DC Universe figures.
The rep got back to me with some answers:
Wal-Mart does not carry DCU in all of their stores.
There are only 1800 stores that carry this line, & they are mainly located in the South & Mid-West.
That means that those of us in the Northeast,Northwest, & the West Coast are pretty much screwed.
Wal-Mart considers this line a collector's item and not a heavy license line like Transformers or Star Wars.
Because of this, they don't order high quantities and it causes the Wal-Mart stores to limit how much peg space they dedicate to DCU.
So what YOU can do?
There are a couple of things you can do.
First, talk to your local Wal-Mart store manager.
Tell them you would like the store to carry them.
They might be able to get some in.
Second, call Wal-Mart customer service 1-800-925-6278.
TELL THEM you want your local Wal-Mart to carry them.
With Wave 10 being another Wal-Mart wave, there's going to a lot of disappointed fans.
So call Wal-Mart & tell them how you feel.
Maybe if we all rattle their cages, Wal-Mart will get the hint, order more product, and stock more stores in different areas.
Finally to finish off, & to be very blunt:
STOP ACTING LIKE A FANBOY.
THINK LIKE A CONSUMER.
THE BITCHING AND MOANING ON BLOGS, FACEBOOK, AND MESSAGE BOARDS DON'T WORK!!!
DO SOMETHING!!!
4 comments:
With wave 5 I did all these things. I called Mattel and walmart to try and figure or work something out. After many calls and emails sent.. nothing. It almost seemed nobody had any idea what I was looking for on Walmarts end. I certainly hope the talks between Mattel and Walmart bear fruit this go around.
Didn't help with wave 5 at the WMs in town, but starting with wave 6 two of the Walmarts in town (and one 20 minutes down I-10) started carrying the line.
Not to belabor the obvious here, but wouldn't the simplest solution be to make them easily available through Wal-Mart's website for site-to-store shipping, etc.? That way, they could gauge the real popularity and make better decisions about which stores to automatically send stock, and would solve the perception problem about how well they'd sell
This contradicts your linked "Toy Distribution 101" blog in which you say don't bother contacting customer service because it's a "dead zone" - which of course it is. I finally got to the toy dept. head at the only 1 of 4 Walmarts in my area that was even interested in DCUC when I was looking for Wave 5. He said he'd love to order me a case but it wasn't feasible since corporate was going to be downsizing his department by 200 sq.ft. So that leaves no Walmart at all within 300miles of me that has ever carried or will carry DCUC. It seems like Walmart's got Mattel by the balls. Ever since they got so badly burned with the Legendary Heroes line they don't want to touch non-media tied-in toys. Wave 10 is just Wave 5 times 2!
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