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When DC Universe Classics Wave 5 came out, it was a Walmart exclusive and it was nearly impossible to find. This wave was missing from many Walmarts. Of course people's first reaction was to blame the manufacture, Mattel. This was the wrong company to place blame on. The problem was with Walmart's poor and spotty distribution on the wave.
And with Wave 10 being another Walmart exclusive, the same situation seems to be happening again.
I decided to get to the bottom of all of this....
What it mainly boils down to is simple supply and demand. Mattel will make only so much as Walmart orders. No more, no less. It is then Walmart, who decides on which of their 7,000 stores will get this exclusive line.
On Wave 5, Walmart only had it in 1,800 of their stores. At least this time, it doubled to 3,000 stores, but still not great.
So I made a call to Walmart and spoke to Melissa O'Brien, Senior Manager PR & Brand Reputation for Walmart. This is what she told me:
- DC Universe is hard to keep in stock because it does sell out quickly. They do realize this is a popular item and it why they increased the order from 1,800 stores to 3,000 store. Unfortunately, they wouldn't tell me the exact number ordered.
- They are considered a collectible and not a standard toy like GI Joe or Transfromers, and that makes for smaller purchasing amounts for DCUC.
- They determine with stores get Wave 10, by the total number of sales in each store. The higher the overall action figures sales are, the greater the chance that store will get DCUC.
- They do not want to put them on-line because they feel that this would be unfair to collectors. Walmart feels by selling DCUC in stores, the collectors have a better chance of finding them.
- Walmart doesn't always know the exact date of a shipment, and since DCUC are more limited in manufacture, they may not come in as often as other Mattel items.
- If you can not find them, to contact your local store (see the list below). New toy stock usually arrives on Tuesdays and Wedsdays.
Now I don't agree with everything that was told to me. And a lot of it sounds like double talk. But Melissa was nice enough to provide me a list that shows exactly, which Walmart stores are supposed to carry Wave 10.
Please also note, just because a store is on this list, that doesn't mean they will have Wave 10 in stock, as they sell out very quickly.
Hopefully Mattel will not have to do another exclusive wave with Walmart again, but it's really up to us, the fans/buyers/collectors, to let Walmart how we feel about their distribution on DCUC.
Just something to think about.
Here's the list in clickable thumbnails & good luck to all of you in your search:
