insiders club/lego advantage

[timber_wolf899]

Dear Lego
I would like to place on the table the idea of an insiders club akin to say the giant eagle advantage card, busy beaver great deals card, etc.

This could take many forms such as special sales and promotions to memers, first crack at new releases, first crack at clearance sales thru S&H, feedback, and so forth. It would be a great way to help us AFOLs spend even more on lego, or encourage parents to buy more for their kids.

[natelite]

i agree. one thing that has been bothering me is the fact you can't get any reward points for OOS sets you order from lego stores. i went to a lego store during double reward to buy the green grocer but they were out of them. they could order for me from S@H but i won't get my points.

also, neither can you get reward points for online or phone order. i thought TLC is trying to build brand loyalty. why not offer reward points to encourage repeating customers? at present, it doesn't make sense to buy from a lego store unless you have absolutely no choice since most retail stores have better sales and reward program.

what i also don't get is that if they sell the sets themselves, wouldn't they get to keep the margin to themselves? why pay the middle man when you can hawk it all to yourself? online retailing is the next big thing and yet they continue to pay someone else to do it.

take hasbro for eg. hasbro-online has much better deals than toy retailers when it comes to hasbro's products. except for clearance products.

it's just weird when it's lego. great design. good product. poor marketing and sales. poor brand awareness.

[Athos]

one thing that has been bothering me is the fact you can't get any reward points for OOS sets you order from lego stores.

I have. Both times I've purchased out of stock items, I've gotten stamps. Just two weeks ago, I got six stamps for the out-of-stock Green Grocer.

I do agree that not having some program through S@H is silly. Though it would probably be hard to work. I also think the loyalty cards should be usable on S@H.

I don't buy anything but the exclusives directly from Lego, since you can usually get general releases on sale somewhere.

what i also don't get is that if they sell the sets themselves, wouldn't they get to keep the margin to themselves? why pay the middle man when you can hawk it all to yourself? online retailing is the next big thing and yet they continue to pay someone else to do it.

I think I read a post somewhere that it explained it this way. If Lego started to cut-out the middle man too much, by offering too good of deals in direct purchases, the middle man would get really mad and not sell Lego anymore. And Lego is very reliant on the middle man (retail store) sales.

Steve

[Peppermint Pig]

I think I read a post somewhere that it explained it this way. If Lego started to cut-out the middle man too much, by offering too good of deals in direct purchases, the middle man would get really mad and not sell Lego anymore. And Lego is very reliant on the middle man (retail store) sales.

While there is some logic to the point of not wanting to hurt the middle-man, there wouldn't be anything wrong with slashing prices across the board. At least from a consumer's perspective, lol.

Actually, Lego should check their math and lower prices on sets at higher prices. Retailers that often have to mark down pricy sets because they are not moving can be just as discouraging to them (Lego, of course, has profited fully already). Constant markdown by a retailer could lead to less set diversity in store, or less Lego in general. Maybe even NO Lego at all!

Lego is not making a very convincing argument concerning what goes on inside the retail stores: Megabloks is often sitting nearby on store shelves at reduced cost already. They've calculated the margins of market share and so their prices are slightly higher because that's what they can get away with, for now anyways.

[Baites]

I would also like to see a loyalty program. Or atleast more freebie offers when you spend a certain dollar amount. They could use an edge when you pay the same price as retail plus shipping. With a loyalty program, I would be more inclined to buy the more expensive sets from S@H.

I only buy from S@H when there is a free offer, be it a set or free shipping.

[Danielas]

If they had a rewards program i would never buy Legos from Wal-Mart again!!

[timber_wolf899]

amen to that danielas!