Not Looking Good...

[Draykov]

Is it me or does TLG have a new marketing strategy which started last year?

I'm not sure I've noticed this trend. I think what I've seen over the past several years for January sets is that they get released prior to the holiday and sometimes at fairly deep discounted prices (through holiday promotions). Then in the Spring (or maybe even sooner) TRU and some other retailers jack up the price by 10% or so. Occasionally, TLG will raise the MSRP on sets, but in my experience, that mostly seems to happen when they decide to keep a set on shelves via a subsequent production run.

[THX 1138]

The Freeco price is the worst. Hopefully at Target it'll be $25. $30 for the Tri-Fighter isn't so bad, and I'm relieved the battle packs don't seem to have higher prices than last year. The TIE Defender had better be less than $55, and I hope the ARC is cheaper too, but its price doesn't seem as bad as some of the others.

[mr_joshua]

All I am hoping for is the ever trusty Amazon sales...for us in California sales tax can be a deal killer.....especially at the huge mark-up prices from toys'r'us.

I have to remind myself from time to time that Lego has been holding the $.10 per piece pricing (for set/part count)for quite some time now...I even find myself looking at orange toys'r'us price stickers on old castle sets from the 80's and 90's. So if we compare pricing to back in the day, prices really haven't gone up much. Hopefully I dont come off as trying to defend TLG....I am definitely NOT.
I think the defender is WAY overpriced...couldn't they have thrown in a spare pilot (or two) driving some useless zamboni thing?

but...I will be getting all the new (2010) sets eventually, but not from toys'r'us, thats for sure.

[MisterFubar]

I do the same thing Mr_joshua. I occasionally have to look back at what I(or my parents) paid for a lot of my sets from the 80's and 90's. I just wish I had the mind to keep the boxes for all those sets.

I've been buying Star Wars sets off and on since they came out in '99 and with a few exceptions the pricing on them doesn't really seem all that high compared to the norms for Legos.

I'm just glad Legos don't seem to see the kind of inflation that other toys do, I remember buying GI Joe figures for 2.50, what are they now? 7.99?

[Tong]

I'll just wait until these show up at Borders, then use a 30-40% off coupon to nab them. That'll make things much more tolerable.

Does Borders sell Lego? my local one dosen't.

[Kevin Koala]

This is crazy! 30 for a speeder? It should be 15!

[harry_jo]

I'll just chime in and underscore what most everyone else has been saying. The sets have become increasingly more expensive and that's become a major disappointment. I bought Dooku's Solar Sailor pretty much just to get Dooku. The price was way higher than the set was worth. Now, this new information for the new sets and the MSRP, it'll force us to sit more on the sidelines and wait of sales and clearances. Hope Lego knows what they are doing. We'll be voting (or not voting) with our dollars.

[fredjh]

I'll just wait until these show up at Borders, then use a 30-40% off coupon to nab them. That'll make things much more tolerable.

Does Borders sell Lego? my local one dosen't.

B&N does the same sort of thing, and as a member they occasionally send you a "%%% off one item" coupon, and while it's usually 20%, lately (possibly for Christmas) we've seen 30%.

I have a post about it in the deals section... I got one for 30% the entire purchase.

Unfortunately, the selection is slim... but I got the two new expensive architecture sets for a very good price (relatively speaking).

What I've seen in the book stores has been very limited. but they have more online (again, B&N, I haven't found much at Borders).

My other experiences this year include getting "dented" box discounts at the local LEGO store, which made Cafe Corner and Green Grocer very much more worthwhile (since I don't care about the beat up boxes as long as the set is intact).

The first half of the year I spent several thousand dollars on LEGO. The second half... maybe $600 or $700. TLG is not endearing itself to me these past few years. With the demise of Bionicle, my son will be buying significantly less, also; neither of us are particularly interested in Atlantis or Space Cops.

[Mofo Jones]

I'm never crazy about TRU prices, but considering I got in on the Home One deal, I suppose I can't complain about $2 for the first BP I got from the 2010 sets.

I agree that sales and coupons seems to be the marketing trend. I'll keep my eyes open for post-holiday discounts as well.

[RocketClone]

Why TRU raises their prices is beyond me.

[Draykov]

To maximize profit.

[Blacknight]

Is the new strategy to capitalize on those who have to buy the sets right away, thus maximizing profits, and then bring them down to a reasonable level once the initial wave of buyers cools down

That's the standard operating procedure of pretty much every company out there when it comes to pricing strategy. Look at the Playstation 3 for example - now half the price it was three years ago.

[banthafodder]

^ I understand that all companies do this but we have seen larger price increases in the Star Wars line as compared to other lines. At first it was blamed on the licensing fees which do add to the cost, however, unless there was wording in the agreement as to having incremental price increases every year, we should not have seen such increases until a new agreement in 2011. As far as TLG not having control over discounts offered by other stores, it is partially true. TLG sets the MSRP and the wholesale price so even though these stores are moving products with these discounts, without knowing the wholesale price, I'm sure that these companies are still making a nice profit on the discounted items. It's similar to those TV ads that say whatever it may be, is worth $40 but we'll sell it for $10, because the actual manufacturing cost is $5. I just feel with the current price schedule it seems that TLG is testing the waters to see just how much we are willing to spend on these maybe even to see what a new licensing fee to Lucas would actually be worth. I'm sure that it has not gotten by TLG that TRU almost always charges more than MSRP and people still buy from there, thus TLG trying a similar plan.

[bigospedros]

Perhaps TLG and the retailers are fed up of discounting the US prices and feel they can increase the prices a little without massively effecting the sales? An educated risk, perhaps ?! They'll soon know if it doesn't work ... although I suspect brand loyalty will mean that whilst they lose a few buyers, demand will still be there in the long term.

If you don't the the RRPs, why don't you do what I do and wait for a sale. I didn't buy a single item from the latest wave at full price, unless it was a Lego exclusive and even then, I bought it with cashback deals to get money back.

[onions]

Is the new strategy to capitalize on those who have to buy the sets right away, thus maximizing profits, and then bring them down to a reasonable level once the initial wave of buyers cools down

That's the standard operating procedure of pretty much every company out there when it comes to pricing strategy. Look at the Playstation 3 for example - now half the price it was three years ago.

computer hardware has their own pricing scheme as evidenced by Moore's Law. It is NOT the same as other consumer goods.

[BlueDragonZ]

TLG has always been increasing prices for lego star wars sets. Or they have made sets smaller and maintain the same price point. But this new wave looks to be even smaller sets, but even higher prices. Canadian lego msrp were just starting to decrease and now they are increasing them back again... At least it isn't as severe as how US lego pricing are going up.

[Darth Jokar]

Your right about that. I just got back from looking for the new sets. And it seems TRU is ripping people off big time.
The battle packs were $14.99, freeco speeder was $34.99 and rest well I guess you get the point. I thought it was some kind of mistake cause I checked my local TRU. But after checking a few others and seeing the same thing. So I'm done shopping at TRU for good. People should not shop from them.

[theJudeAbides]

Hey, remember back when LEGO changed a bunch of colors and got rid of a bunch of others? "They" said it was to "create a sustainable and consistent color palette for the future" and would cut costs. People were angry at first but begrudingly grew to accept it.

Hey, remember back when LEGO discontinued a large portion of it's parts, including a fairly significant branch containing all finger-hinge-related parts (including some windshields)? "They" said having (and using) fewer molds would cut costs. People were angry at first but begrudgingly grew to accept it.

Hey, remember back when LEGO significantly decreased the number of printed parts while simultaneously increasing the number of stickers used? "They" said it would help cut costs. People were angry at first but begrudgingly grew to accept it.

Hey, remember back when LEGO jacked up the cost of sets after making a number of changes that were promised to reduce costs? "They" said it was to cut... wait a second, are "they" smoking crack again? Any-who, people were angry at first but begrudgingly grew to accept it.

[Andi]

You hit the nail on the head, Jude

[Flynn]

You know, it's really only the new wave of Star Wars that underwent the price hikes. Toy Story, Atlantis, and Space Police all have extremely good price per parts ratios. I mean, yeah, it's a shame, but it's not like LEGO's doing this to every line...