Author Topic: The Financial Situation of Playmobil  (Read 6425 times)

Offline Janilew

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The Financial Situation of Playmobil
« on: November 23, 2019, 10:46:51 »
Greetings everyone. I was wondering if anyone else shared the same concerns as me about the continual downsizing of Playmobil. It seems like every year the sets are getting smaller and smaller. The princess castle is a good example of this. One of the "rooms" is just a tube. They keep recycling certain klickies (pirates is especially guilty of this), and, to me, the colors and prints look simple at times. A part of me keeps fearing that this is a sign of Playmobil losing financial stability as that's what usually accompanies choices like these. Of course, I understand the economy can fluctuate and that can affect production. That's why I hope they're just creatively bankrupt as that can easily be fixed with newer people with better ideas.

If anyone knows the financial situation, please feel free to post it for observation.

Thank you.

Offline Oliver

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Re: The Financial Situation of Playmobil
« Reply #1 on: November 24, 2019, 05:35:44 »
I think that sets have got smaller just because the price of toys, in general, has fallen in real terms. Large sets were £100 when I was a kid 30 years ago, so they were way more in real terms than they are now.

Offline leefert

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Re: The Financial Situation of Playmobil
« Reply #2 on: November 24, 2019, 05:58:59 »
I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that the toys are meant for kids that are now an electronic generation.  But also like Oliver said, the smaller size sets are probably price based as well.  Kids nowadays lack the imagination that we had as kids. I would have killed for some of the sets we have now.
I'm glad that I'm not the only one :)

Offline playmofire

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Re: The Financial Situation of Playmobil
« Reply #3 on: November 24, 2019, 09:09:48 »
Sets are smaller partly because smaller sets can be produced more cheaply and so can be priced to make a profit by selling to more people.  Also, a lower price make them more competitive with other toys.

Secondly, sets are smaller because home space is getting smaller.
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Offline Janilew

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Re: The Financial Situation of Playmobil
« Reply #4 on: November 24, 2019, 13:45:53 »
Siiiiigh. I dunno if this is all good news or bad. I guess the golden age of big, cool toys has surpassed us. :( I was born too late and got serious even later! Nowadays, almost everything's drenched in gaudy color schemes and gimmicks. There's some decent stuff I see here and there, but most of it just doesn't seem appealing. Then again, I'm not a kid of this generation...

That's why it hurts my heart to see Playmobil go down this route. Oh, well. There's always DIYs and Steck sellers.

Thank you everyone for this epiphany.

Offline Bolingbroke

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Re: The Financial Situation of Playmobil
« Reply #5 on: November 27, 2019, 17:59:20 »
Isn’t it just Playmobil though?

Lego - we always mention Lego because it is it’s most obviously direct competitor - sets keep getting bigger and they still sell a ton heh heh.

It IS a question of creativity, but not just on a design level. It’s even more of a problem on a more managerial level.
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Offline tahra

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Re: The Financial Situation of Playmobil
« Reply #6 on: November 27, 2019, 19:55:45 »
Isn’t it just Playmobil though?

Lego - we always mention Lego because it is it’s most obviously direct competitor - sets keep getting bigger and they still sell a ton heh heh.

And aimed at collectors, not kids with lame parents.

Offline Janilew

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Re: The Financial Situation of Playmobil
« Reply #7 on: November 28, 2019, 19:26:39 »
And aimed at collectors, not kids with lame parents.

Which is where they make a huge mistake. Even Walt Disney knew animation shouldn't be "just for kids", which is why people still love his films to this day. Playmobil as a company is shooting themselves by ignoring the adult audience. After all, they're the ones with the MONEY. They still buy expensive, outdated sets to create elaborate dioramas which they make whole events around! I'm not sure how much of the blame goes to Playmobil themselves, Geobra or another entity entirely. Whoever it is needs to STOP and read the signs. >:(

Following gimmicks only works for a while until people find more substance elsewhere. Because if you're doing what everyone else is doing, I guarantee they'll find someone who does it cheaper, and maybe even better. How I wish they'd realize this and go back to their roots, when they stood out! Until then, all we have is specialty stores, eBay, and our imaginations...

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Offline Oliver

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Re: The Financial Situation of Playmobil
« Reply #8 on: November 30, 2019, 12:52:13 »
And aimed at collectors, not kids with lame parents.

I don't follow Lego closely, but I'd say that the sets that are directly aimed at collectors are the modular buildings, which they release about one a year.

The 'pop culture/licensed stuff' is probably largely aimed at adults, but Playmobil has started doing that now (the Ghostbusters and Back to the Future sets), but I class those slightly differently. I'd also say the museum figures, and stuff like that is aimed at adults, and I think that's a market that has potential (since a single klicky is cheap, and light and small).

I suspect that the production model of Lego makes sets for adults easier to make (I could be wrong, but I think the designers of early modular sets were only allowed to use parts and colours in production elsewhere).

We obviously don't know the figures, but even sets that were super rare/expensive on eBay end up being sold off at a reduced price via Direct Service, which would indicate that the adult market isn't huge.

Offline Klickteryx

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Re: The Financial Situation of Playmobil
« Reply #9 on: December 03, 2019, 07:32:29 »
Historic figures sell, if they did something like the super? specials where you had a klicky and some bulky accessory then they could do Gutenburg and some kind of printing machine, or Michelangelo and one of his inventions, or Einstein and a pull apart atom (or not), but lots of scope in the history of technology and discovery.