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Who are Playmobil's customers?

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Indianna:
Who are Playmobil's customers?

There have been a few discussions on this topic across various threads but I thought it would be interesting to put the conversation in its own thread. 

Over the years we have often wondered why Playmobil does certain things,  such as why are there so many bright unrealistic colors or such large set pieces which, when assembled, do not easily come apart again.  We have speculated that possibly this is the result of market research saying that this is what children want, even though our own anecdotal experiences with our own children (or when we were kids ourselves) would suggest otherwise.  I believe that if we consider the following statement, much will be explained:

Playmobil may manufacture their toys for children to use, but their customers are actually the stores that sell the toys.

The marketplace has changed over the past decade or so with the growth of the "big-box stores" such as Target, Walmart, and ToysRUs who dictate their desires to toy manufacturers.  In the US there are fewer and fewer small independent toy stores (and even fewer that still carry Playmobil) so Playmobil has had to shift their focus (in the US anyway) to these large retail chains.  These large stores typically want new merchandise every year and don't carry a whole line of anything consistently year after year (whether toys or dishes or furniture.)  In the toy department, these stores want certain price points and they also dictate product features (which may explain the horrid carry-along series and all the bright eye-catching colors, as well as the very short life of certain themes.)  It would appear that the only surviving relationship of this type may be with ToysRUs and the amount of shelf space that they devote to Playmobil has fluctuated a lot over the years.

Another development in the market over the last decade has been the explosion in direct internet sales.  As a result, Playmobil has also become a retail store by selling directly from its various country/region websites (and, of course, the fun park stores.)   While good for the consumer and for Playmobil, this has probably been bad news for the small independent toy stores.  Obviously, Playmobil has been very successful.  Their sales and profits increase steadily.  They probably see little reason to do anything differently, though I do believe that they feel the US market, at least, is disappointing in terms of total sales. 

So, Playmobil's customers have traditionally been the stores that sell the toy to us consumers (parents, collectors and children) and the marketplace has changed due to the advent of direct internet sales as well as the on-going shift from small independent stores to big-box retailers.  I believe that Playmobil has not taken full advantage of the direct sales opportunites available to them via internet sales.  Further, I believe that Playmobil has not fully investigated who their customers really are now. 

Playmobil should still give their retail store customers what they want - I would not presume to tell them differently as they have been very successful so far in that realm.  I would ask them, however, to consider that they have some "new" additional customer types who need to be properly identified and properly served, mostly by direct internet sales.  The required shift in thinking is to see that the end consumer is also now an actual customer of Playmobil.  This does not mean that Playmobil needs to shift all their focus to the end consumer - not at all - but that they simply need to have a separate and different marketing strategy for selling to the end consumer - the collectors, parents, children, etc. who will buy Playmobil products through direct internet sales on Playmobil websites.

I believe that this new marketing strategy should include many of the things that we fans/collectors have already asked for, such as international Direct Service, special items (like the Steck 4-way connector,) re-issues of various sets through Direct Service (no fancy boxes, only sold online,)  and, of course, the collectors club which will be a vehicle for Playmobil to finally begin to understand who we end consumers really are.   :)

PrimusPilus:
According to that movie that someone posted, Lego changed their mentality about their customer base and the profits went up. I don't think the fan base of PM is as strong as Lego's, but it must be something close. Ergo, Geobra should re-evaluate what they think about their customers.

Tiermann:
Indianna's post is well thought out I think.

It's important to remember that Europe, and especially Germany are the primary sales markets for Playmobil. Every major retailer in Germany has a wall full of Playmobil, a very different situation than here in the US. Those retailers are likely Playmobil's biggest customers.

I think that Playmobil is open to expansion into additional markets, like that of the collectors. Over time the shift in kid's interests and play patterns mixed with the technology shift is slowly shrinking the traditional kids end market.

cachalote:
:hmm: this is a difficult question but a very good one indianna (as always).

as i have not enough information about the american market i can't have an oppinion about the "easy and fast to build / colors bright as they can be" path.
is it toys r' us that wishes for this to be like this?
is it geobra that thinks this is the trend?
is it target that is saying this to playmobil to justify that they don't want to sell any more playmobil because it isn't "instant" enough.

but i know a little bit of the market in portugal (and in some other european countries) and there is a factor that is very important - a great number of toys are bought by grown-ups to their children or as a gift for other children (on birthdays, christmas, easter).
this makes things a little trickier.
if you ask children directly what do they want you'll get answers very different from their parents or their parents friends.

but - who really decides what is bought?
i have a feeling that the answer should be - mostly grown-ups.
... and for them playmobil means a solid and "traditional" choice, with an aura of "pedagogically" correct.

 ;) or maybe it is a shared choice - the child goes for some "hardcore" half dragon-half robot spitting real fire and shooting pointy silver arrows and the parents try to come to a consensus and try to make the child go for a more "normal" playmobil dragon set (which, by the way is becoming more and more "agressive" in its looks.

henry_martini:

--- Quote from: cachalote on July 22, 2011, 00:39:26 ---
but - who really decides what is bought?
i have a feeling that the answer should be - mostly grown-ups.
... and for them playmobil means a solid and "traditional" choice, with an aura of "pedagogically" correct.

 ;) or maybe it is a shared choice - the child goes for some "hardcore" half dragon-half robot spitting real fire and shooting pointy silver arrows and the parents try to come to a consensus and try to make the child go for a more "normal" playmobil dragon set (which, by the way is becoming more and more "agressive" in its looks.

--- End quote ---

My thoughts quite exactly although much better worded. The same applies to the ever more flashy girl themes, I guess. Or the really huge truck/heavy duty excavator theme. The children decide and PM offers a least common denominator that it at least 'quality' and a renowned brand between them and those who are going to pay.
Andrea Schauer doubled their turnover with that approach. Hence they are less likely to require consulting from our side to become or stay successful. Our only way would be to establish our actual demand (e.g. via the pcc) and to ask based on this if they are willing to do something for us (e.g. the 4-way connector).

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