A very good thread Indianna, and I'd like to throw my 2c into the hat.
In Eugene/Springfield we have a TRU, and three department stores with toy departments, WalMart, Target and Fred Meyer, henceforth WM, T and FM. We also have three dedicated toy/hobby stores, Learning Palace, Elephant's Trunk, and Eugene Toy & Hobby, henceforth LP, ET and ETH.
Since my first visit to Eugene in June/July 2009, T and FM have stopped carrying Playmobil altogether, and had just a limited range in Summer 2009, of the smaller sets, all under $50. WM once carried Playmobil I believe, but not in June/July 2009 as far as I recall, and certainly not since Dec 2009.
My local TRU has a much smaller Playmobil section than a TRU I used to frequent in the UK, and the shelf area dedicated to PM has shrunk since I arrived, much of the lost footage going to Lego products.
I can only see this as a FAIL as far as marketing strategy is concerned.
Now here's my inside view as a WalMart employee, who occasionally has to work the toy department.
Shelf space is divided into 4' sections or "modules", and each 4' module has to generate a certain profit margin to justify its continued existance. Too long with too little turnover and head office are going to pull that module and put something new there. I say Head Office, because (at least at WalMart) there appears to be very little decision making at the local level, so high sales at one store will not keep Playmobil on the shelves at just that store.
A factor that may not be obvious to most consumers is that a company can "buy" shelf space to promote its products. We have had a prominent endcap for Apple iPads for months, despite having almost no iPads to sell, because Apple are paying for that space. Thus a low turnover module in pure sales terms can still bring in a profit to WM if a manufacturer is paying for it.
As another illustration of this, I have recently learned that Target have decided to further promote Disney's Pixar Cars 2, using 6-12" of shelf space that was previously occupied by a small manufacturer of diecast model cars, M2. That fact that Disney already had a big Cars 2 display area, and that M2 will suffer for the lack of it matters not one whit to Target. That adult collectors were coming in weekly and virtually clearing the shelves of M2 stock is immaterial. Disney Cars sells themselves with the massive film and advertising backup, stacked high and sold cheap (and nasty), and no doubt Disney are paying for that extra shelf space.
I'll let you stew on that for a while, and look at the smaller dedicated toystores. Just by walking into LP, ETH or ET you have shown yourself to be a more discerning parent or customer. LP isn't called LP because it dedicates half its shelf space to licensed products. It doesn't. In fact it has the biggest display of Playmobil products in the city, and frequently sells at 15% discount off the PM online prices, which is why I am a regular customer, and bought all my Top Agents and 2011 Knights sets there (helped by the fact that the email notification from PM's website arrived 2 weeks after the products were available online, and one day after I'd bought them at LP). ETH has a 20% off sale every October, and Tiermann and I will be there to see what we can get at those prices. ET is somewhat more expensive than either of the others, as it has two locations in expensive rented mall properties. I rarely buy there unless it's something I can't get elsewhere, like the 3666 castle that languished on their shelves for 25 years at full price until I grabbed it.
The dedicated toystores are less focussed on pure profit-from-shelf-space figures, as evidenced by the 3666 set, but even they like their shelves to turn over stock at a reasonable pace. LP are now suffering with two or three 4240 Pyramids which nobody wants to buy, but they have to keep on display if they hope to sell them. We have one or two toystore owners on the forum who could no doubt give us their deeper insights on their relationship with PM.
Back to our 4' module at WalMart, how do Lego and Disney go about maximising their sales? Go and look. They have a lot of small sets, for Disney often one or two Cars in a blister, at pocket money prices. Yes, there are bigger sets too, but look at the shelf space dedicated to them and I think you'll find a bias towards the smaller stuff. Lego too have expanded their cheaper sets, with one-figure packs and other small sets. Ignore for now their licensed bias, and just look at the price points.
How did PM react when they started losing their shelf space at WM, T and FM? They focussed on producing a range of costlier products, while simultaneously reducing the focus on one-figure and two-figure sets, pushing their Carry Cases (around $10-12) over Specials (no new specials for a 6-month period in North America), and making 2-man blisters bigger (and costlier) with a boat, horse or cannon added. They got away from the child's imagination where a handful of figures can live happily in a cardboard box or under a chair, and started producing carry-along sets with a treasure chest, ugly Skull Island, or Farmhouse forming the case, pushing the price point above what a child's weekly allowance would cover.
A word on Blister packs - You can pick up a Hot Wheels car blister for $1-$1.20. Playmobil 2-figure blisters were usually around the $3.50 mark, and with a horse or other item more like $6-$7. How many of us have wanted a PM blister figure, but disliked the "other" figure in the pack, either because it is just plain ugly (red boots on a soldier...), or would give us a 1:1 Officer to Private ratio? So, to my eye, PM blisters started too expensive and got more expensive, while also limiting our purchase choice by forcing us to buy figures we possibly didn't want.
So how could PM fix their lack-of-shelf-space problem?
First off, they could pay to have that space back. In fact at this point I think that's quite possibly the only way they'd be able to regain some shelf space at WM, T and FM, because PM is now out of their focus. Will they do this? I doubt it.
Secondly, change the product mix to offer smaller sets. Even a special in a box will cost $4-$5 at the dedicated toystores, but how about a single figure in a blister, instead of making the blisters bigger, or the carry cases (which to me are a waste of a big plastic case). Lots of variety, but single figures - Fairy, Knight, Fireman or Pirate. Make the product more visible, peg-hung (easier to stock and more efficient to display). Go for boys' and girls' interests, but keep that starting price point within the child's weekly budget. Get the thin end of the wedge in, and drive it home later with the bigger sets that can only come a child's way twice a year.
As Herr B. himself pointed out (and I paraphrase), once a child has a pirate figure, he'll soon want a pirate ship to go with it.
That pirate ship doesn't have to be in the store occupying valuable shelf space year round. Once the child is "into" Playmobil, has learnt the joy of using his/her imagination rather than replaying someone else's stories with someone else's characters, the items can be found online. All the big department stores have online shops, as does TRU, PM themselves, and even the dedicated Toystores have websites. Any company NOT selling or at least advertising a deal of its products online is out of touch.
Finally, to help the smaller dedicated toystores, PM should by back unsold stock at cost price, so they stores can promote the newer Playmobil products. If Playmobil force the small stores to continue to flog their dead PM horses, those small stores might not be around forever, or might decide to cut PM from their shelves altogether. Also, let the small stores stock EVERYTHING they want to, including DS items. The manageress at LP told me recently how she could sell PM animals by the bucketload if she could get them, but PM don't offer that service.
btw, don't worry too much about M2. I originally found their cars at TRU, but have since bought more online, through various diecast specialists; indeed I've spent more on M2 in the last week than I expect to spend on Playmobil in the coming year, because Playmobil aren't offering products I want to buy anymore. I don't want a big castle that won't connect or blend with the big castles I already have, either System X of Steck, so I'm only buying the smaller Knights sets, and these mostly for the figures. I dislike the gatling crossbow and duck's foot crossbow as being historically nonsense, and the ram/shield is just about saved by being usable as one or the other (not both simultaneously), but only just. The ram head should be a single point because that's how you break through a gate most effectively, and Medieval siege engineers knew this.
