With Lego seemingly pumping out more sets than ever — what happens to the sets that don’t sell through? Is that left to the retailer to deal with? Or can they send unsold inventory back to Lego? Does it all just end up at discount stores, or does Lego reuse parts from unsold sets to repackage in newer sets?
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that’s their secret: it all sells. some better than others, but once sets start going on sale (moreso clearance), that shit disappears. beyond the standard 20% off, if the prices are 40-50% off in stores, it’s all sold pretty damn quickly, ime.
there aren’t a lot of flops, afaik. the recent Black Panther bust was a bust, and the foosball set was more of a boosball. I really liked the Queer Eye set, but I think Lego misjudged the level of interest it would have. I’m happy I picked up a few of those, though; great set for parts!
I’ve also heard that Walmarts will sell off palettes of sets to employees for really cheap. either way, it all sells, and often eventually find its way back into the Lego ecosystem, ie bricklink.
Exactly. Collectors and dealers snap them up as investments and/or part them out. The secondary parts market is getting massive (that’s why the Lego group bought Bricklink). Where do you think those dealers get all the parts?
can they send unsold inventory back to Lego?
This is not uncommon in retail, but it’s probably not something Lego does. Target and WalMart put sets on clearance and they do show up at discount stores so it seems unlikely that sending them back is an option.
Repackaging parts would be more work than making new ones, so they leave that to online resellers.
