I know this may not be a "nice" topic, but I'm curious about what do you think has kind of failed in 2009 from a sales point of view.

It's just a feeling, but I have noticed that some sets around here have been constantly discounted since a few months ago already. To me that's a sign that these sets aren't selling well, and the shops are trying to improve sales by reducing their profit margin. Of course, the reason may very much be that the sets were originally prices too high, but the point is after all quite the same (that people weren't buying them).

So this is what I have noticed in my home town:

Dozer 7685 priced at ~40e on catalogue and has been discounted to ~30e almost everywhere since the beginning...

Creator Transport Ferry 4997 is always discounted down from ~90e to something which varies between ~60e and ~80e.

Combine Harvester 7636 and Farm 7637 have been on discount since about 1 month ago in several shops. 7636 down from ~40e to ~30e, and 7637 down from ~80e to ~65e.

Star Wars sets 8015 Assassin Droid Battle Pack, 8016 Hyena Droid Bomber, 8018 Armored Assault Tank very often discounted with varying degree.

Then there are the old Mars Mission leftovers. Basically all shops who still have the largest Mars Mission sets sell them with a discount varying between 30-50%.

On the other hand Power Miners and Pirates are never discounted (except of course when there's an "all Lego discount" going on in a certain shop for a few days).

Edited September 19, 200915 yr by Legoist

In my city there is almost never anything on sale except a few weeks ago at target

they had

Crawler Crane 50% off

Agents Mission 4 50% off

Bionicle Tahu 50% off

Construction site 30% off

Hailfire and spider droid 50% off

Indiana Jones jungle Cutter 50% off

Indiana Jones Temple of the crystal skull 50%

and Indiana Jones Temple escape 50% off

but normally theres not anything on sale.

Most of the SW droid sets are failures IMO, mainly because people buy sets for figs, and droids aren't really figs.

Not much hanging around the shelves here. Indeed despite the dire economic circumstances, 2009 has seen more restocking than I've seen in a while (although maybe things were selling as well last year and the shops were just better able to instantly top-up stock).

Speed Racers was the last major flop I've seen here in Ireland.

There are one or two older Creator sets hanging around my local Art and Hobby shop - the ferris wheel, motorised dino. Not discounted though. Art & Hobby were pretty ransacked last time I was there, apparently they've been waiting on new shipment from Lego for over a month.

Tesco keep restocking those little stormtrooper/rebel sets like anything.

Sorry - I'm kind of talking about the opposite of this topic - but I guess what I'm saying is overall 2009 has been major WIN for Lego from what I can see.

I've not seen any reduced price or deals on any Lego in any shop. In fact one shop has started stocking Lego which didn't sell it before! The only time there are deals are at christmas and just after, and even that was in Woolworths ( ) and it was to shift old stock for new.

If I had to say that any set failed, it would have to be anything Agents ( ) because barely anywhere stocks it. The supermarkets sell Star Wars, Power Miners, City and Creator. The other shops stock Star Wars and City/Star Wars and the Toy shops don't stock it (apart from super pricey Entertainer) so sadly it hasn't made an impact.

I hope everyone is sitting down for this...

Star Wars and Pirates

Star Wars to me this year was a Clone Wars mess. Sure it made money, but they made 25 Clone War sets and I think 90% of them are garbage. But that's from a designer builder point of view.

Pirates is clearly a failure, if it wasn't LEGO would have rushed to get a few more sets out for next summer. I think they didn't like how the sails... sales were and in the summer the decided not to bother making a new wave of sets for the next year. I have no proof to this but they made several new pieces, including the firing cannons, and the half island piece, which are pretty pointless in any other theme.

Also, some sets are deliberately priced to be marked down so retailers can advertise 'great bargain!' when in fact the sale price is closet to what it should have been sold at. I suspect the Dozer 7685 was one of these, although in previous years it was easier to spot. In the UK, for example, Lego used to release at least one set at GBP34.99 to mark down 'half-price' to 17.50, like the green 7998 Classic Truck from 2007.

Like others, I haven't noticed any particular sets that have needed pushing. The Construction stuff has been out the longest, so maybe it feels like it's been in more sales.

I also think the Assassin Droids would be seen as less of a failure if it wasn't in direct comparison to the Clone Battle Pack, which people have been snapping up by the bucketload.

I also think the Assassin Droids would be seen as less of a failure if it wasn't in direct comparison to the Clone Battle Pack, which people have been snapping up by the bucketload.

That is a very good point. it would be a good parts pack, but the Clone Battlepack just steals the show when compared.

I hope everyone is sitting down for this...

Star Wars and Pirates

Star Wars to me this year was a Clone Wars mess. Sure it made money, but they made 25 Clone War sets and I think 90% of them are garbage. But that's from a designer builder point of view.

Pirates is clearly a failure, if it wasn't LEGO would have rushed to get a few more sets out for next summer. I think they didn't like how the sails... sales were and in the summer the decided not to bother making a new wave of sets for the next year. I have no proof to this but they made several new pieces, including the firing cannons, and the half island piece, which are pretty pointless in any other theme.

Star Wars always has been and always be one of Lego's bestsellers, so I don't think that they have had too much trouble selling it.

As for Pirates, I'm not exactly sure how its sales were. No summer sets isn't an idication of it, because they have the sets planned well in advance. In fact, I think that we started to see pictures (or at least set names) by Christmas time, when the Pirates sets were just being released.

There are rumors of the discontinuation of the Pirates line by mid-2010. I hope it isn't true, because I think it was one of the best lines in a while.

I also think the Assassin Droids would be seen as less of a failure if it wasn't in direct comparison to the Clone Battle Pack, which people have been snapping up by the bucketload.

100% agreeed. I do like the Assassin Droid pack, but the Clone one definately has better figures. The clones were only released in expensive sets before the battle pack, and even the sets they were in only had a maximum of 2 in them. I think that the less iconic status of the assassin droids could have contributed to the lack of sales, I mean the series is called the 'Clone Wars'

As for sales failure sets, I don't think the Racers fold-out track sets were flying of the shelf. The ones at my Walmart have been discounted for months now. I don't really like the Racers line too much, except for the Tiny Turbos.

-darthperson

Edited September 19, 200915 yr by darthperson

There are rumors of the discontinuation of the Pirates line by mid-2010. I hope it isn't true, because I think it was one of the best lines in a while.

Do people read what I say? i said design wise i consider Star Wars to be a failure this year.

And Pirates isn't a rumour! The LEGO Company set out people to tell the internets that Pirates are done for, for now.