| Discussion Forum: Thread 322885 |
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| | | Author: | Collectorguy49  | | Posted: | Jun 23, 2022 15:34 | | Subject: | Best part out themes? | | Viewed: | 89 times | | Topic: | Help | |
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| Are there any part out themes that are better than others? I’ve been trying to
get more variety other than Lego Star Wars.
And is there anything in my shop that I could do to improve sales?
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| | | | | Author: | rab1234 | | Posted: | Jun 23, 2022 15:58 | | Subject: | Re: Best part out themes? | | Viewed: | 40 times | | Topic: | Help | |
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| Get more parts and lower your prices.
In Help, Collectorguy49 writes:
| | Are there any part out themes that are better than others? I’ve been trying to
get more variety other than Lego Star Wars.
And is there anything in my shop that I could do to improve sales?
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| | | | | Author: | i_r_on | | Posted: | Jun 24, 2022 11:13 | | Subject: | Re: Best part out themes? | | Viewed: | 64 times | | Topic: | Help | |
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| I've written this long post thinking that you are also selling the parts
of that Star Wars sets but looking at your store you only sell minifigures...
Anyways, I'm still posting it, general public may find it useful.
Each theme cater to different segment of customers. You should first conceive
the final size of your store to target the different segment of customers. And
what you part out will of course definitely affect the customer segments that
purchase from your store. If you part out cars, you'll attract people that
are building / completing / buying the missing part of a car. Same with a set
that have a building.
Another thing : most of your customers are AFOLs and male, contemporary colors
(coral, dark turquoise etc.) and colors that ascribed to female (various pink,
magenta and stuff) are difficult to sell.
There are three main things you should consider, Color, Form and Quantity/Variety
The customer segments you could conceive are :
1. Reseller : One that has a better bussiness opportunity/setup/coverage/market
to sell higher than you sell.
2. MOC Designer : People that do buy regardless of immediate use. They might
buy for their conceived project, they might buy to complete their current projects
and so on. If they are not full digital then they tend to have already large
stock of Lego so their buying habits may be seasonal.
3. Set collector/builder : Collecting missing/all parts of the sets they want
to build. Main consumption segment for Lego as they would possibly end up displaying
the set they build unlike designers taking apart and reusing it in another place.
4. Figure/Animal collector : Not much to say to describe this segment. For the
minifigures : the main sources are the licensed sets. For animals : Mainly Friends,
City sets.
5. Technic designers : I'll just ignore this segment too for this post.
And in general, selling parts especially on Bricklink seems to be the easiest
to make a few sales but on the long run it's the hardest and the most labour
intensive way to sell Lego. The good thing : You'll more or less will always
appeal to all these main segments even with small quantity of stock because even
with a relatively low piece count set you'll see that you can't always
get all the parts from a single store. And with the variety of parts in Lego
sets you'll always have a few parts that will attract the other customer
segments above.
1. Color
There are colors that sell well, those classic colors mainly (white, black, yellow,
blue, red, green, both grays) but some of these colors have very high utilization
rate and have very low ownership time (kids sets, child grows and the set finds
itself in the used market) so that sell very cheap. (This is not a fact, just
my thinking by the way)
Off all these colors mainly light bluish gray stands out, it seems that every
lego enthusiast needs LBG in some way or another... If you see a set with rich
gray content and with a good part out ratio, go for it.
Then comes the white, black and a certain degree of green for certain parts...
From the other colors, IMHO, these are the colors that are much more popular
than other colors :
Dark Red, Reddish Brown, Tan, Dark Tan, All sorts of transparent colors and metallic
colors.
Lego is the depiction of the world, so popular/widely available colors in the
world reflects themselves in the popular/widely available colors in the Lego
world too. (Classic colors era is a bit exception like the currently imposed
sex-neutral colors like coral and stuff)
What you should note : Certain colors will
2. Form
Common bricks, plates and other building elements : Applies to all segments and
always in high demand if not in abundance of supply. Quantity would be the drawing
factor for the resellers / MOC designers.
Utensils : Applies to all segments and always in high demand if not in abundance
of supply. Quantity would be the drawing factor for the resellers.
Weapons : Applies to all segments and always in high demand if not in abundance
of supply. Quantity would be the drawing factor for the resellers.
Windows / Doors... all sorts of stuff pertaining to structures : Again applies
to all segments but will attract MOC designers if you supply in quantity.
A set collector/builder will purchase through a wanted list most of the time
unlike a designer which then other parts in your store if you have either stock
or price correct. List above could be extended and more refined but that should
be compiled by a computer rather than a human I think 
Lost of things you'll encounter about form in your Lego selling journey,
some like
The love for the masonry bricks
People need all sorts of colors for the different shape&size tiles/shiny surfaces
and sometime in less favorable colors
People need to connect their new road plates in their cities with 2x4 dark bluish
gray tiles which are not always abundant
Large plates in different colors always in good demand
etc. etc..
Remember though all the things I've written above and down below are just
informations as operating a business is just a different endeavour one should
handle with his/her insights & financials & strategies... Like all sorts of similar
world meta a certain lego piece / set / figure has speculative, consumptive and
tradable characteristics which would also shape the way of operating your Lego
business.
3. Quantity/Variety
I combined these two together because the two are equally important. Depending
on your envisioned store size and targeted segment of customers different combinations
of these will work. You can target designers/resellers for example even with
low variety and high quantity. High variety, high quantity will work good for
all segments but definitely need much more capital and management capability.
On these front you are alone with your business skills.
And Theme wise, from my experience...
4+ sets : Mostly stay away type of sets as they don't usually have parts
that caters to set collectors/builders. Exception: When they have good and in
quantity licensed figures. Large / complex parts are only viable if employed
in future favorable design or in some obscure design.
To note another thing : Simplicity, Reusability, Need in Quantity and the supply/rarity
are the main factors that drive the market price of the parts, the same way it's
the deciding factor for the designers as well.. Exception: a rare complex/less
reusable part's use in a MOC design or future favorable Lego design.
City : Rich in classic colors, will surely attract set collectors/builders that
want to complete their classic sets. Parts are in abundance and in relatively
good demand. Downside : Parts are cheaper then same form different color. Big
sets have parts that would complete other sets from more favourable themes. Note:
Recents sets have a different choice of colors which I think doesn't fit
very well in any of the above customer segment's appreciation.
Friends : Rich in white color, structural parts. The overall percentage of favourable
colors is the deciding factor to buy an part out a Friends set, color theme generally
doesn't suit well to wide segments of customers. Sets with nature scenes
have good reddish brown content. Minidolls performs way bad then city figures
but the animals are in good demand.
Disney : Good source for lavish structural stuff. Good pearl gold content. Minidolls
from these sets I guess much more favorable.
Ninjago : Good blend of classical and recent favourable colors but depending
on the set has less reuse possibility for parts especially big dragon sets. Good
thing about those sets is though they are symmetrical so that you always end
up with 2x, 4x of some parts. Elaborate parts like dragon wings and stuff not
always sell well. Figures sure better than city counterparts even some surpassing
star wars/marvel/dc popularity (akita for ex.). Ninjago is a good source of weaponry
though it oversupplies it with both new and used markets. Being esentially Near
adolescent+20 years theme sure takes attention from AFOLs but AFOLs tend to favour
larger sets. With oriental architechture they don't seem to cater for every
designer out there. Also rich in pearl gold stuff. A good source for certain
rare colors. (Dark green for example)
Brickheadz : Has good parts for more Brickheadz, lots of shiny surfaces (tiles,
slopes) when in quantity. Rich in snot design elements. A curse to 2x2 Bright
Pink Brick.
Classic : Excess stock of Lego poured down onto the newcomers. Mostly contains
unfavourable colors in quantities and favourable colors in tiny quantities.
Advent Calendars : Since they contain microbuilds they are most of the time rich
in snot design elements (studs on 2 sides 3 sides etc.) that are used in tiny
details. Don't count on them though as Lego sells the same elements through
Pick a Brick. Also has a good quantity of exclusive figures.
Harry Potter : Overally has good form & color. Figures tend to be overcrowded
and saturated. A good source for certain rare colors. (Some dark,sand green for
example)
Minecraft : Rich in Bricks & Plates in established colors. Figures doesn't
seem to sell well but Minecraft fans are not AFOLs yet.
Creator 3 in 1 : Same thoughts as Classic
DC & Marvel : You should mainly think about the figures for these sets, then
comes the parts. Some Marvel sets rich in dark blue which doesn't well fit
into other themes so easily. Adults take the figures and toss the parts so....
Star wars : A good mixture of both form & color and minifigures are sought for,
what else can you expect? Main source to cater for the Light bluish gray greed
Also has nearly exclusive big parts that both do sell well and can be speculated
for price appreciation.
Creator expert : Minus the figures like Star Wars has good combination of both
form and color.
To sum it up : Parts selling (as I understood some 2 years of selling here) is
not as simple as : "See the high partout ratio (name some multiplicant here**),
partout and dump it onto Bricklink" . You should understand your targeted customers
needs, and your financial abilities to decide what to part out in how many quantities
to sell here...
** : Always approach with caution for new sets with high partout ratios as they
tend to contain rare but low market color/parts which may bloat the overall partout
ratio.
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| | | | | Author: | Sadler_Bricks | | Posted: | Jun 25, 2022 09:23 | | Subject: | Re: Best part out themes? | | Viewed: | 23 times | | Topic: | Help | |
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| The part out themes is really your choice and more of what you want to part out
i do like friends sets always a good source of accessories and the mechs are
good too.
Keep building your store with more variety
Sadler_bricks
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| | | | | Author: | Collectorguy49 | | Posted: | Jun 25, 2022 12:36 | | Subject: | Re: Best part out themes? | | Viewed: | 23 times | | Topic: | Help | |
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| In Help, Collectorguy49 writes:
| | Are there any part out themes that are better than others? I’ve been trying to
get more variety other than Lego Star Wars.
And is there anything in my shop that I could do to improve sales?
|
Thank you guys! I am just sorting out all my parts right now and all the information
is very useful to me
Thanks again.
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USA, Virginia
Turkey