Aloha,
This past week with the Hot Wheels
Collector Days at Kmart got me ta thinkin' about how the hobby seems to be
moving in terms of how I get cars into my collection.
Five years ago, it was go by the stores and
not find stuff and then go to local collector shows and pay a premium to
secondary market sellers. That was it.
The secondary marketers had a way insinuate
themselves into my hobby by haunting the stores, buying employee favors, or
having associates shop for them. They also would hold back cars to create the
illusion of unavailability, increasing their profit margin. They had a fiscal
incentive to make my hobby depend on them for product. It put a layer of
income between me and a product I should have had access to as a consumer, not
as a supporter for "post retail" retailers.
Three years ago, it was the same, except
Ebay came into view. Cars still sold at a premium, but there was at least a
chance to let sellers compete for my business. I still couldn't really pick
and choose as freely, the shipping for a car was more than the retail price of
the car!
For all that time, limiteds used to be
released through distributors that would typically sell cars at around 20.00,
with bulk pricing going to local sellers with whom the distributor of the car
had a relationship. The bulk buyers still had a financial advantage, we still
had middlemen. There was not really a "direct to the collector" movement.
Two years ago came HWC/RLC, and a direct
relationship with Mattel was created for the collector. No more inventory
control favoring secondary market sources - the collector had access to cars
in an equitable way, and we were put on equal footing with resellers for
acquiring desired cars. There were not more cars made than '95 Treasure Hunts,
less than the numbers for '96 TH's, but the resellers lost their margins and
couldn't hoard stock and ration the car supply. We bypassed those resellers,
to our advantage.
Now we have Kmart Collector Days. This has
been an epic tragedy for many resellers, as collectors are getting direct
access to fresh cases with new cars. I hope this works out terrifically for
Kmart and Mattel in the long run because, once again, we are getting cars to
the collectors more efficiently; making the reseller's lot in life less
profitable. I know people have posted about SNAFU's involved, but when you
consider the intent behind the idea and factor in time to get it all working
smoothly, it's a home run concept.
I honestly think that we have seen Mattel
try to move the market in favor of the collector. How often does that happen
in the collectibles markets?
Think about what we've seen and ask
yourself, "If you were to have been given an assignment before HWC existed to
make limiteds more readily available to the collector and to make the mainline
cars more easily acquired, what would you do?" I bet you would have done
something very similar to what Mattel has done.
So, anyway, we are seeing a sea change in
the way collectors are kept in the loop. Store employees may still be out
there helping the flea market sellers, but Mattel has made steady strides
helping me the collector get cars in the most pleasant manner possible.
The hobby is much more egalitarian than it
used to be, we should be very happy about that.
Enophile/Buddha
