Toys to Retirement Weekly Wrap-Up
One universe dies, another one rises? What it means for us toy investors...
Hello friends,
I hope everyone is enjoying the start of actual “peak week”. Within the last couple of days you should have started seeing drastic increases in sales. This will likely last until next weekend where it will then begin to taper down as customers start to travel for the holidays. There will be a little bit of a lull on Christmas Eve, and then Christmas evening you can expect sales to pick up beyond their usual numbers compared to the rest of the year. If your inventory is strong and you picked the right products, that should continue into January as people begin using their Amazon gift cards they got for Christmas.
People tend to be more lenient with the prices they pay when they’re using gift cards — “ehhh, I didn’t pay for it anyway so I can dish out an extra $10 for this action figure.”
Something like that.
So keep your prices high and don’t be scared of stuff not selling before Christmas. It’s okay. Toys sell year round.
The pinnacle of toy investing…
A few days ago I released an article called ‘Unicorns’. It’s a fun read, with some quick analysis and theory on what I would consider the best kinds of toy investments. The ones that make you regret not putting your entire net worth into them. Every year, my goal is to acquire more unicorns than the last. Maybe one day I’ll have mastered the art of toy investing and my entire toy portfolio will be unicorns. Wouldn’t that be sweet? Check out the article here:
If you’re not first, you’re last.
I will never stop preaching this.
Be. The. First. One. To. New. Sales.
All week, Target has marketed 12/12/2024 as a date where they would be selling select LEGO sets for 40% off.
They made good on their promise, and at midnight actually dropped some sets to 40% off the already 20% off price. INSANE.
I had stuff in my cart at 12:01 that sold out before I could even check out.
I made out like a bandit though, managing to obtain 38 units of LEGO Icons Dried Flower Centerpiece 10314 at $20.99 and 17 units of LEGO Disney Villain Icons 43227 at $62.39.
Keep an eye out for when new sales are happening, and set alarms on your phones so you’re the first one there. If you aren’t, you’re literally missing out on thousands of dollars of profit every year, especially during Q4.
Box Office/Pop Culture News
Kraven the Hunter has officially released, and its poor reception has solidified the nail in the coffin for Sony’s Spider-Man universe. I don’t know how a studio with rights to such a strong franchise can screw up this badly, but they really left us with three mediocre Venom films and three meme movies, all with some of the worst audience and critic receptions across any superhero movies — ever. Sony has decided to no longer continue this universe, so while it’s understandable, it does suck for us because even the worst movies can create jumps in prices of toys. My Marvel Legends Kraven figures are moving nicely, even though the movie sucked.
But while one giant falls, it seems like another one is on the rise. Say hello to Marvel Rivals — a new hit video game that has taken the world by storm. Accumulating over ten million players in just three days, the game is setting records and doesn’t seem to be a temporary trend that will fade away — they’re here to stay. How does this affect us? Because the game development studio was allowed to make their own design interpretations of Marvel’s biggest heroes! That means dozens of new looks for popular characters. One of Hasbro’s community managers for the Marvel Legends line took to Twitter today, asking for fans’ favorite character designs from the game. Could we be looking at a new Marvel Legends line in the near future?
Moana 2 is crushing the box office, already close to surpassing the entire box office gross of the original Moana movie in just two weeks. Highly encourage everyone to go to Keepa Product Finder, select ‘Toys and Games’ category, put ‘Moana’ in the title, and filter by Amazon out of stock. Isn’t it pretty crazy what a hit movie can do to merchandise around the holidays? Expect the same for Sonic 3. I wonder what movies come out around Christmas 2025 that we can plan in advance for?
A live-action Tangled (Rapunzel) movie is in the works. While several of Disney’s live action remakes have been sub-par, something tells me they will begin turning things around with the upcoming Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon remakes. Rapunzel historically outperforms most other Disney characters for me (alongside Moana, Stitch, Tinkerbell, and Ariel), so while I can’t say I’m excited to see this movie, I can say I’m excited for the merch. No release date yet, but definitely noteworthy.
Fandango has polled 9,000 movie ticket buyers, and allegedly these are the movies fans are most excited for in 2025:
I’ll be honest, I’m not sure if I’m believing it. There has to be some sort of bias at play here, or perhaps they only polled Marvel fans. But I really do not believe Captain America is the most anticipated film of next year. Where is Stitch? Where is How to Train Your Dragon? What is the Accountant? Is Ben Affleck actually more popular than Superman? I suppose it’s a small sample size, but definitely something worth noting. I’m happy to see Jurassic and 28 Years Later on here though, dinosaurs and zombies are my favorite.
Tip of the Week #7
The best way to sum this tip of the week is — “You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.”
It’s the time of year where we should all be giving back, even if it doesn’t benefit us. Seriously. We are all so blessed to be able to run a business like this from our homes. Give back to those who aren’t as fortunate even if there will be no reciprocation.
But in addition to that…
Let’s be real — there’s no denying that there can be a strategic element to giving as well. Here are some ways that I’m giving back this month that benefit my business:
Cash tip for my usual FedEx, USPS, and UPS drivers. If they have children, I also ask what sort of toys they’re into and give them something from the toy stash if I have something that lines up.
Amazon gift cards for my reps from various distributors, along with Starbucks gift cards for them to buy others in the office breakfast/coffee. Think sales managers, executives, etc. Our reps help us a lot, they deserve the most, but let’s not forget about the higher ups that make final decisions on a lot of the things we ask for.
Starbucks gift card for the LEGO storage manager to buy all the LEGO employees breakfast/coffee. Awkward if you aren’t familiar with them, but if you’ve been showing your face enough, they know who you are. Let them know you appreciate them working through the holidays, and can almost guarantee you’ll be able to double dip with multiple purchases during Gift With Purchase events. Also, don’t forget to do their store surveys on the receipt. They win pizza or something. It’s quick.
There are other things you can do, such as giving a more personal gift basket or something to a store manager you frequent. Maybe you have a prep center you need to show appreciation for.
Basically, whoever is an asset to your business — show them you care. It goes a long way.
New LEGO Gift with Purchase today…
This was originally supposed to release last week alongside the other Christmas GWP, but it was delayed until today. I’m writing this on Thursday (yesterday), so I don’t have confirmation on what the price threshold is, but I believe it is around $75. Most of the stuff we’re looking for is now sold out on LEGO, but in store will still have some supply. Happy hunting!
That wraps it up for this week folks. Keep raising those minimums, and enjoy the warm happy profitable sensation you get for the next 7-10 days. We wait all year for this week, and it flies by like *THAT*. Embrace it, look at what you’ve done right/wrong, and start being strategic for the new year.
Are there any services you recommend for receiving alerts for retailer/item sales instead of manually checking regularly? I'm using Brickhawk but it isn't 100% accurate.