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LEGO related news

icey117icey117 DenmarkMember Posts: 506
in Everything else LEGO
There is often some news passing by that are not strickly brickrelated, but still interesting. This tread is for them! :-)
CCC

Comments

  • icey117icey117 DenmarkMember Posts: 506
    First one out is this from from a Danish newspapier... you have to google translate it, but the core info is that LEGO is seriously considering to start up a production brach in China...

    http://epn.dk/brancher/mode/leg/article5119953.ece
  • AanchirAanchir United StatesMember Posts: 2,823
    edited January 2013
    icey117 said:

    First one out is this from from a Danish newspapier... you have to google translate it, but the core info is that LEGO is seriously considering to start up a production brach in China...

    http://epn.dk/brancher/mode/leg/article5119953.ece

    Frankly, I would not have a problem with this. TLG already produces certain parts in China, but they don't OWN any facilities there. I can't recall if the situation is that they lease a facility from another company or contract out the production of parts to another company, but either way, I think having a manufacturing branch of their own in Asia would be preferable. Ideally, it would mean stricter oversight of production, which could improve brick quality and reduce the risk of ethical fiascos, as have often plagued companies that outsource to China.
  • icey117icey117 DenmarkMember Posts: 506
    edited February 2013
    TLC will no longer be packing LEGO boxes in Denmark. The packing will be continued in Czech-Rep., Hungary, Monterrey and Mexico (from where most the packing is done today anyway). Sad, though, for the 380 who loose their jobs in DK.

    http://epn.dk/brancher/mode/leg/article5149734.ece
  • icey117icey117 DenmarkMember Posts: 506
    edited February 2013
    Btw... same article:
    - TLC had a 4 Billion dollar turnover 2012.
    - and had 11.088 employed (by the end of 2012)
  • streekerstreeker FranceMember Posts: 299
    Thanks for the link. There are a couple of other related news articles in that link - reaction of Billund's mayer to lost jobs, LEGO's spin on lost jobs/new factory investments to save more Billund jobs. A lot of things to digest.

    Google Chrome translated Billund to London for some reason.
  • icey117icey117 DenmarkMember Posts: 506
    LEGO STAR WARS ALMOST KILLED LEGO
    http://mobile.businessweek.com/articles/2013-05-23/life-size-x-wing-fighter-worlds-biggest-lego-model-lands-in-new-york
    Lego Star Wars’ strong sales numbers at the start also masked the company’s deeper financial problems in the early Aughts, so much so that it came as a shock to company’s directors that the Lego Group was nearing bankruptcy in 2003. Most crucially of all, Lego’s management drew the wrong lessons from Lego Star Wars, its first intellectual-property deal—principally, that all future growth would come through brand extensions and innovation.
    Poochy
  • icey117icey117 DenmarkMember Posts: 506
    There are some really great AFOL facts there. We are only 5% of the market but outspend a regular family with 1:20. Thatt shoul make us half the market, right? Or?
  • icey117icey117 DenmarkMember Posts: 506
    Or there's 1 AFOL for every 400 LEGO-kid :-)
  • PoochyPoochy USAMember Posts: 479
    ^^^ I especially like this quote from the article:

    “They were just innovating like mad, trying everything, and a lot things they frankly weren’t good at,” says Robertson, whose book, due out in June, chronicles how Lego lost its way embracing all the vogue business precepts of the late Nineties—“be customer driven,” “practice disruptive innovation,” “head for blue-ocean markets.”

    The exact same vogue business precepts I hear from my company :(.
  • LegoFanTexasLegoFanTexas TexasMember Posts: 8,409
    icey117 said:

    There are some really great AFOL facts there. We are only 5% of the market but outspend a regular family with 1:20. Thatt shoul make us half the market, right? Or?

    :)

    LEGO loves to say that AFOLs are 5% of the market, but that doesn't have enough information in it to be useful.

    Is it:
    5% of sets purchased?
    5% of number of total customers?
    5% of total dollars spent?

    Makes a difference what the 5% refers to.

    I suspect the number may well be lower than 5% when it comes to total number of customers, the new lines like Ninjago and Friends have brought in millions of new kids.

    But the adults have deep pockets and can outspend the kids by a lot.
    icey117Roobot
  • Stvoyager04Stvoyager04 Member Posts: 117
    Interesting article. Though I will never understand why people insist on sticking an 's' on the end of Lego.

    Anyway back on topic, Star Wars was the reason I got back into Lego
  • CCCCCC UKMember Posts: 18,027
    ^^ or is it just we need a rough estimate and we'll pluck 5% out of thin air, since everyone knows they will never get a real figure.
  • CapnRex101CapnRex101 United KingdomAdministrator Posts: 2,280
    edited May 2013
    @Stvoyager04 - I was much the same, a Star Wars fan drawn in by Lego Star Wars. Now I am a Lego fan with Star Wars (and DC comics) on the side!
  • davee123davee123 USAMember Posts: 810
    LegoFanTexas said:

    5% of total dollars spent?

    Pretty sure LEGO has always said it's this-- 5% of total spent. Back when they started telling us that, they also always prefaced it with "no more than". So, ballpark 1/400 (0.25%) of the customers, if the 1:20 and 5% market numbers are correct.

    They also claim to know of what, 250k AFOLs? Which would put their target child market around 100 million kids? I'd be curious to punch in some country stats and see how that lines up...

    DaveE
  • LegoFanTexasLegoFanTexas TexasMember Posts: 8,409
    ^ Of course they have used that same 5% number for years now, yet the market has changed quite a bit.

    Both with large models, UCS sets, more adult themes like LOTR, but then also with Friends and Ninjago.

    So perhaps it has held steady, but in my experience such things don't tend to stay the same over time, few things do. :)

    It is quite possible that the number is just a guess, many people assume a large company must have fancy market research, but sometimes they don't. Sometimes they just make stuff up, they are human after all.
  • rocaorocao Administrator Posts: 4,288
    I was actually thinking about the 5% the other day. It's been so often repeated that I forget how the number was calculated or if it was ever revealed.

    To satisfy our curiosity, I'll ask what the methodology was, and if the figure has been revisited more recently.
  • JenniJenni JapanMember Posts: 1,386
    Here's a fun one

    http://finance.yahoo.com/news/send-kid-lego-school-155727177.html

    My daughter's too old until the high school opens but it makes me think my husband should have pursued that quality engineer position in Billund :).
  • davee123davee123 USAMember Posts: 810
    LegoFanTexas said:

    Of course they have used that same 5% number for years now, yet the market has changed quite a bit.

    I seem to remember them initially saying something like "less than 2% or 3%", but can't seem to find a good source. So far, oldest one I found is from LEGO World 2003:
    Q:what is the AFOL propourtion of sales? Has it increased?
    A: hard to say exactly but it seems to be considerably less than 5%
    LegoFanTexas said:

    So perhaps it has held steady, but in my experience such things don't tend to stay the same over time, few things do. :)

    I would guess the number of ... let's say "casual AFOLs" has gone up considerably. But the "hardcore" LEGO hobbyists probably have been more-or-less steady, with a small increase (I would guess).
    rocao said:

    It's been so often repeated that I forget how the number was calculated or if it was ever revealed.

    I don't think we ever got particulars-- the folks in community relations typically aren't privy to the details, they just get the results, as well as (if lucky) some vague references to customer surveys.
    rocao said:

    To satisfy our curiosity, I'll ask what the methodology was, and if the figure has been revisited more recently.

    Certainly worth a shot, although I'm doubtful they'll tell us anything terribly useful.

    If I had to guess, they probably have a pretty good handle on how many adult-targeted products to manufacture-- but it's likely much harder to know how much of the kid-targeted stuff actually sells to adults, and how many adult-targeted sets get sold to non-AFOLs.

    DaveE
  • icey117icey117 DenmarkMember Posts: 506
    edited May 2013
    Another question is... when are you considered to be an AFOL? Is it anyone above the suggested agelimit on the box (usually 12 or 14 yr) or is it from 18 yr?
  • JenniJenni JapanMember Posts: 1,386
    @icey117 they've recently used 16+ and AFOL together.
    icey117
  • icey117icey117 DenmarkMember Posts: 506
    LEGO hires 800 workes more for their CzechRep fascility, due to increasing demand "ESPECIALLY LEGO CITY/FRIENDS/GAMES"
    http://m.epn.dk/brancher/mode/leg/ECE5633558/lego-udvider-med-800-job/

    Interesting that GAMES was mentioned now we have heard they are ending the line.
  • icey117icey117 DenmarkMember Posts: 506
    edited September 2013
    Lego earns £1.5/$2.3 million a day.
    ... And Chima is almost their top selling brand, mainly due to te asian market. Interesting!

    http://m.epn.dk/brancher/mode/leg/ECE5915943/bomstaerke-lego-er-ustoppelig/
  • PaperballparkPaperballpark UK / KLMember Posts: 3,486
    http://www.theonion.com/articles/lego-introduces-first-female-scientist-figure,33755/

    ;)
    BumblepantsJenniicey117
  • AFFOL_Shellz_BellzAFFOL_Shellz_Bellz Member Posts: 1,263
    Lego has a new computer system and their customer service is swamped. I was on hold for ten - fifteen minutes last night and was still twenty sixth in their cue so I decided to email my question and the acknowledgement said it would take 8-10 days to get a reply :(
  • icey117icey117 DenmarkMember Posts: 506
    THE SECRET BEHIND LEGO IS...
    Google translate this article to hear the LEGO chairman "Niels Jacobsen" answer the question "What's your recipe for success?" right after recieving the award as "Scandinavia's Best Chairman 2013"

    http://epn.dk/job/ledelse/ECE6470403/lego-formanden-afsloerer-sin-opskrift-pa-succes/
  • icey117icey117 DenmarkMember Posts: 506
    edited September 2018
    TLC is going all in to change our bricks and make them environmental

    https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/31/business/energy-environment/lego-plastic-denmark-environment-toys.html
  • Baby_YodaBaby_Yoda The world's backsideMember Posts: 1,269
    ^ That has been well-known for a while - in fact, they've already started to replace plant-like parts. From all reports, there's no perceivable difference.
  • stluxstlux LuxembourgMember Posts: 2,239
    edited September 2018
    NYT is indeed a bit (well, majorly) late with this. There's nothing new in the article from what we already know since this was first announced on March 01.

    When clicking on the link I thought there would be some news on how they had found a formula to replace the ABS bricks, as opposed to only the plant based alternative for the flexible pieces made from polythene already in production. Disappointing article, and 2 minutes wasted of my time.
    Baby_Yoda
  • proline1982proline1982 United StatesMember Posts: 1
    edited September 2018
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