According to one of our highest-placed sources, Star Wars merchandise — and even Disney merchandise in general — is collapsing at big box retailers. We have the exclusive, including numbers.
Sometimes you get a treasure trove of information from a highly-valued source. This seems to go beyond that. While what we are about to detail is rumor and speculation due to the nature of our inability to corroborate it, just know that many of our biggest scoops on this website, on the WDW Pro channel and the Valliant Renegade channel, all have come from this source. Today, we’re ready to reveal just how badly Kathleen Kennedy and Lucasfilm and have destroyed Star Wars toys and merchandise.
As we release this full communication with our source, please note that we have taken extraordinary steps to protect their identity and their career. While we did not solicitate any of this information, nor have we seen official documents, it was important to scrub parts of the communication so that this individual is protected. To that end, we have taken out any specific numbers that might be known to so few that it would allow tracing. We have eliminated any stories that involved conversations with particular individuals who would then recall where this came from. We have also run the entire message through artificial intelligence systems to rewrite it all while maintaining the same data. This was done to eliminate any ability for corporations to track writing styles.
We will cover much more of this as we go forward on our various YouTube channels, as well as on That Park Place on YouTube. There is more we can paraphrase and relay there. But for now, enjoy the altered transcript of what we have learned:
Disney has experienced a significant decrease in their retail space within the top non-closeout retailers in the US, losing nearly 40%. This decrease affects all sections except Baby/Preschool. Please note that retailers have their own ways of categorizing products, so there’s some subjectivity involved in correlating the data. Disney expanded its retail space when it acquired Marvel and Star Wars due to the increased appeal to boys.
During the sale of Star Wars, Lucas organized a substantial data collection effort to demonstrate the impact of licensing. They even had to digitize old paper records, including listing info, retail SKU counts, and consumer data. Lucas allowed Disney’s representatives to contact partners for information. Most partners supported the Disney deal at the time, but Hasbro was concerned because Disney was closer to Mattel back then.
Disney attempted to use the Prequel era to negotiate lower prices, arguing that the last set of movies had damaged the franchise’s value. Comparing the Prequels to the Original Trilogy is challenging but undeniable, with the latter having a clear advantage. Disney’s arguments to George Lucas himself was that the last trio of movies (Prequels) DAMAGED THE FRANCHISE thereby eroding its value. Imagine if those same analysts had to value the brand today!
Some of the Original Trilogy sales data hadn’t been digitized, requiring digging through old archives. The demand for Star Wars merchandise was so high that stores had to create extra space for toys and games. However, this expansion has since been scaled back, and the toy market has changed significantly. Digging through this info was nuts. At one point you had solid cases of 72 units going into larger TRUs and Walmarts. A solid is a case of the same figure. 72 units of Han Solo to a store x top 8 figures. Insane! Walmart at that time added permanent section space to the Toy & Game sections of A & B stores. Do you know WHAT THAT TAKES! That’s a culture change!
At the time of the Original Trilogy and for decades afterwards, Star Wars merchandise couldn’t be produced fast enough. There was even a shortage of X-Wings and Tie-Fighters for Christmas, with only a portion of the needed goods ready by the third week of November. Retailers used allocation to distribute products fairly, and there was intense competition among major retailers for Star Wars products.
The profitability per unit during the Prequel era was higher, but there were differences in reporting between Hasbro and Kenner. Disney used inflation to justify higher prices for the Original Trilogy. The 1970s and 1980s inflation made the Original Trilogy’s numbers look impressive.
Disney was interested in various aspects of the merchandise, including sell-through, consumer research, promotional spending, retail space, and trade terms. They wanted to ensure they had all the necessary information to compete with Mattel.
They felt that the company needed two things to grow : international (including parks) … and Boys/Men.
So why did Disney decide to even buy Star Wars and Lucasfilm in the first place? Disney acknowledged that they struggled to break into the boys’ market and didn’t fully understand what resonated with this audience. They believed they excelled in the Baby/Preschool category but needed to focus on international expansion and capturing the boys’ market. Thus, they needed Marvel and Star Wars and were willing to spend to get them.
The “Force is Female” initiative and its persistence are puzzling in light of Disney’s previous efforts to appeal to boys. It has utterly destroyed the entire premise for spending billions in the first place.
While the Prequels couldn’t match the Original Trilogy’s popularity, they still performed well in terms of units sold, surpassing many modern licensing efforts. However, modern merchandise dominates in terms of revenue, partially due to the shift toward higher-priced collector items. Shelf space for the average buyer has shrunk dramatically at the big box retailers. Other properties from other sellers have knocked Star Wars into a niche space.
Prequel merchandise sales suffered due to high expectations and overpromising. Despite this, they generated substantial profits, though not on the same scale as the Original Trilogy.
Today, Lucasfilm doesn’t compare its performance to both the Original Trilogy and Prequel eras, citing the differences in times. Today Disney would drool on the floor for prequel metrics (full priced sales are down about 65%).
Finally, there was concern at Hasbro about Disney owning both Marvel and Lucasfilm, as they perceived Disney’s closeness to Mattel. Hasbro worked hard to position itself as an expert in boys’ toys. It’s only too bad Disney threw all of that away.
One final point that really shows just how poorly Disney has performed: the best year at Kenner for Star Wars merchandise sales, back during the time of the Original Trilogy, would easily (adjusted for inflation) out perform all the merchandise sales of the Disney Star Wars era… and that means every single year Disney has owned it combined!
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You’re ignoring two characters that debuted during the Disney era: BB-8 and Baby Yoda. Those two characters have both moved a TON of merchandise. You have to give Disney credit there.
And toy sales, in general, have been down year to year for the last decade, it’s an issue that affects the entire industry, not just Disney. Comparison to sales from decades past, before every other kid had an iPad, is a bit ridiculous. It sounds crazy, but the truth is kids are less interested in toys nowadays.
With that said, I think the IP has been mismanaged and its safe to assume sales are dropping as a result. So there’s still some truth to the article.