FINALLY Panini drops MAPP...

[Orangejello727]

Originally Posted by Brobocop

How can you compete with online when they have nowhere near as much overhead? Most people have trusted case breakers they go to, Chris seemingly has the YouTube breaker market cornered, and sometimes singles can only get you so far. Plus online retailers move more product since they have a greater amount of people they can sell to. I don't think MAPP was the answer to helping a LCS because in the end, it was mostly overpriced stuff being put out there. What I did think was a good idea was to give the LCS a week jump on products over online retailers. I know this sucks for those without a LCS in the area, but it could also help motivate people into opening a business in their area.

Also Panini should be wanting to help out LCS. If you have Dave and Adam's, Blowout, and a few other large retailers, if makes you, as a company, hostage to their demands. May be good for us due to having a better product out there at a lower cost, but on Panini's side, it would suck. Their profits could be hurt if a lot of LCS go out of business. So I think they are still trying to work with the LCS to come up with a solution that everyone is happy with.

Just my two cents, may not be right on all fronts, but this is how I've been thinking about it.

I did a recent study on new generation pricing for sustaining growth. Over the years the mentality has changed. What used to be price integrity set to sustain growth over a period of time by protecting price point has now dimished to wanting X at the cheapest price with no concern on how it affects tomorrow.

The new mentality is how do i get it cheap right now. I dont care what happens tomorrow, ill deal with it when it comes. This used to be... Lets figure out how to sustain growth and grow the business using proper pricing points so that we can achieve sales today and not affect pricing tomorrow.

Its crazy to see how much forecasting models have changed based on new generation ideas on old systems.

[dasiegel]

Originally Posted by yaoming

dasiegel, i agree with you
however, some LCS are using this MAPP as an excuse of not able to sell lower...
now they cannot use this excuse anymore, it s a free market, and they have to compete with everyone else to give us (customer) their best price
so it s good for us, I guess ?

BO already drop their pre sell prices on most cases/boxes

well thats kinda my point, my lcs has flip flopped on the topic but at one point the guy was complaining about MAPP bc he could only match and not beat an online store so say prizm basketball. if he plays by the rules, they are both going for $100 upon release. If he was allowed to break MAPP but say BO or DA wasn't, then he could entic a customer to take a box he paid 80 for at 95 instead of going online without ever leaving their house.

i agree that now they can't do that anymore but i understand orangejello's point is that lets say with a product that BO gets a box at $65 and decides to price it at $95 well if a big online retailer decides to do that and an lcs wants to beat them by selling at $85, that's $10 less because they were forced to compete and they have to pay for electricity, rent etc. on a level that effects them much more.

that being said, i really think if you break it down, competitive stores always have an advantage in that you can touch, see and leave with the cards right then and there. you don't have to order anything, just take want you want and go. if your store owner is cool there is even an additional bonus that you get a true shopping experience where you can ask questions and learn about what they've seen.

there is value for some of these tangible intangbles! i think MAPP was a cute idea, but that won't affect anyone but the very worst lcs'.