Legos are the perfect sets for both children and adults. For those who want to indulge in their more creative and constructive skills, legos provide you with the opportunity to develop these parts of your identities in a safe and enjoyable manner. For the right price, you can get a hold of some quality products, and rest assured that your set will turn out to be quite the masterpiece, iconic design, or satisfying outcome that was displayed on the exterior packaging.
Lego sets are getting smaller with the intention of achieving higher financial gain from consumers who are either nostalgic or fanatic when it comes to their more popular products. For example, Star Wars products are their most popular franchise and so, they charge more for fewer parts in smaller boxes. They know that you will buy the product regardless at some point, whether that be full price or discount, maybe second hand because, at the end of the day, you want the best possible star wars related product!
There is a multitude of individuals who have grown into adulthood with an affinity or admiration for their childhood toys at a mature level. So let’s dive a little deeper into the methods, the arguments, and reasoning behind the decreasing in size and increase of costs for what seemed to be more affordable years prior:
Lego’s Audience: Nostalgia / Adults
Companies as old as lego often have the opportunity to play off of your nostalgia. You’re reminiscent of the films and tv shows from your childhood, and so, you’re more likely to purchase products that resemble and/or are directly involved with these memories. You associate these events with unbridled joy! Times where life was simpler and free of the responsibilities you might have overpowering your adult life.
With the recreations of Star Wars, Barbie, The Matrix, and other famous and iconic media, all readily available to play with and model for your amusement.
Companies know this and understand that you are very likely to purchase a product that represents or depicts characters you loved as a child to indulge in said inner child. Sure, that means you will be spending more money, but you have adult money now!
Smaller Lego Sets Increase Financial Gain
Let’s be honest, companies do not produce products without a means of financial gain. One way or another they are eagerly anticipating your consumption; advertising their products wherever they can the moment they’re released.
Most importantly, their most popular products are marked up so that the companies they are in contracts with can benefit from the sales as well.
For example, Disney owns the Star Wars films as well as many other media that Lego as a company replicates in buildable sets. Disney would sign a contract with Lego detailing that they must receive a certain percentage from the sales being royalties as they are the sole owners of the story and imagery of the concept overall.
So in order to gain financially from their most popular products, they have to mark them up so that both parties make a significant profit!
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Smaller Lego Sets Cater To Their Younger Audience
Children of recent generations enjoy these products just as much as adults do, if not, even more so! Opening up a new box of legos, with the freedom to invent a new product or replicate the product on the box; whichever satisfies their imagination!
Children will then pester their parents into purchasing more sets, products, and packs. The main products will likely be those from their favorite tv shows and films, which are significantly marked up. Their parents will buy it for them whenever they can if they can, and the cycle continues.
Inflation
The average price for a lego set, the star wars sets are by far the most popular. When a company is aware of something like this, they tend to exploit or exaggerate the products’ value to their advantage. As a result of inflation in the market, Lego understands its position as a high-quality player.
So they will raise the prices on the products that are most in-demand, and lower the prices of the products that are regular to make people think that leg has good prices for the most part.
In reality, the products most consumers really want are the expensive ones, which are for both financial gain and meeting the standard payouts to companies from which they are replicating scenes and sets.
In short, the price per part ratio has gone up significantly as a result of inflation.
Improved quality
The improved quality is also a relevant factor. The reality of the situation is that Legos are of much better quality as of recent years, both in terms of the product materials, and new releases.
Lego sets with more intricacy, detail, and parts, in general, will be more expensive. There are new technologies involved and so on so forth. It is undeniable that the releases of certain products many years later have not only been perfected but tweaked in ways that make the product more desirable than ever before.
Final Thoughts
Nostalgia, Inflation, Improvement in quality, and general financial gain. These are all reasons why Lego has decided to raise their prices and limit the number of pieces within a set. With that being said, this is not a piece dictating that Legos are in anyways unworthy of their status nor do we invalidate their value. We are merely stating the facts.
It seems as though this is another company knowing very well what their reputation is, and exploiting said reputation by selling less for more simply because of just that. Profiting off of our memories and innate desires to indulge in our curiosities. Only now do we understand the purpose of such changes and inflated price points; not for the consumer, but for the company.
Overall, Lego as a company and enterprise made these decisions for capitalistic gain. When there is a great demand in the market and you are on top of said market, you can charge basically whatever you want. They have the name, the reputation, the products, and let’s face it, they’re fantastic at detailing and precisely accurate recreations of some of our favorite films.