Bean Counters and shortsightedness

[Brian Noble]

Remember the Kidcot stops?

"Look, we know your kids hate being here, but maybe they will color for a few minutes while you enjoy a glass of sangria."

(Looks like they are still there. My kids are 24 and 22, so I've stopped paying attention!)

 

[RivShore]

disney store closure is gonna hurt that also. for us, when our boys were little, we'd go to the movies at concord mills near charlotte, after the movie, we'd walk the 100 yards in the mall to the Disney Store, and boom, there are all sorts of things from the movie we just saw.

(i cant tell you how many lightning mcqueens we have hiding around our house)

every time we went to the mall, movie or not, we went to the store, and almost every single time, it was crowded with a line to buy things.

to me, closure of the disney store was another "bean counter" move. Sure they get more profit margin off of the target stuff, but why cant they do both? the disney store offered a little bit of magic to its base, that helped push you to booking that vacation.

I dont have the numbers in front of me, so i admit i could be talking out of my butt, but i do not think the disney store was losing money.

You get that generation by taking them to the movies, then taking them to a "mini emporium".

They've cut the little things.

I think they had great timing in moving out of malls just before most of them started dying. Who knows, once the mall shakeout is complete, and only the strong destination shopping and entertainment malls are left, maybe Disney starts reopening larger format stores, like the ones in MCO.

 

[ChipnDale79]

No one can possibly say with a straight face that in-person shopping has held its own. A 2018 Marist poll found more than half of us prefer to shop in person. But that means that almost half of us didn't.

And that was 2018. It's only gotten worse for brick-and-mortar, and that's even before the pandemic re-wired us.

Point being dude, disney stores were always the more popular stores in the mall, they werent a Jim Bob's Knives stores.

I dont think they were closed because they were losing money, they were closed because they could make a higher profit margin in a different way. Nothing wrong with it.

Its ok to still miss the magic of them though.

 

[RivShore]

The other way to push back crowds is to raise prices. The pleasant side-effect of that is you can make as much (or more) revenue on lower costs.

Demand falls? Discounts for everyone! But that puts you right back to where you were before financially while customers think they are getting a better deal, so that works out well. Look at the people who fall all over themselves to book free dining even when it is not a particularly good deal vs. regular room discounts.

I've said it before in these debates - supply and demand will work their magic eventually.

 

[RivShore]

Because money is not infinite

Umm...the US government (actually applies to just about every country) would beg to differ. I kid...kinda.

 

[PolymerSkywalker]

I do think Youtube has eaten the views of many of the current kids. My oldest two (23 & 20) watched a ton of Disney channel stuff through their younger years and through early teens. They also kept the DVD player running with a Disney Classic of some sort. My youngest 17 has hardly watched much Disney content at all. He has been watching youtube for a good while now and I would say that makes up 95% of his screentime.

 

[PolymerSkywalker]

I've said it before in these debates - supply and demand will work their magic eventually.

Amazing, it always seems to work. Make the best product for the money and you will get the customer most of the time.

 

[RivShore]

What's happening and is going to happen more down the line is that the generations will die off and Disney will not have recruited/indoctrinated the new generation like they had the old one.

Its not going to happen overnight but the transition has started and kids aren't always Disney kids like they were in the past.

But if you have 3 generations there today and tomorrow the oldest generation dies off, why would the now oldest generation not keep the tradition going with their grand kids? It's worked like that for 50 years but now suddenly it's going to stop?

 

[Brian Noble]

Point being dude, disney stores were always the more popular stores in the mall

"The ship sinking the most slowly" is not a great business to be in. And, that's assuming that you are right that they were among the most popular draws.

I dont think they were closed because they were losing money, they were closed because they could make a higher profit margin in a different way.

I think that's probably true. But, that's also the answer to your earlier question:

Sure they get more profit margin off of the target stuff, but why cant they do both?

 

[New Mouse]

But if you have 3 generations there today and tomorrow the oldest generation dies off, why would the now oldest generation not keep the tradition going with their grand kids? It's worked like that for 50 years but now suddenly it's going to stop?

Because the youngest generation grows up not caring and their parents feel like they are wasting money when the kids are indifferent to Disney.

Frozen was the last true mega hit that influenced pop culuture some. What was before that? Something needs to hook the kids and Disney has not really had that hook recently.

Disney tried to pivot? to Marvel/Star Wars but I'm not sure that was a wise decision in the long run As they lost their core audience along the way.

 

[PolymerSkywalker]

I think people still like to actually see an item in-person before buying it. I have been guilty of going and seeing an item in person and then ordering it on Amazon for a big discount. Brick and Morter stores must be somewhat competitive with online retailers for them to make it this day and age.

If I can buy it 20% cheaper with free shipping form Amazon.......I will do that every single time.

Sams Club seems to have this figured out, and we rarely go in person anymore. However, we get to two non-perishable shipments from them a month of stuff at our house.

 

[PolymerSkywalker]

Because the youngest generation grows up not caring and their parents feel like they are wasting money when the kids are indifferent to Disney.

Frozen was the last true mega hit that influenced pop culuture some. What was before that? Something needs to hook the kids and Disney has not really had that hook recently.

Disney tried to pivot? to Marvel/Star Wars but I'm not sure that was a wise decision in the long run As they lost their core audience along the way.

Disney is stuck in a bit of a pickle with this though. Marvel (Comic Books in General) & Star Wars have traditionally been products that were significantly more popular with Males than Females. This didn't really align with Disney's prior plan to capitalize on the Disney Princess market, which was significantly more popular with Females. I feel like currently they are trying to make Star Wars and Marvel content that equally appeals to both Females and Males........and they seem to be missing their marks on both. All just my opinion of course. My kids (23,20,17) don't much care for the current Marvel or Star Wars stuff. The Loved the Marvel stuff up to End Game and they Loved the Prequels and OT Star Wars. My 17yo tells me Star Wars is not "in" anymore and no one will actually admit they like any Star Wars stuff at school anymore.

I believe Barbie is showing us it is perfectly acceptable to know who your audience is and make a product for that audience. I think Disney needs another Disney Princess type movie in the very near future to capitalize on this Barbie hype.

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

I do think Youtube has eaten the views of many of the current kids. My oldest two (23 & 20) watched a ton of Disney channel stuff through their younger years and through early teens. They also kept the DVD player running with a Disney Classic of some sort. My youngest 17 has hardly watched much Disney content at all. He has been watching youtube for a good while now and I would say that makes up 95% of his screentime.

My daughter watches youtube, and it's amazing how many Disney rip offs there are on there. It is technically promoting Disney, just not Disneys content. I assume because Disney benefits they don't go after these guys for copyright infringement, but it's still crazy to see

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

Because the youngest generation grows up not caring and their parents feel like they are wasting money when the kids are indifferent to Disney.

Frozen was the last true mega hit that influenced pop culuture some. What was before that? Something needs to hook the kids and Disney has not really had that hook recently.

Disney tried to pivot? to Marvel/Star Wars but I'm not sure that was a wise decision in the long run As they lost their core audience along the way.

All i have to say is "we don't talk about Bruno"

 

[Smugpugmug]

My daughter watches youtube, and it's amazing how many Disney rip offs there are on there. It is technically promoting Disney, just not Disneys content. I assume because Disney benefits they don't go after these guys for copyright infringement, but it's still crazy to see

The places where those rip off channels originate from don't care about US copyright law so that's why I assume Disney doesn't go after them. A lot of this stuff is made in eastern Asian countries like Indonesia and the Philippines.

 

[PolymerSkywalker]

Indiana Jones 5 on DVD can be bought on the streets of Shanghai for $1 right now. It has been out a few weeks now, so the copy will be a really good one. Not in some back ally in darkness, on a main sidewalk in plain sight of everyone including the police. That should tell you all you need to know about how much Asia cares about our pesky copyright laws.

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

The places where those rip off channels originate from don't care about US copyright law so that's why I assume Disney doesn't go after them. A lot of this stuff is made in eastern Asian countries like Indonesia and the Philippines.

some yes, but i have seen some out of the US that use Disney characters A LOT

 

[Brian Noble]

So many copyright infringements, so little time. I suspect enforcement (or not) has to do with how much Disney is willing to spend on it.

 

[Tigger's ally]

Even in the Disney renaissance days we still had non-Disney stuff like Land Before Time, Fievel, Thumbelina, Anastasia, etc. And we didn't have the Disney Channel because you had to pay for it, so we watched a lot of PBS kids shows.

Land of the Lost, The New Zoo Review, Romper Room, etc...

 

[starlite_]

I don't know how much it will effect the parks but I do know that most kids aren't into Disney like kids in the past are. My nieces who are 12 and 13, aren't into Disney at all and the goes for their friends too. Kids today have a lot more options for entertainment than kids in the past did. Even my 3 year old would rather watch Blippi, Peppa Pig or Cocomelon over anything Disney puts out.

I don't know any 12 or 13 year old that has ever been into Disney. That's the "I'm too old for it" phase. I should know.