Quote:
Originally Posted by Grid
That's not a problem. That is called protecting your market. Look at it this way. If those same people that are paying $940 a box can no longer make $500-$1000 for fronting their money on stock (boxes). Will they still show up in mass, to buy the next release?
Panini needs those 98% (it isn't this high in reality) to stay happy with profit margins. So Panini can continue to sell them more goods. They still need to drive consumer demand for their product, or the retailers wont have a reason to order in the future.
And to double down on how this all works. Panini has been stealing food out of their mouths, with selling direct on these FOTL boxes. Panini making standard hobby boxes appear to be a better value, is a means of making good for those stolen sales.
Its also the same reason Panini will sell standard hobby boxes on their site, at a price higher than their distributors. You cant kill off your retailers. Well, unless you are fanatics and have the means to go through retail directly on your own.
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Panini is protecting their market? There is no other business on earth that operates like Panini. Topps used to. They essentially no longer do because when Fanatics took over they saw how many countless millions of easy profit they were leaving on the table. What Topps was leaving on the table for most products wasn't even in the same universe as what Panini does.
There is no other business that sells expensive, in demand, limited, easy to move items at a fraction of the immediate resale value. There are millions of people that would pay Panini more for those products at a fraction of the profit margin. Yet Panini chooses to sell to the same small group of people for peanuts.
Do you realize how much Panini has given to this group the last 4 1/2 years to provide no service millions of others wouldn't provide for a fraction of the profit margin? Literally billions of dollars. If you think thats a joke go back and do research for every product the last 4 1/2 years. I'm sure you won't though. Just NT, Flawless, and Prizm basketball and football hobby 2020- now it's hundreds of millions of dollars. They could have charged those same guys double and the difference is still hundreds of millions just on those products.
Every single direct Panini hobby buyer could choose to stop buying tomorrow for 75% of MSRP. Panini would have millions lining up to take those slots.
What consumer demand? You mean people buying into breaks? Because virtually no regular buyers are buying most basketball and football hobby at release. How would that change if Panini just sold to the same exact people or breakers willing to pay the most in the same quantities? Market value would be exactly the same and Panini makes more profit.
Panini was "stealing food of of their mouths" when they used to auction all the FOTL boxes. It always drove hobby price down. That stopped years ago. 2020-21 Spectra Basketball FOTL in August of 2021 I believe. Very few if any in demand FOTL for basketball and football have been fully auctioned since then. Now if anything FOTL drives hobby prices higher.
Panini hasn't needed the money tree members since 2019. They can go any other route and make way more profit. They choose not to. They could sell to those exact same people in the exact same quantities for way more. They choose not to.
What basketball and football hobby products the last 4 1/2 years have sold at release at or below MSRP? For hobby is it even 1%? I guess a good amount of retail sells for MSRP at release now. Only because they increased the prices and diluted the products massively by overproduction and less guarantees per box. Even if they just kept the contents the same tons more retail would be over MSRP. Keep in mind these guys don't pay MSRP. They pay give or take 75% of it. Even if Panini just charged them MSRP for every product that's 25% more profit on every product. For 4 1/2 years. That's a 9 figure profit difference.
What makes it even more ridiculous is Panini shouldn't give a crap about the future of the market and Fanatics should. Since Panini lost these licenses, what has prevented them from trying to get every last cent they can while they still can? They do it on FOTL now. What major business do you know of that tries to get every last red cent for a small portion of their products and yet on the biggest items that are by far the most easy profit they just give them away for nothing? There is no business on earth except for Panini. They keep trying to save pennies by throwing a dollar away at a time.