Making minis that sell well, but NON RANDOM

[Stormonu]

Figure sets would probably be the easiest, in groups of 3-5, similar in approach to what was done with Heroscape sets. Star Wars did something similar with non-posable 1-inch action sets about a year or two ago.

Actually, I don't see why minis couldn't be done like action figures (Star Wars, Marvel, GI Joe, Transformers, Bakugan, Pokemon, WWF/E, etc.). Why limit selling these fantasy figures just to "gamers"? My kids play with the plastics MORE than I do!

 

[TheYeti1775]

Are people really still trying to get an "adventure in a box" thing? I'm not sure how many times they need to tell gamers that the price point for something like this is just rediculous. The ballpark quote for the just the first Rise of the Runelords adventure was over $500.

A high quality set tailored made to a published adventure would be well worth the money to me.

 

[Umbran]

I'm looking for strategies for ways to sell minis that would sell well in a non-random way.

Define "sell well".

You cannot develop strategies to reach a goal if that goal is not defined. How many minis do you want to sell? How much money do you want to make? Answer questions like that, and then we could discuss how you might achieve that end.

 

[Mark CMG]

To paraphrase and old marketing axiom, the minis can be:

• Inexpensive
• Quality
• Non-Random

Pick 2.

I've always found this to be erroneous, in that they've never been all that inexpensive, for the most part have been low quality, and rarely are not random. At the quality and expense we have seen in the past, there's no compelling need for randomness.

We need bags of orcs (and such) sold like little green army men or bag o' zombies, but fewer (maybe 20) and painted for $20 a set, in five poses/weapons: club, sword, axe, spear, and bow. Do that with goblins, kobolds, orcs, hobgoblins, skeletons, zombies, ghouls, and a few other choice monsters.

 

[El Mahdi]

Yeah, the definition of what successful would mean is important to this.

For instance, we can't assume that D&D Miniatures failed, just because they don't sell them anymore. They may have been still making money off them right up to the point they discontinued them, but discontinued them because it wasn't making enough money. We don't know what parameters WotC was using for success. It could be that Paizo is doing this because they are willing to accept a smaller profit margin than WotC was. We just don't know.

So what's your definition of sell well or successful?

Is it anything other than negative profits (breaking even or anything better)?

Is it making a profit, and if so, what percentage of a profit?

 

[darjr]

My FLGS owner said some thing that made sense to me. When WotC tried the single visible mini they should have not used rares or uniques as the visible mini, but ones that DM's needed multiple copies of.

I would have been happy buying five sets of those if I knew i was getting a kobold or an orc or a gnoll for each one.

 

[Stormonu]

Yeah, the definition of what successful would mean is important to this.

For instance, we can't assume that D&D Miniatures failed, just because they don't sell them anymore. They may have been still making money off them right up to the point they discontinued them, but discontinued them because it wasn't making enough money. We don't know what parameters WotC was using for success. It could be that Paizo is doing this because they are willing to accept a smaller profit margin than WotC was. We just don't know.

So what's your definition of sell well or successful?

Is it anything other than negative profits (breaking even or anything better)?

Is it making a profit, and if so, what percentage of a profit?

Eh, this is all pie-in-the-sky wishful thinking, so I don't think those questions are really relevant.

If I were to answer though, two things...

isn't "not making enough $$ to continue/cover costs" the same as failing?

I'm guessing you'd want to make enough profit to cover expenses and cover start-up costs (molds, materials & such) for the next batch 'o minis - or at least a serious dent in such a cost.

 

[S'mon]

You make 8-10.

Orc, goblin, kobold, skeleton, zombie, guard, archer, and ogre. Maybe rat and gnoll or something.

I partly agree - I'm happy to use 10 or 40 of the same Orc, Human Warrior, Goblin, etc. But I'll also buy at least 1 Red Dragon, 1 Fire Demon (used as Balor, Pit Fiend et al), 2-3 scantily clad females (as barmaid, vampiress, damsel, female wizard etc), several identical Hill Giants, Frost Giants, Fire Giants, and so on. Careful choice can take the line well beyond 8-10.

Actually there are several very common creatures I cannot get from DDM seconds at any reasonable price: wolves, worgs, giant rats, even basic skeletons! Reaper now cover some of those - still no wolves though...

 

[Bluenose]

It might seem like a radical suggestion, but there are companies that do rather well selling miniatures. Games Workshop are just the most obvious. Their usual model includes large packs of 'commons' with specialised 'rare' figures being sold individually (and at a significantly higher price). And none of that is random.

 

[El Mahdi]

...isn't "not making enough $$ to continue/cover costs" the same as failing?

I would think so, you probably think so, and likely most people would think so, but not necessarily everyone. breaking even might be considered a success by some, especially if their goal is just to keep minis in the market because of their love of minis. Likewise, someone with that motivation might even be willing to absorb a certain amount of loss, if they could afford it and/or get away with it.

I'm not saying that's Paizo's definition of success, and I'm pretty sure it isn't. And we know it wasn't WotC's definition of success. But their could be people out there that would consider doing minis even if they only broke even.

I'm guessing you'd want to make enough profit to cover expenses and cover start-up costs (molds, materials & such) for the next batch 'o minis - or at least a serious dent in such a cost.

Yeah. Enough profit to make it self sustaining would seem smart. That would be the minimum I'd target for.