Black Friday Chit Chat

[mjb1961]

Quite surprised no one has opened a discussion about the Black Friday offers,surley people have purchased some of the offers,i bought the L&MR Lion pack, not that I model that era I bought it just to add to my collection..

[AndyMac1707817969]

Spent all my money in Hattons Black Friday Sale

R3872 Class 800 IET 5-car set 800008 "Trainbow"in GWR green with Pride markings £271

R30219 Pair of Class 43 HST Power Cars 43049 "Neville Hill" and 43060 in East Midlands Trains livery £229

R40155 Mk4 TSOD tourist standard open (accessible toilet) in LNER livery 'Coach F' - 12330 £20

R40228A Mk2F RLO restaurant lounge in Caledonian Sleeper livery - 6703 £18

R4830A Gresley 61ft 6in Full Brake in LNER Teak livery - 4247 £36

and that was just the Hornby items. In another though not good, little at the moment is selling, hard to see how companies will survive. No money from sales will mean no capital to buy new stock so Hornby will either be left with it or product cancellations or delaying production until things get better. Can’t see there being many new big announcements for 2024

[Rallymatt]

I think it’s hard to judge state of the market entirely from Black Friday sales. It’s not always what it seems to be. There will always be specific lines that stick now and then or just plain don’t sell. Hornby haven’t offered even fishplate or a buffer stop in TT:120 in BFS! And they would be daft to as the range just keeps selling out at retail price/club discount. Same goes for huge proportion of OO range. I think railway modellers/collectors are a wily bunch, like in so many hobbies, we buy what we want/need rather than go into a purchasing frenzy for any old tat as long as it’s less than it was yesterday. Black Friday is a uniquely US phenomenon and not sure it always translates well in other markets and in niche interests.

Judging by the increase in lead time of order to delivery advice email from Hornby, they are clearly busy! 👍

[Brew Man]

Black Friday is a uniquely US phenomenon and not sure it always translates well in other markets and in niche interests.

 

 

Like so many other things in modern life. It's been well documented that Black Friday is little more than a ploy to get you to part with your cash, many items being more expensive than they were before. i.e. the price is raised a week or two before then reduced for BF. As RM says, buy what you want irrespective of Black Friday, 'deals'.

 

 

[What About The Bee]

Welp, as an actual American, I feel a vague urge to explain my nation's foibles.

Black Friday comes the day after Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is the actual holiday, established formally by Abraham Lincoln, our 16th President. It falls on a Thursday. Almost all employers give staff the day after Thanksgiving as a day off. This makes a 4 day weekend, with a family holiday as the start.

Black Friday was the recognition by many retailers that shopping was happening anyway. The retailers wanted shoppers in their stores, instead of the competition's stores. The retailers offered sales on product, but only on limited quantities. Retail calls those items loss leaders. It brings you into store, and as long as you were early, you got the deal.

Phenomenal deals, but only if you could manage to be one of the first. This lead to a mad crush to be one of the first. Lines forming in the wee hours. Fights over who touched the item first. Damage to stores. Retailers called these sales "door busters" because doors were damaged by the crowds. Injuries. Utter chaos. Retailers backed off on the phenomenal deal component and, with shopping frenzy firmly established, offered more rational bargains.

Now as to Hornby:

I am in discussions with SWMBO over R60014 Flatbeds, listed at a very good price. Normally £85, now £45. While I have a good fleet of flatbeds for general goods, they can also readily be turned into pig wagons, cattle wagons, the log wagon and the milk wagon; all depicted in the Ackermann long prints.

I am more than tempted, and yes, I am pitching it as part of my Christmas bundle, the actual reason why shopping occurs the day after Thanksgiving.

Bee

[Brew Man]

Well accounted, Bee. Doesn't explain how it got over here though, human greed and avarice I guess thinking_face. Not having a pop at Americans by the way, I've met and some very fine people from the New World. And thank heavens for Rock 'n' Roll sunglasses.

[SteveM6]

I seem to recall that Asda, when they were part of the Walmart group, were early promoters of BF deals and yes some of the stores were trashed and staff assaulted when the limited sale stock of plasma TVs had gone.

The BF concept is no different from our own Boxing Day sales and we all know that is usually just tat that won’t shift.

[Brew Man]

Well put, Steve

[AndyMac1707817969]

Seen a stampeded for TVs in the local Asda several years ago. I am sure the way the TVs were being treated most were returned the next day broken. Also seen a physical fight break out in a Tescos over items on the reduced shelf.

 

When you go into a bar for a meal, the specials are not all about giving you a good deal, often is just the food they need rid of.

 

When sales are bad however retailers still have bills and staff to pay so they have no other option but to liquidate stock irrespective if they are making a profit on it or not. With even recently released items being marked down by 50% or more that must be very close to all the margin gone on them.

[Rallymatt]

1st rule of liquidating stock, avoid sale times of year, your offer won’t stand out. Not all model shops are equal but in my experience a lot are poorly run. Haphazard displays, dirty shops, empty space and over opinionated owners. Many owners would be advised to walk into a branch of Next, Waitrose, M&S, Waterstones and see how they do it. A niche hobby doesn’t need fire sales, it needs a professional approach.

[What About The Bee]

I am pleased to report that SWMBO has released the funds for Black Friday flatwagons R60014 times 3. The order is placed, acknowledged by Hornby and "processing" under account status.

Naturally, Hornby suggested other Era 1 wagons, but I gracefully declined. Just the sale items please.

They were on my acquisition list prior to the Black Friday announcement. This simply means I will receive what I wanted, but at a substantial discount. Thank you very much.

Flatwagon to milk wagon, in milk churns:

Flatwagon to cattle wagon:

Flatwagon to pig wagon:

Two flatwagons to log wagon:

It is noted by Whishaw, 1842, that there is a swivel point mounted on each of the bogies to "have proper play in going round curves". Further, logs of up to 50 feet in length were transported this way.

[Rallymatt]

Bee, superb illustrations, I am very lucky to live very close to Beamish Museum where a number of early era locomotives (replicas) still run. one of my other passions is cycling, one of my favourite routes is up into Pennines along a S&D acquired line beyond Consett. I rode up there the other night in the dark and wild winds. Please let me know if you want any photos that are available locally 😁