The DUPLO 10874 Steam Train

[qbrick]

I am wanting to get an understanding if others on the forum are involved with or using the Duplo train series, namely 10874, 10875, 10882 & 10872.

What I found was when these sets were initially released back in 2018, they were in high demand and it was hard to see much stock in many stores.  I imagine since that time everyone who wanted one has bought one.  Now that I have some, they are a great toy and train set.

What I am interested in is how does Lego produce these?  I have travelled to many stores in different cities and it seems that there is a huge amount of overstock of these Train sets at each location.  Does Lego make a single one time high production run in the lead up to the release then distribute globally, or do they do ongoing production of these sets after the release date - that is, is the stock that exists now from a late 2019 production run, or is this stock all from the same pre-release 2018 production run? 

What would you estimate the number of sets produced would be?  It seems that there are over 100,000 downloads of the app, so would the run have been 500,000 units?

Also, were these four sets the start and end of the train series for this run, or will there be more train sets of this series in 2020?

How long do you think the Duplo connect train app will be developed for?  Do you think there will be more enhancements to this app?  There seems to be functionality in the train base that hasn't been unlocked with the software yet.

 

 

[ScotNick]

Can't say very much, only thing I heard is that some parts aren't produced every year - so sometimes designers have to stick to specific parts for their models and have to give up on others. So I assume that with Duplo it's the same, that they have one production run which can last for some time, and after that they stop.

It's probable that they might do a 2nd run or more if it proofs to be a good runner in stores...

[zephyr1934]

I believe Lego often does multiple runs of a given set. That way the adjust production to meet demand. Back when they transitioned from old to new gray, there were several sets that were originally strictly old gray, then mixed, then strictly new gray. With the Emerald Night, there were multiple revisions to the instructions (not to mention some of the parts). The multiple runs is especially true for something like the Duplo trains that are typically on the shelves for a couple of years.

If you are seeing the sets accumulating at stores, I bet that is in anticipation of the holidays. I suspect the Duplo trains are much more a holiday gift than anything else. And since they are not a "secret new set" they can be some of the first of the holiday sets to be distributed.

[dr_spock]

Stocking inventory now for the holiday season makes sense.  We have oodles of Christmas book titles being released now for the holiday season.