What else happened at Disneyland last Sunday?

[mousepod]

Originally Posted by €uroMeinke

LP and MS have to deal with the same problem as Amazon.com. They have a great online catalogue, makes recommendations to me , alerts me when things I want become available. But if I really want immediate gratification, I stop at my local Barns & Noble or Tower Records. But Amazon has decided that making theses services free brings in enough revenue to support it.

Except Amazon is cheaper than Barnes & Noble or Tower. In your case, you are paying extra for the added value of instant gratification.

Originally Posted by €uroMeinke

LP and MS could try a different model and charge a subscription for their catalogue service, but that may drive away more customers.

Another value add for MS, is they do stock certain items and will do their best to get limited edition merchadise that wouldn't necessarily be available from Disney - though in those circumstances Ebay becomes the competition.

Or they could explain to customers what their value is, and hope that an "educated consumer" would want to continue shopping from them.
Value of LP & MS:
- notification of new merchandise
- pictures of said merch
- limited edition availability
- easier to navigate than calling Disney direct

It's the fact that they 1) imply that the only other way to get the merch is to go to the parks, and 2) they have a huge surcharge without telling people exactly what the surcharge is, that makes them less than stellar in my book.