The Woolies CEO admits the latest collectables did not hit the mark. So, what happened to the once popular craze? \u00b7 Woolworths\/Getty <\/p>\n
The big mistake Woolworths won\u2019t be making again<\/a>. Well, Woolworths has finally done it.<\/p>\n They found a way to screw up collectables. The giant retailer \u2014 Australia\u2019s largest \u2014 is racking up a dizzying array of fails recently.<\/p>\n Profit is down<\/a>, dividends are down, the share price is in a slump as the next chart shows.<\/p>\n Worst of all, they just turned what should have been a slam dunk into a debacle.<\/p>\n During the most recent results season, Woolworths CEO Amanda Bardwell<\/a> was grilled by an investment banker over the latest collectable program, where shoppers got a small aluminium disc and a collectable card for every $30 they spent.<\/p>\n RELATED<\/p>\n \u201cI understand these programs are pretty complex and expensive to run,\u201d the analyst noted, before asking the big question: Are they even worth it?<\/p>\n The collectable programs are a big part of how these supermarkets drive customers through the doors<\/a> these days so the failure of Woolworths last one matters.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were running a Disney collectible and frankly, that hasn’t performed at the levels that we would have expected,\u201d lamented Bardwell.<\/p>\n The reasons why? There could be many, Bardwell said. But mostly a lack of novelty.<\/p>\n \u201cCertainly we\u2019ve run already a number of these Disney programs,” she said.<\/p>\n “So I actually think it might be less about the collectable itself and more about that the fact that there is an element of fatigue as it relates to some of these types of collectables that we have run now multiple, multiple times.<\/p>\n “You can clearly see that across the market.\u201d<\/p>\n But Woolworths will not give up on collectables, she hinted.<\/p>\n Why would they?<\/p>\n When they hit, they are a giant hit.<\/p>\n Like the original Coles Little Shop that started the entire craze.<\/p>\n Or the Ooshies from 2019.<\/p>\n Or the toys inside McDonald\u2019s Happy Meals \u2013 so popular and so incredibly effective that the government actually banned them.<\/p>\n According to Canstar Blue, collectables can make shoppers spend far more money at a retailer.<\/p>\n \u201cTwo in five Australian shoppers (40 per cent) are willing to spend more than planned on groceries \u2013 up to $74 extra or twice the required $30 minimum spend \u2013 to redeem collectables, according to a survey of more than 1,500 supermarket shoppers,\u201d said survey company Canstar Blue.<\/p>\n However you should be aware that survey was done before the latest dismal round of drab little tokens.<\/p>\n Story Continues <\/p>\n Woolies doomed Dinsey Discs would certainly be dragging down those numbers.<\/p>\n Not to get too technical, but the discs are bad.<\/p>\n You can tell that by opening a pack.<\/p>\n The product has all the appeal of a squashed sultana.<\/p>\n It does not invite play, does not hint at any ways to have fun, and certainly does not spark joy .<\/p>\n My kids reactions to the Disney discs: they liked tearing apart the pack, but after that the excitement evaporated immediately.<\/p>\n We have several unopened ones just sitting in a drawer.<\/p>\n Look at this next piece of marketing.<\/p>\n Some intern has been told to invent some ways for kids to engage with the little tokens.<\/p>\n The resulting content has all the spontaneity and glee of a hostage video.<\/p>\n Also, Disneyland?!?<\/p>\n Perhaps it’s exciting for Disney\u2019s major shareholders that their Los Angeles-based Theme Park has reached its 70th anniversary?<\/p>\n But for us?<\/p>\n How many Australians have ever been to a Disney Theme Park anywhere?<\/p>\n Few I\u2019d say. The share of us that care about the Californian one is probably even lower.<\/p>\n Splashing \u201cDisneyland 70th\u201d all over things? It is a great way to make kids look at something else.<\/p>\n Of course, I bet Disney would love to get more Aussies visiting its theme parks \u2014 I expect we are a profitable segment \u2014 but does that mean you can turn a collectable into an ad for a holiday?<\/p>\n This is an example of company-centric thinking instead of customer-centric thinking.<\/p>\n It looks like a win-win to trick customers into collecting something that is just an ad.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s actually a lose-lose.<\/p>\n The product can be an ad (they\u2019re all ads!) but it has to be a fun ad.<\/p>\n The customer needs to be at the heart of what a company does.<\/p>\n Woolworths and Disney are not solely to blame here.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a company that sits in the middle and deserves a whack.<\/p>\n It is called TCC Global and it is a marketing company that runs these sort of campaigns as its core business.<\/p>\n They say their job is \u201cto create high-performance marketing programmes that boost sales and drive loyalty, through rewarding shoppers in powerful ways\u201d.<\/p>\n Well they failed at their job with this last one!<\/p>\n To be fair, running a novel collectable campaign is hard.<\/p>\n Companies are tying themselves in knots these days making sure the toy is not plastic.<\/p>\n They\u2019ve done fabric and plants and lot of cardboard. This was an experiment in aluminium<\/p>\n Plastic is easy to 3D mould.<\/p>\n If they can\u2019t do plastic toys, it gets tricky.<\/p>\n The Minecraft cubeez were a good innovation \u2014 cardboard pieces that interlocked to build a cube.<\/p>\n But not every media brand can adopt cubes.<\/p>\n What\u2019s more – there are only so many popular entertainment brands to tie into.<\/p>\n Woolies and Coles need to appeal very broadly, they can\u2019t do niche.<\/p>\n So now we are covering the same ground again \u2014 Disney yet again, yawn – and getting diminishing returns.<\/p>\n The creative geniuses at TCC Global need to go back to the drawing board and come up with something genuinely cool.<\/p>\n Because the failure of the last collectable doesn\u2019t diminish a supermarket\u2019s appetite for a succesful collectable campaign, it actually strengthens that appetite.<\/p>\n They need their next toy to be a huge hit. Get ready for it.<\/p>\n Get the latest Yahoo Finance news – follow us on Facebook<\/a>, LinkedIn<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Woolworths stock price has plummeted. \u00b7 Jason Murphy <\/p>\n
The Ooshies craze resulted in people listing ‘rare’ items on eBay in a bid to cash in on their popularity. \u00b7 eBay <\/p>\n