*DISCLAIMER: This suggestion is based on the assumption Nexon Co., Ltd. and its affiliates have no clause of exclusivity with their current manufacturers.*
I guess the title says it all. We've seen how many people really wanted those acrylic character stands from the Festia Screenshot contest. As such, I think there is a decent profit to be made by adding IRL items to the cash shop, as Ankama does with Wakfu/Dofus/Krosmaster. Here are some ideas, to name a few:
- Mabinogi Original Soundtracks (like the one Korea have, but with the English names and more than just one vol.)
- T-Shirts (I ♥ Ferghus/Nao/etc.)
- Posters
- Desk Items (a decorative Nao Soul Stone, a Mabinogi calendar, a mousepad with a Celtic Knot design)
- Random Acrylic Character Stands in Blind Bags, sold by Generations (e.g. Gen 1 Mystery Acrylic Character would include Nao, Tarlach, Mari, Ruairi, Tarlach Bear, Duncan and a few others, for a max of 12 per Generation, meaning 1/12 chances of getting the one you want)
As a bonus, I think it would be nice if a code was sent with every item, to unlock something in the game as well. For example, Character Stands could include a redeemable code for a Shamala's Transformation Medal of the same character. T-Shirts could give you the corresponding I ♥ [Char] clothes in-game. Nothing gamebreaking or gacha-breaking, yet a nice little bonus.
In business terms:
- Orders would be filled bimonthly, allowing for somewhat rapid service without the need for warehousing.
- Items would be sold at around six times production cost (e.g. t-shirts cost $1.50 USD, sell at $10.00 USD) to cover R&D and to compensate for the limited market Mabinogi players represent.
- Customers will buy the same item many times over, whether it be to replace one who's been damaged with use or time, or as a gift for someone else.
- Contrary to digital goods, physical merchandise will be seen by non-players, leading to free publicity.
Comments
Of course, not in a gacha or one of those 'collect them all' boxes that are the trend now. Yuck no thanks.
PFFT Nexon Korea will not let us I bet, they are like a stubborn parent. -_-
Yup, I'm a kid who begs their parents and wishes they could spend their whole paycheck but bills, groceries, etc.
Nexon, make this a thing so I get an awesome Christmas!
Though I feel the bi-monthly shipping is rather limiting and would rather more frequently. The limited shipping time-frame might alienate people against ordering, especially if they needed it within a certain time frame. For example:
Person: My friend loves Mabinogi and would love this item from their merch shop for their birthday in two weeks! I'ma order it! -sees bi-monthly shipping notice- Aw, it won't get here in time! I'll get something else! >A<
If Nexon NA has a sort of spare room they can store stuff in, they could probably use that as a test-run "warehouse" for the time being while they figure out if selling merchandise stateside would be a feasible business model. No sense in getting a warehouse if they don't need one right off the bat. Most of the items listed wouldn't require a lot of room to store. I think the figures would probably be the most space-intensive because those are packaged a little bulky to protect the figure. Shirts are usually pre-wrapped and folded and posters are just in long, flat boxes which aren't too big because PAPER GETS HEAVY.
Also, I think advertising cards would be a good thing to toss in each order, that way if you have a friend who sees your merch, thinks it's cute and wants to know where to get it, BOOM you have a nice little card that advertises the game as well as the merch store. Maybe include a little code that gets linked to the person who bought the item that the recipient can redeem on their own account. When redeemed, both accounts get a goody of some sort. Wouldn't have to be a big thing. Remember the Slurpee potions we got with the 7-11 collab? It could be like that. =D
Also, polls run by Nexon would be a good way to go to decide how much to stock of any particular character. For example, correct me if I'm wrong, but given the chatter of the forums, I believe Altam would be a far more popular figure to sell as opposed to a Duncan one, so they'd try to keep more Altams on hand vs. Duncan. This would also be a good way to cost-cut so they don't have to ship unnecessary product from Korea to the states.
Exclusive shamala coins, a small bundle of dyes, and homestead items would probably fit in too.
Examples:
-Buy two items worth $30 total, get X amount of bonus tier points. Each X tier point can be redeemed for one out of a selection of ingame items.
-Pre-Order Nendroid Nao to get a teeny Nao and a bundle of 5x Rebirth Dye selection box.
-Pre-Order one of four acrylic stands to get a code for a hair dye selection ticket.
I doubt they wouldn't, as they did invest so much money into a physical merch store in KR.
It probably would take a lot of paperwork and investment talk though, but it might be worth a try for the GMs to at least ask if it is possible anyways.
It's like having only one Pokemon merch store in NA, and multiple merch stores elsewhere... a strange and confusing world.
@Leinei I chose the idea of bi-monthly shipping because physical space might not be too big of an issue, but additional costs come with "anytime shipping," including hiring someone full-time for shipping and handling instead of, for example, eight days a month. It seems to be a cost-efficient way for small websites to do business, such as WETA Workshop or Deal Man shipping items once per month.
As for the vinyl characters, my idea was similar to Funko's Blind Boxes, in which you buy an edition of the box and get one of x characters, at random. I tried keeping in mind Nexon's love of gachapons while increasing the chances for people to get the desired characters (similar to the pet gacha. No fillers, just one of x chances). Also, with Blind Boxes, the price is set lower than if the characters were sold seperately, since customers often buy more than one in order to get the character they want.
I think your idea of including a business card in each package is great. Low cost advertising would certainly be a plus for Mabinogi. Additional codes would be nice too, though I don't know much about the 7/11 collab.
@Darkpixie99 You're right, codes should probably be given more scarcely. Maybe something similar to Leinei's idea, where you need a friend to claim a minor goodie, and special sales for the more interesting things like Shamala's Transformation Medals. However, I'm not sure preorders would be such a good idea. Nonetheless, bonus codes with large purchases would encourage customers to buy in bulk, so I think that's a really good idea.