Another Trail of Painted Ponies Point of View

This comment was emailed to us the other day. It speaks a little to the quality of Enesco products and also speaks to TOPP going Hollywood. Since receiving this email we have received the list of new release ponies from Enesco along with pricing. For all those who mentioned concern about pricing, it seems to be very close to what Westland's pricing was. We've been told by several of our members that Music City Cards and Gifts has placed the new release on pre-order already. We're currently tying up loose ends to try to get in a position to place them on pre-order ourselves.

Are you still taking comments on the above subject? I've already commented
once, but have had some more time to think things over.


I'm not concerned about quality now that I know Enesco handles Charmin'
Tails, Dept 56, etc. However, I have a real problem with TOPP making a
Hollywood connection for new ponies. I think that totally takes away from
the basic theme of the ponies and insults the wonderful artists that have
contributed already. Hollywood and basic western values just don't mix.
And with the Hollywood ego involved, I can see the prices being
unreasonable.

I'm seriously considering stopping my collection of TOPP and not ever
starting the new Westland series. I currently have a figurine of every
pony issued so far, including the special runs. And, except for a few
broken ones that need to be replaced, I believe I have all of the
ornaments and most of the pins/pendants. As you can imagine, when added to
my Breyer and Stone collections, I'm running out of room anyway. I just
don't have a good feeling about this changeover.

Thanks for letting me vent.

Maureen"

Trail of Painted Ponies email regarding Enesco move.

These last 2 posts are about the end of the email to retailers from Rod Barker of Trail of Painted Ponies. There was some retailer specific information at the end of the email that won't be posted here. Since we have had some retailers contacting us about what's going on we want to let you know that's okay. We're happy to share any information we have. Okay, back to the trail

Winter 2010 Release - Sneak Peek: "The Trail of Painted Ponies has an established and loyal collector base that is passionate about Painted Ponies. They not only collect for themselves, they love giving Painted Ponies as gifts to others.
The Trail of Painted Ponies has both national and international brand recognition. We are consistently ranked as the top collectible by industry trade publications, including Giftbeat Magazine.
Painted Ponies figurines have a unique authenticity. They are not products of an in-house art department. Each begins as an original work of art created by an individual artist, and each tells a story. Being miniature works of art enhances their perceived value.
Painted Ponies figurines are supported by bestselling books, an award-winning website that is updated monthly, and companion merchandise.
The Trail of Painted Ponies has a history of integrating philanthropic contributions into its business practices, having raised over $1 million for various non-profit organizations.
The Trail of Painted Ponies is committed to helping retailers through:
a) a website that is dedicated exclusively to retailers: www.paintedponiesretailers.com;
b) a Store Locator feature on the home page of our own website to make it easy for customers to find stores close to them that carry Painted Ponies; and
c) in-store special events.
There is only one Trail of Painted Ponies. There will be imitators. There will be knock-offs. But no other collectible horse figurines will evoke the emotions expressed by this California collector: 'It's difficult to tell you how much my Painted Ponies mean to me. Each horse has a special meaning and a special place in my heart.'"

Trail of Painted Ponies Winter 2010 Release - Sneak Peek

Winter 2010 Release - Sneak Peek: "It was seven years ago that The Trail of Painted Ponies stampeded onto the gift and collectible scene, and in that time we have become an inspiring success story. Painted Ponies figurines are one of the most popular and beloved collectibles in America, and have generated over $100 million at retail. What distinguishes us now from everyone else is:"

More on Trail of Painted Ponies move to Enesco from Rod Barker

"We believe this transition is happening at an opportune time. Enesco and The Trail share a similar strategic vision for long-term growth in the gift and collectible industry, and we are both committed to building on the phenomenal success of this world-wide collectible brand.
Right out of the gate, we intend to introduce new dimensions to The Trail of Painted Ponies that will excite and energize your customers and collectors:

1) First, there is the Celebrity Collection, designed to showcase the tremendous artistic talent of well-known celebrities. Legendary Hollywood actor and artist, Tony Curtis, has created the first Painted Pony in this collection, titled 'Shiloh.'
2) We are also pleased to introduce an entirely new horse form to the collection - a classic, Rearing Painted Pony, dramatically balanced on its hind legs and appearing to gallop towards the sky. The 2010 Winter Release will feature three stunning Rearing Painted Ponies.
3) We are proud to add a second Rearing Horse 'Paint Your Own Pony Kit' to the line, complementing the bestselling running horse kit.
4) Painted Ponies manufactured by Enesco will come in attractive new packaging that is specially designed to enhance the collectability of the figurines."

General Response To Last Nights Trail of Painted Ponies Comments

In general it seems that last nights comments centered around what will happen to the quality, price and availability. As I said, I'm not familiar with Enesco so I have no background to comment on quality or price. I guess time will tell.

Availability: I have been told that on December 15th Enesco will purchase all of Westlands remaining Trail of Painted Ponies inventory. It would seem that based on the license actually changing hands on January 1, 2010 that Enesco would not begin selling Ponies until that date. The problem is that Westlands inventory is already very low, and there is one last boat on the water from China. I would estimate, based on the out-of-stock reports that I've seen from Westland that they have less than 50% of the current figurines in stock. From the report I received on what's coming on the boat from China, I can't see where it's going to change things much. It appears that everything on that boat has already been sold. I believe there will be major availability problems at least until January 1, 2010. Past that it depends on how prepared Enesco is.

I'll be posting more of the Trail of Painted Ponies email I received throughout the day. Thank you for your comments.

Email received from the owner of Westland Giftware

"To Our Principals and Managers,

Due to irreconciable differences, Westland Giftware has made a difficult decision to resign as a licensee of Painted Ponies effective December 31, 2009. Westland Giftware and The Trail of The Painted Ponies have enjoyed a properous relationship for the past several years but it's time for both companies to explore other options: Painted Ponies with a new licensee and Westland with its proprietary line of Horses. We would like to thank Painted Ponies for the opportunity of fostering the development of Painted Ponies from an obscure public art project in Santa Fe to a worldwide collectible brand but we also look forward to the challenge of nurturing our exciting new line called 'Horse of a Different Color'. A sneak preview is attached to jump start our enthusiasm...

Happy Trails!

Ken

P.S. This notice was sent only to principals and managers but feel free to share this information with your associates."

First paragraph of Trail of Painted Ponies Announcement

In this paragraph Rod is referring to a letter he sent to retailers this summer. My immediate reaction in reading that letter was that he was moving away from Westland, although I could not get that confirmed at that time.

Rod Barker - Trail of Painted Ponies: "Earlier this summer I promised to make an announcement that would 'rock the collectible world.' Now it's time to make good on that promise. With this letter I am pleased to announce an exciting, new partnership between The Trail of Painted Ponies and Enesco, one of the premiere gift and collectible companies in the world. Beginning in January 2010, Enesco will become the exclusive manufacturer and distributor of The Trail of Painted Ponies figurines and companion merchandise."

Trail of Painted Ponies News Flash!

We've just received word that Trail of Painted Ponies is moving the license for the production of Trail of Painted Ponies figurines from Westland Giftware, to Enesco. We really don't know much about Enesco. We'd appreciate your comments on this development. Please weigh in. What do you think the outcome of this move will be?

Breyer Horses - Breyer Barns - The Lowest Prices

When we started selling Breyer horses almost 4 years ago we set out to sell them at the lowest prices on the Internet. We remain true to that goal today with "Unbeatable Member Pricing". Membership is " FREE" and our members are reaping HUGE savings on Breyer Horses and Breyer Barns every day of the year. This is particularly important as we move into the Holiday Season and our Breyer sales go through the roof. It is our privilege to be able to give our members the greatest value for their Breyer Horse dollar. We'd like to take this opportunity to thank our LAGH members for making this possible. Thank You!

Breyer Mail-In Free Doll Offer

From now through December 31, 2009 Breyer is offering a free Ashley Junior Rider Doll with the purchase of any Breyer wood barn. At Breyer's suggested retail price for Ashley, that's a $15.00 value. We've stocked up on Breyer barns specifically for this promotion. You'll find your official Breyer mail-in offer form in each and every Breyer barn you purchase from now through the end of December. Add LAGH "Unbeatable Member Prices" to the mix and this is an even more fantastic deal. Get your Breyer barn and free Ashley doll today. Your Breyer Christmas is just around the corner.

Shopping for Trail of Painted Ponies Figurines

Let's be honest, shopping the Trail of Painted Ponies official on-line store has some advantages, and why not. Where other on-line stores often sell a variety of product lines, the Trail of Painted Ponies on-line store sells nothing but Trail of Painted Ponies products. They certainly should be able to do that better than anyone else. When shopping for Painted Ponies figurines it's nice to be able to go to the Trail of Painted Ponies on-line store and view images of each figurine in 360 degrees. It's also nice to stop in a pick up a collectors list from time to time. We recommend shopping the official Trail of Painted Ponies on-line store, but when it comes time to actually purchase your Trail of Painted Ponies products, better come and see us. You'll save a lot of money purchasing your Painted Ponies at "Unbeatable Member Prices". Let's face it, the Trail of Painted Ponies official on-line store purchases their figurines from the same place we do. Their products are really no more authentic than any other retailer's. Sounds good though. So like we've said shop the Trail of Painted Ponies official on-line store frequently, but when you're ready to purchase come and buy from us. You'll save a ton of money.

Trail of Painted Ponies - Unofficially Retired

We just received an email from our Trail of Painted Ponies sales representative last night noting some 6" figurines, ornaments, and lamps that have been retired by Westland Giftware that were not on the "Official" list of 8 retired ponies we received last week. We didn't even realize there was such a thing as an "unofficial list" Here they are:
Figurines:
Ceremonial Pony
Fetish Pony
Christmas Clydesdale
Ornaments:
Blue Medicine
Silver Bells
Woodland Hunter
Year of the Horse
Twas the Night Before Christmas
Lamps:
Medicine Horse
War Pony
Woodland Hunter
Fancy Dancer
We have some of these items in stock and some we have on order from Westland, but Westland is out of stock on many of these and won't be making any more. If you're a LAGH member get these on order with us now at our Unbeatable Member Pricing. If we are out of stock on the item(s) you want you may find them somewhere else, but hurry. These probably won't be around long.

Trail of Painted Ponies - 1 LAGH Members Coments

We receive quite a few favaorable member coments on our site. We usually don't make a big deal of it, but here's one we thought you might like to see. I'm retyping this email just as we received it but leaving the members' name out for her privacey. This email came in response to our email in response to a routine question.

Lorenda,

Thank you for your response.
Just to let you know
I live in Myrtle Beach.
My favorite store is here "Wolf Creek Gallery"
I purchase almost everything native American from them
Except for the painted ponies
Your prices are exceptional
Considering I am unemployed and money is so tight there is no way that I would
be able to collect the ponies w/o purchasing them thru you.
I also recommend your web site to everyone here that may be interested in the
painted pony line because your prices are so much better than anywhere else
So, thank you so much for being there for me (and everyone else) !

That's the end of the email with the exception of a personal note, and that pretty well sums it all up. That's the reason we do what we do - It's for you.

Trail of Painted Ponies

I took a look around the Internet today, for Painted Ponies. It's amazing how many people are selling them. If you include ebay sellers, the number of people selling Painted Ponies is staggering. We're still the number 1 Internet seller of Painted Ponies, and here are a few of the reasons why: (1) Unbeatable Member Pricing, there's not much more to be said on that. (2) When we pre-sell the Painted Ponies new releases, we give the lowest 1st edition issue numbers we receive to our members who place their pre-orders with us first. (3) Unbeatable service, that's just a fact. (4) We guarantee the product 100%. Bottom line, even though there are many sellers of Painted Ponies, we're still #1 and we plan to keep it that way. If you're buying Painted Ponies anywhere else, you should check us out. Become a member and reap the rewards in additional savings. You'll be glad you did. I guarantee it!

Breyer Takes On Enchantmints

We received a letter from Reeve's International (parent company to Breyer Animal Creations) the other day stating that they are taking over distribution for Enchantmints, another of our product lines. Enchantmints makes beautiful music boxes, snap boxes, etc.. We're not sure what if any affect this with have the price of Enchantmints merchandise, but this arrangement does look like it could be advantageous to ourselves and our members. Enchantmints are a huge seller for us at Christmas time, although somewhat slow through the rest of the year. The way I understand the letter, we can place orders for Enchantmints along with our Breyer orders and the addition of that merchandise will go toward qualifying for minimums, special terms and discounts. In the past it has been difficult for us to put together an order for Enchantmints that meets their minimums. Combined with a Breyer order minimums should be no problem. This could have the effect of keeping our Enchantmints stock levels higher, giving our members better access to the merchandise they desire. Good move Enchantmints, keep up the good work. We love your product.

Tier Level Pricing - Why All The Secrecy?

I guess, in a way, our tier level pricing may look like a customer loyalty program, and I suppose there's nothing wrong with that. Really, It goes a little deeper than that. Maybe we're a little paranoid, but we know that our competitors and some of our manufacturers monitor our pricing, newsletters, and even this blog. Over the years we've taken some heat for pricing too low. We believe that it is possible that a competitor may sign up for our newsletter and make a purchase just to see our member pricing. Having done that they would be at tier level 1 pricing. Do they want to try to get to tier level 2 and then tier level 3? Probably not. We struggle constantly with how much information to give our members about tier level pricing in our newsletter, because we know that if we give our members that information, we are also giving it to our competitors and manufacturers. Let's face it, the Internet is a wonderful thing, but it does have its' drawbacks. We are also aware that our competitors won't hesitate to call our manufactures to ask them to put pressure on us to raise our prices, it has happened more times than we care to mention. We believe that in using multiple tiers our competitors will never really know what our bottom line price is, they simply won't want to try hard enough to move through the layers. They'll give up. We can also assume that if we go out in this blog or in our newsletter and tell our members exactly what they need to do to get to our tier level 3 pricing, we'll be telling our competitors as well. Then, we've given them a decision to make. They would then know that for x amount of dollars they can see our tier level 3 pricing. Would it be worth it to them? Maybe, it depends on who they are and what they think they would stand to gain. As it stands today we still catch a little heat for our pricing from time to time, but we've never heard a peep about our "Unbeatable Member Pricing"; we'd like to keep it that way. So call it a member loyalty program, underground pricing or just a company working hard everyday to put its' members interests above all others. I guess it's just what it is, and until we can be sure that we can give you what you want without having to answer to our competitors and/or manufacturers, we're just going to have to keep this on the down-low.

Paradise Horses

We received a shipment of Paradise Horses last night. They're in the store and ready for your purchases.

Mid-Term Price Roll-Backs

Late last month we did our first Member wide price roll-back. That is to say that every member at that time had their prices rolled-back, or were relocated to a tier level with lower prices. When we did that we mentioned in our newsletter that new members joining after that date would occupy tier level 1, the level that most members were moved from when we did the price roll-back. At present we are using 3 tiers. Tier 3 has our lowest member pricing and it looks like that will probably stay at its' current level until 2010 when we hope to be able to do another member wide price roll back. Members that occupied tier level 2 when we did the member wide price roll back last month were moved to tier level 3. Tier 3 is occupied by customers who were with us before we began our membership program and have met the purchasing criteria we have set for level 3.



Mid-term roll-backs refer to new customers that have joined since the member wide price roll back, they are at tier level 1, and members who occupy tier level 2. When member purchases meet our criteria to move to a lower level we roll em back. In other words any member that is not already at tier level 3 has the opportunity to move to that tier level at any time throughout the year. We'll be monitoring member purchases monthly, and when you meet our criteria we'll move you to the next level. We're going over member purchases now to determine who will be moved this month. If we move you to a lower level we'll send you an email to let you know. Since only about 10% of our entire membership is at tier level 3, a large portion of our membership has the opportunity for more price reductions. About 90% of our members are still in a situation where the more they buy, the more they save. From now on, we'll be monitoring member purchases each month, and once each month we'll roll-back prices for members who meet our purchasing criteria.
We encourage your comments and/or questions. You can post them here, or contact us directly.

The Trail of Painted Ponies Trends

You'd be surprised how often we get asked if the Painted Ponies collection is slowing down. To tell you the truth, it's really hard for us to tell because, we just keep selling them. Here's what we have noticed: It used to be that when the new releases were announced all the dealers would place their orders. There are 10,000 figurines in each edition, and within two weeks of the announcment those would all be bought up by Painted Ponies retailers who wouldn't actually receive them for another couple months. In other words, the whole release of first editions had been bought up before they even hit the shelves. That's pretty good! On the last release, the 13th release, we know for a fact that did not happen. In fact, that release has been in stores for several months now and we're still getting first editions on our re-orders. This looks like a slow down to us. What the cause is, we don't really know. It could be the bad economy or other factors maybe both. We'd like your opinion. What's caused the slow down? Is there anything that TOPP can do to reverse this trend? Please give us your comments here.

Breyer Horse Trends

I was talking to our Breyer sales representative last week and she asked me about this years Traditional Pony Slumber Party Set. Evidently Breyer had asked her how the re-orders had been on that item. She thought Breyer may be considering producing more items along that line. All of this got me thinking about my Breyer Horse sales for this year. It may be the economy, I've been noticing a trend to more sales in the Breyer Stablemates and Breyer Classics. It seems as though people are still making the same number of purchases, but that they may be spending slightly less on those purchases. Since the Breyer Pony Slumber Party Set has a relatively low price point as far as the Breyer Traditional line goes, and it's a value because it's a play set, it may be a good way for Breyer to go.

Vist us today for "Unbeatable Member Pricing" http://www.lookagifthorse.com

I think it's been very interesting how Breyer has handled the whole weak economy thing. Looking back to the end of last year we saw Breyer retire the largest number of models since we've been selling Breyer. This created the largest number of new models introduced in 2009 that we've seen since we've been selling Breyer Horses. Then to top that off they reduced their prices for 2009. Let's face it, Breyer has been around for a long time; they've been through a recession or two. It makes you wonder if they don't have a standing plan that they roll out whenever the economy goes South. Interesting, don't you think?
See what "Unbeatable Member Pricing" is all about, http://www.lookagifthorse.com

Breyer Horse Lovers Country Vet Playset

Yesterday, we received our Breyer Traditional - Horse Lovers Country Vet Playsets. At $117.86 and free shipping, these are a great value. We've seen them on AMAZON for $129.50. The playset includes a traditional white dually truck, traditional red trailer, traditional collectible horse and a fully articulated veterinarian doll. What a bargain. It's a great gift for any Breyer Horse Lover.

Joan Baker - The Trail of Painted Ponies - Painted Glass

Great news from the fine folks at Joan Baker Co.. Since the release of the news that Joan Baker Co. would be producing Trail of Painted Ponies painted glass sun catchers, art panels and candle plaques we've had them on pre-order. They're expected to start shipping in mid-April. Our opening order was placed in pre-packs as was required by Joan Baker Co.. We sold out of 3 of the sun catchers right away, but had been told by our sales representative that all sun catcher re-orders had to be placed in the pre-packs until October. This created an inventory challenge for us in that ordering more pre-packs would load us on the slower sellers and we could potentially sell out of the better sellers again. This morning we received an email stating that once we receive our initial pre-pack orders we can order the sun catchers from open stock. For us, more sales - for you, more selection in what you want. Props to Joan Baker Co., a manufacturer who listens.

New Category

If you go to the LAGH store today you'll see a new category, Home & Garden. If you click on that category you'll see one of those clever "Under Construction" images and it appears that's all that is there. In reality, behind the scenes we're busy filling that category with merchandise. Spring is in the air and we've found all kinds of great products for your yards and gardens. Much of this merchandise has not hit our warehouse yet, but we're adding it to the store so we'll be ready when it gets here. We hope you like this new category, we sure had fun selecting products to fill it with for you. We'll be sure to let you know when construction is finished.

Twitter

We've got a new addition to our BLOG and we've also added it to our website home page. Look on the right hand sidebar, and you'll see Twitter. This is significant in that you can now sign up for twitter right here, or on our website home page. If you choose to do so, please sign on as one of our followers. In the near future we'll be posting specials and coupon codes that are only available to our twitter following. For now, were posting our Daily Barn Burner specials to try to give all of our members an opportunity to take advantage of them. Join Us, it's time to find out what Unbeatable Member Pricing is all about.

Member Pricing & Member Price Roll-Backs

At the first of this year we implemented our "LAGH Membership" program with special "members only pricing". This program was implemented to allow us to give you the rock bottom low prices we felt you deserved. As American business people we were taught at an early age to take a modest profit, and give the customer your very best. Even so, we were being told by certain groups and individuals that we had to move our prices up. Isn't it great when people tell you how to run your business. In this time of corporate greed and price fixing, we felt we had to find a way to give you the best prices we could afford to give you, regardless of the pressure that was being brought to bear on us. We're not prepared to tell you where this pressure was coming from, at this time. Frankly, we see nothing wrong with good, old-fashioned, honest, American low prices! Now, the prices we post to the general public on the Internet are simply competitive, and we will defend our American right to price competitively. Our "member only pricing" that is not shown to the general public is, in a word, "Unbeatable". We work very hard to give you the lowest possible prices and the best service in the business. You see it in the news on a daily basis, many business peoples value systems have gotten all screwed up lately. If we're going to fix the problems with America we have to start with ourselves. We have to fight back against those who have lost their moral compass. We're going to stay the course, follow our beliefs and stay true to our members.

Member Price Roll-Backs came into play the first part of this year when we discovered our advertising cost as a percentage of sales had dropped because of our member support. As a result, today we have been able to adjust our member pricing downward without hurting our bottom line. What our members see now are the lowest mark-ups we've ever taken and free shipping on orders of $50.00 or more. We use free shipping as a tool to continue to build our membership. A larger membership benefits all of us. As our membership grows, our fixed and some variable costs will decrease as a percentage of sales. As our costs decrease we will continue to roll-back prices. We do not predict any further price roll-backs in the near future, but it is possible that our costs will have declined enough by the first of next year to roll em back again. An increasing membership, and your continued support can make this all possible. It is important to note that new members joining on March 24th and thereafter will receive member pricing at the level our original members used to receive. New members will be evaluated on a periodic basis and could be moved to our current members roll-back price level depending on shopping frequency and purchases.

Member Price Roll-Back

We've been working very hard the last couple weeks to prepare for the implementation of our Member Price Roll-Back. We made a lot of progress yesterday. We'll give you more information on this in the coming days. For now, it looks like we are on schedule for a March 24, 2009 Roll-Back. Members, your Unbeatable Member Pricing is about to drop!

This week, we've added PayPal to our list of payment options. Check your LAGH Newsletter for a 10% off coupon. This coupon is good on any purchase made this week that is paid for with PayPal.