It comes down to two things.
1. They don't know what the fans want.
Adult collector fans, or child toy fans?
2. They don't care what the fans want.
Well what do "the fans" want? Anyone who's been collecting Trek since the 60s has probably long ago run out of room for new stuff. My Star Trek room poured out across the whole house a decade ago. And I only started collecting in 1980.
I'm at the wrong end of the demographic curve for figures but I do like ships and would buy accurate representations of just about any Trek ship I could find. But I'm not going to wander all over the place to find them.
And I guess all the people I know who already have their sets of STiD Hot Wheels ships bought them online. Pre-ordered them months ago.
I can't believe the mentality of a store that puts something off in a corner and then wonders why nobody buys it.
Well, I've puzzled over the placement of Kre-o stuff myself. But it does seem to be on shelves beside the Lego sets, which makes sense - and stores don't usually need to advertise Lego. The Lego collectors know exactly where to go when they haunt the stores, just as the Barbies (and the 2009 Trek Barbies and Kens) are over in the pink aisle, on the other side of the store.
The market is supposed to be about supply and demand. We're the demand, where's the supply?
Online shopping.
When you don't know what you want, you browse. In-store or by catalogue.
When you
do know what you want, you find a reliable source before it comes out. Hence I have my IDW comics on standing pre-order at my favourite comic shop, my Pocket Trek novels on standing pre-order at my favourite specialist SF book shop, and Trek action figures (and Trek extended soundtracks) with trusted online sellers as I hear from them via their emailed newsletters.
The extended "Star Trek: Insurrection" soundtrack came onto pre-order only yesterday. My long-ago pre-ordered DST Spock w/Horta diorama action figure arrives any day now. And my little Kre-o aliens are coming from an eBay "Buy it now" offer.
