Should DST consider a subscription service, a la MattyCollector?

[Lobsterman]

Here's another what if for DST:

As you may or may not know, Mattel is offering a yearly subscription service to their He-Man line through their MattyCollector site. Basically, you commit to buy a new figure each month for the one-year term of the subscription.

Mattel's is interesting, because they're asking people to sign up for this sight unseen, without knowing what figures will be in the lineup in the coming year. The tradeoff is, you're guaranteed a figure in a line that's been selling out pretty quickly every time a new one is released. So, Matty gets the guaranteed funds to pay for the figures, and collectors get hard-to-obtain exclusives they probably would have bought anyway.

I wonder if DST could do something like this? Say they sold exclusive four-mate boxsets for $25. Would you commit to locking in $300 for Minimates over the course of a year (on top of all of the other releases)? What about $100 a year, with an exclusive set every quarter?

This could give them a lot more latitude in producing obscure "fan-favorite" characters, because they wouldn't have to worry about putting in mass-market sellers.

Thoughts?

[groundhog7s]

I think it's apples and oranges. MOTU is only available through Matty, while Minimates are available elsewhere. Although DST sells Minimates on their site, I seriously doubt that what they sell on their site takes much sales away from the other companies that sell mates. I tend to think that them trying to secure more sales on their site would result in less retailers ordering which, eventually, would cause the line to short out due to lack of retailer interest. It works for Matty because they have a monopoly on their products distribution.

Now, if DST came out with an exclusive line only available on their site, something like this might work, but I don't really see it happening.

[pickle]

But the question is if they do something like this, will they be able to ship outside the USA?