Märklin Distribution Change & Our Discount

Märklin has announced that USA Distribution of the Märklin product line will now be handled through Walther's. This will change how Märklin is sold in this country. In 1998 Märklin discontinued retail pricing (ie. MSRP/Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price) and instead sold to Märklin dealers under a Dealer Net Pricing program. Dealers then determined their own pricing and since there was no MSRP, it became difficult for customers to determine where the prices "should be". I personally thought this was a bad idea from the start and even within the past few months had customers try to tell me that "X dealer discounts Y percent", to which I would reply "there's no price to discount FROM..." which is hard for consumers to understand in our USA market. While we're pleased to see a return to a retail price structure, the dealer discount through Walther's is set at a minimal value for the hobby industry. By limiting the discount they will hold MSRP's to a more realistic value in the eyes of the customers. Hopefully this will work to help promote the sales of Märklin model railroad items.

We will be establishing our own discount program in the next weeks once the complete program from Walther's becomes available.

Our 2008 Preorder Program will be established for the preordering of Märklin and Trix items as soon as we have more complete information.

It's an exciting time for Märklin and we think 2008 changes will please all of our customers.

Your comments are encouraged.

- Thanks, Bill Ott