Here’s something you might not expect: LEGO warns that in some markets it may run short of bricks for the holidays and Christmas. The demand is too strong, the company says.
The LEGO factories are running at full speed, but even that probably won’t help cover the demand in Europe alone, the company tells Reuters. The company is the world’s largest toymaker by sales now and overtook Mattel. It is a first for the company and it is a bit of uncharted waters.
“We will not be able to deliver all of the orders coming from customers in the remainder of the year,” spokesman Roar Trangbaek told Reuters. He declined to specify which lines of toys or which European countries would be affected. He though clarifies that the problem is just for the new orders that would be coming in later this year. All of the already placed orders will be fulfilled and delivered on time.
“It is really extraordinary and it has exceeded both ours and our customers’ forecasts,” Trangbaek says. He adds that it is not a case of w wrong forecast from the company, but merely a demand that has risen faster than anticipated. There are several reasons for that. Mostly though LEGO currently has several hot product lines and with Star Wars beating all records already, it transfers to the LEGO themed playsets, too.
Currently the company is building a new big factory in China, 100 kilometers from Shanghai. It is expected to be up and running in 2017 and will cover most of Asia’s demand for LEGO toys. This would in turn make it much easier to cover the demand globally. Even before that, though, LEGO is already investing into making its current factories more modern and better equipped. Currently the company has factories in Denmark, Hungary, Czech Republic and Mexico.
