Market six
From Transformers Wiki
Market six was a toy-industry term for stores outside the standard distribution channels, generally referring to specialty shops with small toy areas, such as drug stores and some department stores. The term comes from the related category formerly referred to as the "Big Five." The "Big Five" were Walmart, Target, Toys"R"Us, Kmart, and KB Toys. These five large national retail stores had large toy sections and large orders to fill them. The stores included in "market six" were smaller, both in over all size and in space devoted to toys. However, as a group, they represented another large share of the market. The bankruptcy of KB Toys and Toys"R"Us, along with the decline of Kmart, has resulted in a "top two." Consequently, the term "market six" is no longer used in the industry, but you may sometimes hear "emerging channels" or "alternative channels" to describe every store that sells toys and is not a member of the "top two."
Market six exclusives were relatively uncommon, especially when compared to big-box retailers like Wal-Mart or Target. Occasionally, some sub-lines started off in "market six" stores then moved to bigger chains over time. As tail-end-of-the-line toys would often be skipped by the big-box retailers in favor of the impending next line, many of these releases would ultimately become available only—or at least primarily—at "market six" stores many months after they had already hit retail in other countries.
Examples
- Heroes of Cybertron line (primarily found in drug stores)
- "Battle in a Box" sets (mostly found at Kohl's stores)
- Legends of Cybertron line (an example of line/size class that started in Market Six before moving into large chains)
- The entire Reveal the Shield subline imprint of the 2010 Transformers toy line (excluding the toys that remain entirely unreleased), which was almost exclusively found at "market six" stores such as Ross, TJ Maxx and Marshall's.
