Do you link to order brand new bricks, Minifigure parts and animals directly from the LEGO website, using either BricknPieces or Pick a Brick? You may have noticed some inconsistencies over the years, including pricing, as well as the range. Pick-a-Brick has been selected by machine, while Bricks N Pieces has been picked by hand – explaining its ongoing wait time, especially at peak periods.

Today, the LEGO Group has announced a change in the way that these programs will be accessed, by providing them with a merged shopping interface. Best Selling elements will be tagged and set directly from the nearest hub, while the more ‘regular elements’ will continue to be supplied from Billund.

Here’s the Quick summary:

So, expect to see things roll out slowly. Shipping times will not improve overnight, and they remain at the mercy of the current supply chains, which the LEGO Group are looking to constantly improve.

• A new warehouse and fulfillment centre will open in the USA for the 1600 most popular elements, reducing shipping time
• Bricks N Pieces will merge with Pick a Brick on LEGO.com – the best seller elements will be clearly marked, and ship from Poland or USA – and be trackable. Other elements will ship from Billund, Untracked.
  • This will rollout gradually:
    • [Netherlands, France, Germany and UK in early February;
    • Canada Australia, NZ and the US in LATE February
    • Gradually, other countries globally.

• Pricing will become more consistent. Some elements will become cheaper, others more expensive. Most colours will be a similar price, except for different treatments (eg gold and silver, glow in the dark, decorated)
• You shopping basket will be divided into Bestseller and Standard elements.
• You elements will qualify for Gifts with Purchase, VIP points
• New experiences will be rolled out at the Pick and Build Hub. Initially, this will include Build a Mini(figure) to shoppers in Europe and Asia. These elements will not be part of the BAB assortment.
• PAB will be unavailable for 48 hours between January 23-25 while the new system is being implemented. Bricks N Pieces will continue to be available at this time.

Here is the news, as we have just received it, from the AFOL Engagement Team:

Pick a Brick Announcements

Background  

Our current Pick a Brick and Bricks & Pieces setup means that consumers aren’t aware of the two different experiences. During 2021 we’ve been running tests and meeting with different consumer groups to better understand the current consumer experience.  

Based on these learnings our next step will be to create a new merged experience on LEGO.com. We’ll merge Bricks and Pieces and Pick a Brick into one front-end experience where consumers can browse our portfolio of elements in one place more easily. 

Additionally, we’ll improve the shipping time in the US and Canada by implementing a new fulfilment area in our US warehouse. This will reduce shipping time for our top 1,600 elements from 13-18 working days to up to 5 working days. There will likely be some shipping delays for a short time after we launch this experience.  

What’s happening  

We’re merging Bricks and Pieces into Pick a Brick. With the new Pick a Brick setup, you’ll be able to shop across one merged portfolio, with clear visibility between Standard and Bestseller elements. You’ll also have the option to choose what elements you want from which warehouse. Items that are listed as Bestseller are our most popular elements and will ship from Poland or the US, and your order will be trackable. Standard elements will ship from our Billund warehouse and will not be trackable. It’ll be easy to tell which items are Bestsellers by the yellow tag. 

We’ve worked hard to align prices between the two different experiences and keep the prices as low as we can while reflecting changes to market conditions. There will some elements that will be at a slightly higher price and others at a lower price.

In the past, different colours of the same design often had different prices. Now the prices will be more consistent, with some exceptions. Certain colours (like gold and silver), pieces that glow in the dark, and decorated elements will still be priced differently across the same design.  

With this new experience we’ll be introducing a split basket with a threshold for each basket. The split basket view will give you visibility between Bestseller and Standard elements and where your chosen elements are coming from (either Billund, Poland or the US). If your basket meets the minimum threshold amount, then you won’t have to pay any handling fees. We’ll continuously improve our supply chain processes to reduce and simplify these handling fees in the future.  

This new experience means all parts orders, including those previously made in Bricks and Pieces can be applied to promotions (such as gifts with purchase) on LEGO.com. 

Why we’re making this change  

Analysis has indicated that our current setup isn’t always the best experience. Differentiation between our Pick a Brick and Bricks and Pieces experiences isn’t always clear. This new merged experience will bring our portfolio into one place, with clear visibility on Standard versus Bestseller elements. 

Customers who place larger orders currently need to split their order between Pick a Brick and Bricks and Pieces. The new merged experience will mean larger orders can be placed in one spot, with greater visibility on delivery times.  

When is it happening and in which markets? 

The first change happens for the US and Canada when we implement a new fulfilment area in our US-based warehouse in January and start fulfilling Pick a Brick orders there. In order for this change to occur, Pick a Brick will be unavailable for approximately 48 hours, starting late evening January 23rd to January 25th when Pick a Brick comes back online. This outage is planned and is necessary. During this downtime, individual elements will still be available for purchase through Bricks and Pieces.

After that we’ll roll out the new merged experience as a soft launch. This will allow us to understand what’s working and identify improvement opportunities early.    

We’re planning to roll out the new merged experience to the Netherlands, France, Germany and the UK early February. This will be followed by Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the US in late February. We’ll then look to rollout to all other countries globally.  

During the soft launch, we’ll use several metrics and insights available to us to understand if the new experience is working as it should. We’ll take any learnings from this soft launch and use them to help us deliver the best experience possible for our customers.  

New features and functionalities 

We’re also creating a new location called the ‘Pick and Build hub’ for Pick a Brick and similar future experiences. With the new ‘Pick and Build hub’, we’ll test and launch new experiences that enable creativity and fun.  

As a first trial we’ll introduce Build a Mini to our shoppers in Europe and Asia. With this tool you can combine different minifigure parts and create your own minifigure. The Build a Mini selection of bricks will only be available for this experience. They won’t be available as part of the Pick a Brick assortment.

Exciting times are afoot: there are a few questions remaining about the new platform, not answeredin this initial announcement: including the discrepancy in the PAB and the BnP purchase limits of 999 and 200 of an element specifically.

Will prices improve, for the popular elements? Will be able to find the animals we are looking for? will shipping times actually improve?

I hope so! What about you? Why not leave your comments after the break and until next time,

Play Well!