Major changes at LEGO.com
Posted by Huw,
I'm not sure exactly when this happened, but yesterday I was informed by LEGO's affiliate network that shop.LEGO.com has ceased to exist and, effectively, LEGO.com is now what used to be shop.LEGO.com.
Redirections are in place so the links from here to there should all still work, but we'll update them in due course.
Much of the content that was often prominent on the home page -- games, videos and so on -- can now be found in the Kids zone.
I guess the change makes perfect sense given that the main purpose of the site is to sell products, not entertain kids.
It certainly looks to be an improvement but take a look around yourself and let us know what you think: USA | Canada | UK | Germany | France.
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67 comments on this article
"main purpose of the site is to sell products, not entertain kids" - funny, I'd think the main purpose of the site would be to inform people about LEGO products. Particularly considering that there are numerous countries around the world that LEGO shop will not ship to.
I think it’s now very difficult for kids to find out information about original theme characters, as the LEGO life app contains very little info. I wonder was this done in an effort to spark creativity?
Sure is smoother and faster though!
So many changes during last months. Site and pages are slow here now, and global use was much more easy and clear before IMO. Maybe I need a time to get used to it, but I liked the older version better.
Hey remember the old Adventurers site that had those puzzle games with the minotaur? And the various BIONICLE sites that had stories, audiobooks, games, and the Wall of History?
LEGO wouldn't refocus their site like this if they didn't have the research to back it up, I suppose, but it's a little sad if that kind of content is no longer of enough interest to kids for LEGO to keep producing it.
EDIT: On further perusal, it looks like some of that still exists, which is nice. Also I didn't mean my previous statement to sound like gatekeeping. Kids have their own, equally valid ways of having fun, the pity for me is just that it felt like a bit of an end of an era.
Out of all the free gifts I could possibly want,
I think I'll choose a picnic blanket when spending £180 on lego.
Said nobody ever!!
I can't log in to the VIP section any longer.... Just get an error message when I try now…….
Go figure that it took weeks before I could log in to VIP section when they changed that, and I can’t log in again
I have reset all my cookies and data and it’s letting me log in again. Such a faff!
Ooh there's a picnic blanket. I want that!
When I went to it, the first thing it asked me was whether I wanted to go to the shop or the 'play zone', so I guess kids won't find it hard to access their games.
@Djblythe05
Thanks. That worked for me too. This is getting ridiculous.
The pick-a-brick section is closed for purchases from the Netherlands. How do I get my loose bricks now?
Do I have to order them through family members living in the UK?
This is not an improvement.
@Legoist61
A small step for Lego, a giant leap for Bricklink.
No worries, they'll fix it up.
It's definitely much faster than it was before so that's an improvement. Wonder if the check-out procedure is fixed now too, but I can't be bothered to try until they fix the VIP debacle. I'm still seeing my vouchers in USD to be used in the US when I live in Sweden. When I emailed them about that I got a reply (after 5 days) that my account seems to be set up for the wrong region, but that suggests I can only redeem vouchers in the country where I live. I travel a lot and used to redeem my points in Lego Stores all over the world. If that's no longer possible I will just stick with Amazon and Bricklink. Whether the Lego website is improved or not is no longer relevant to me then.
I’m hoping they’ll fix pick a brick sometime soon - awfully painful to use.
It makes sense to simplify the link, definitely.
Do I care?
Not really.
Between the awful new VIP experience and the ridiculous GWPs they're doing (oh! A 200€ canvas bag! And a picnic towel! Irresistible! -_-) I don't see myself buyin bring at their store again anytime soon.
That's weird
It's good you let us know as it explains a few issues that cropped up for me yesterday. I wonder why Lego just wouldn't send out a mass email in advance to their subscribers to let them know? I am a BIG fan of Lego and its products, but I am frequently puzzled by their marketing and communication department.
@stratiformus I am with you on the PAB. It went from being "okay" to "awful".
Not a bad idea but I have the impression that the whole site is very slow now.
hilariously, after selecting shop / play zone, any time I select a link off one of these pages it sends me back to the selection screen.
It kinda bugs me that the Batpod still shows as one of the (out of stock) VIP items - especially after that Lego marketing guy's comment of "lesson learned". If it was lesson learned, they'd remove it from the site. As it is, it seems like a calculated move to show how great their new VIP system is. In reality that item was only available for a couple of hours to a very small minority of people who could actually access their VIP points at that time.
Love how they still haven't updated the catalogue section
Please...
'the Lego website', or 'lego.com',
not LEGO.com.
It is a URL, not an abbreviation or an acronym and it certainly needn't be shouted ;)
I seems they have cleared all wishlists!?!
At least my wishlist is empty. :(
If I cut out the lego badges on my old t-shirts and sew them onto a brand new picnic blanket from Aldi - would any of you consider buying it on the after-market from me? ; p
@PSD77
LEGO is the brand trademark and we all use it out of habit. “Lego” is incorrect.
Has anyone else noticed that, all over the world, nobody wants to stand on LEGO..... and now they’re trying to sell us a lego rug to sit on??
My wishlist was empty, even after I did everything they told me to do (including deleting cookies, which made my other web-surfing quite tedious). So I added new items to the wishlist. Next time in, it was empty again. They need to shore up their I.T. department!
Sad to think the days of "Ask Your Parents Permission before visiting Bionicle.com" to then spend hours playing MNOG and then goofing around the rest of the Lego site on Junkbot are long gone.
@sparky ham - wouldn't that count as a MOC? if so, there's a definitely a market. unless you're just selling the instructions... ;o)
I’m guessing their data tells them that the regular LEGO site that wasn’t the online store didn’t get much traffic. And with all of the other websites available, their regular site wasn’t providing much that we aren’t already getting, like news or activities. So I think it makes sense. The overall goal is to sell sets anyways.
@xboxtravis7992 definitely :(
When I go to lego.com, I am getting redirected to https://www.lego.com/en-us that then displays:
Page Not Found
The link to this page may be incorrect or out of date.
Did they even test it?
I'me trying to think of an 'improvement' LEGO has made in the last 10 years. I have yet to think of one.
The Picnic Blanket looks great, so realistic! How many pieces is it? Wait... one?! I don't get it. LOL. But if I spend another 200.00 bucks I can get an equally useless tote to pack it in... Hahaha!! Seriously, why do they keep fixing non broken things and making them worse? Just give us some easily redeemable cash back for our next inevitable tiny plastic purchase!
You Can't Scan Ninjago Legacy Sets Anymore So I Guess It's Meh?
I really don't understand the hate for the picnic blanket and tote bag GWPs. They got me to buy the Ideas Tree House because they're cute and useful items with nice designs, and they're MUCH better than the worthless and confusing GWPs that the site has been running all year long. Marvel art prints in months with no new Marvel sets? No thanks. I'd rather have a giant tote bag that I can use to carry my stuff around in. It's not like they used to have fantastic $200+ GWPs, anyway- as far as I can tell, they're always items like this and not actual bricks once you get past the $200 threshold.
I will always miss the old version of LEGO.com I used to play on, especially the interactive Star Wars webpage. The advertisements in the back of the instructions to “play on LEGO.com” will always remind me.
When I go to Lego.ca, it redirects me to the USA site, complete with American prices. Everytime I visit, I have to change region to Canada. So annoying
I tried to purchase something from the site, but it can´t process the order. When I try agian I get the same message. I just used a VIP code in the order, hopefully I can use it later in a new order.
I remember the LEGO online games made during the 2000s and I still look them up to play them when I'm able find them in various places. Junkbot was a lot of fun and so was World Builder 2 but the best one was probably the Mars Mission Game where you could build a base camp and mine crystals while fighting Aliens or Astros, The Mars Mission game from 2008 was Fortnite level engaging and challenging even though it was very simple in its design so it is still one of my favorite games ever made besides the LEGO Racers games and The Robot Chronicles crossover game that combined City, Agents, and Racers into one universe! Those Games where AWESOME and sadly LEGO doesn't have anything like those games on the 2019 website and hasn't for a few years now, I still enjoy LEGO products but it saddens me that there are no more strong 1st party sites for info on the story, characters, and products for any given theme, it's all just a big catalog now and not a lot else. Hopefully we see more of those classic games and new ones that have that same feel return in the future of the LEGO website!
I also couldn't access the new VIP pages first neither, but deleting my 'lego.com' cookies solved that problem. Yes, that also meant that my wishlist items disappeared, but I have added a few new ones since then, and they are all still there. The site also seems to remember my region. But reading everybody's comments I really, really enjoy the randomness Lego manages to integrate into their web experience :)
@Alatariel (and others): I had a similar problem with my VIP account, i.e., it using the wrong currency. I wrote an email, and got a very friendly and helpful reply in about a week. They changed it to SEK now for me. But importantly they also claim that sometime in the near to mid future we (as users) would be able to do it ourselves. I guess then you could continue spending points all over the world, you would just need to remember to switch to the correct currency before creating the vouchers (which is significantly less straightforward than it was before I admit)
Bricks and pieces is finally online again. Compiled a huge order. Go to check out. Can't seem to pay or confirm order, no matter what I try. AAAAAAAARGH LEGO WHY U NO HAVE GOOD WEBSITE?
I have a similar experience to bbalit - when I click on the link I get a 404 error reassuring me that everything is still awesome.
Speaking of awesome, I think that picnic blanket is awesome. I wish I’d have known about it to see if it could have stacked with the tote.
@Hobbythom - I too just made a large B n P order which went into my bag with no trouble and I ordered a set as well. Everything looked normal and I was very encouraged until I tried to pay! I was told to "try again"! I don't know if there is any other company in the world where people have to work so hard trying trying to buy their products. Lol.
I suppose it just takes time to acclimate but I preferred the older layout. It was simpler for me to navigate and checkout.
On a side note, I don't mind the picnic blanket as a GWP. Apparently, it's retail value is listed at $59.99! Crazy.
So they completely got rid of their nice looking homepage, their nice looking products page showing individual themes, and then got rid of all the individual sites for each theme? With all the set info, wallpapers, activities, games, characters, and media? What the hell, what a stupid update.
@CM4Sci, their data and business numbers probably tell them it was a smart update...
Hmm
Why... Just why
Is there a “next page function? On browsing the shop, when the current selection is showing me “1 of 4 (for example)”, I don’t see the > that I used to see. Just the “1 of 4” and ALL.
@monkyby87 "their data and business numbers probably tell them it was a smart update... "
I'm not saying you're wrong with your statement but remember that TLG has goofed in the past before. Even multi-billion dollar companies can make questionable/bad decisions now and then.
Never knew people could get so salty over a change in URL...
Anything TLG does which is related to IT is basically garbage. They are a multi-billion dollar corporation in the 21st century which basically doesn't understand IT. Or the Internet, for that matter.
Cant process payment error for brick and pieces order in NZ too
@MTBrickHouse, that’s absolutely true. But I think a lot of people commenting here are blinded by their nostalgia. They remember what the site was 10 years ago when things were very different. But everything has changed, and in this age of smart phones and other media options, the stuff that they did offer just isn’t worth it anymore. Frankly I’m a little surprised they didn’t do this a long time ago.
I reported a breach of GDPR to LEGO CS over a fortnight ago. Have they fixed it? No. Instead, they have now rolled it out to the rest of their site.
Not impressed. Guess I'll have to take that up with the ICO then.
( Cookie preferences will only save (in multiple browsers) if all the "options" are selected. When only required cookies are selected, the cookie preferences won't save! Just stuck in a continuous loop with the cookie options page displayed. Not right that they will only save when Functional and Marketing optional ones are also selected. )
@HUW This change was live late Thursday evening in the UK. I discovered it around 11pm. Don't think it was there Tuesday, and although I can't speak to Wednesday, the LEGO email announcing the train was Wednesday so seems unlikely it wouldn't have been uncovered PDQ then.
@MeganL Sorry, but it was stacking, someone confirmed that in the forum on Monday (12th) where the majority of people discussing the blanket were widely deriding the promo. If you can find anyone who was spending that value anyway, like for a birthday or something, inspite of the offer, not because of it, that's from the UK, I daresay they'd send you it for nothing but the postage.
It's of the ilk, I went to the LEGO store and all I got free was this lousy blanket.
I find myself more and more disappointed with LEGO, if they don't sort out the shambles it is to buy from them, and soon, I can't see myself being a customer for much longer. I've been unable to place an order for over a month. Due to promo and website and more recently, vip issues, that order has been waiting since January. Sooner or later I'll have had enough of the headache.
As others have said, this isn't a one off problem where we are our throwing our toys out of the pram, it's a pattern. Life is far too short for hassle to buy a toy.
Only the best is good enough? Half a job, more like.
I still wonder why people buy from there when you can get sets -30% off and many promos also could be bought cheaply online.
The images are unusable on mobile, as they always have been.
I noticed this a few days ago, but thanks for the heads up man.
Kids zone was lame anyway
Just can't find the minibuilds on the new website. My grandchildren will be disappointed - we look forward to the new model every month. Has anyone spotted them on the 'new improved' site?
@bricksy Thank You!
Wishlist and cart empty. (Yeah, I shouldn't have just left those motors in the cart before I left on vacation, but still...). Took me 8 tries to be able to log into the VIP rewards, only to discover there's nothing there I want (go figure). Site is slow and keeps throwing me back to the log-in page.
Loving it. Absolutely. /s
That new kids zone is but a shadow of the individual theme pages with games, lore and more that I used to spend hours on as a child. This shop relocation is just the final stage in transitioning to the new more shallow, businesslike approach.
Absolutely useless. I never managed to access my VIP data after the last time they "fixed" their website, and now I've had to reset my password, move to a different browser, and even after all that, the only thing it will let me do is endlessly fiddle with profile details I don't care about. I've no idea if I even have my VIP points any more and this is not encouraging me to buy directly from Lego.
Too bad they got rid of the wallpaper and other pictures of the sets and collectible minifigures. That's what drew me to the site, not shopping since I just go to the local brand store.