>>10813259>>Lego continues to dominate in ease of access and distributionThis probably is the main factor.
The other reasons are valid too, and to some degree they play into each others hands.
If i go to a regular supermarket here, there will be a huge wall of Lego, and maybe maybe a small section with some offbrand stuff that is "save", like Sluban (also very pricy if not bought directly from China) or Cobi (same, not really cheap).
Lidl has its own "Playtive" sets (made by Gudi if i'm not mistaken) from time to time, but those are not available all the time, and their box art makes those really appear like a cheap knockoff, instead of presenting them like an actual high quality alternative for a very good price. (which they actually are).
>>10812800Majority of people dont even know about those alternatives. The moment you spend time online, looking up sets, watching videos about them, (posting in this thread), etc, you are already not in Legos main customer bubble any more, but ahead of it.
My sister in law (mid 30) who wants to buy a birthday present for her son wont check Aliexpress for a set of Mouldking, she will go to the store and buys whatever Lego thing her son picked from the catalogue, which again, he got from the store.
Even if i gift him something made by Qman or Xingbao, they would never sit in front of a tablet to search aliexpress for a birthday present, even if he loves some of those "Jungle" sets made by Qman.
And not every child has an uncle that is as "knowledgeable" about lego alternatives as i am.
Also one factor is the still very dominant opinion of "everything from china is cheap garbage tier stuff" and "ordering from aliexpress is dangerous, and they steal not only your data but probably your money too... somehow".
So for many people, ordering from China directly is unthinkable, and telling them from warehouses that ship from within the EU is pointless because they do not care about details.
