>>9802668It depends on what you mean by "the companies".
The US retailer system works like so:
-Toy manufacturer like Hasbro or Mattel or w/e make a toyline
-They offer it up to a number of physical or online retailers who can then pass on it or accept it
-Sometimes low retailer interest causes waves or even whole lines to be scrapped
-The retailer then buys X numbers of the new wave/line/whatever from the toy company
-At this point the toys are sold as far as the toy company is concerned, they have no further involvement in anything below this point
-The retailers put the toys up for sale and try to sell them, which may involve putting them at discount or w/e. Remember at this point the retail store (Walmart or whatever) owns these toys so ANYTHING they can recoup on their investment is a win
-Sometimes the retailer decides to dump their stock onto an outlet or discount chain because they realize they can't sell it, decide they don't have the shelf space or decide to promote something else. This means even toys you have literally never seen on a shelf can go directly to a discount chain because Walmart wants to promote Paw Patrol instead or something
-If the toys ultimately don't sell either on discount or to another chain it ends up in the dumpster and burned
There are exceptions to this, for example in extreme situations a retailer chain may drop support for a line despite having tentatively promised to carry it, in which case the toy company can try to dump it onto a discount chain themselves, but this is not very common. Mostly because toy companies these days are very wary of overproducing anything and want to have the contract signed that somebody bought the toys before they even make them.
This is also the reason why big toy companies dislike running their own stores be it online or physical. If you sell the toys to a retailer then they will pay for everything from employee wages to shipping and handling times.
