Some of those pros are precisely because Menards' does not rely on trains for their corporate bread-and-butter. As such some of what they do cannot be effectively copied by the likes of Lionel, MTH, Atlas, etc
1: Price
There is probably near nonexistent (compared to dedicated model train firms ) pressure to sell out a particular production run in the same model year it was released. How many of their early boxcars cars are still available in their warehouse/s years after release? And let's not forget some of their products are purchased in such quantities that they can even be offered as loss leaders (i.e. the flatcar-with-small-vehicles that are occasionally offered as freebies for buying a freight car)
2: announce products only when ready to ship
No one outside the staff charged with such things knows how long new products are in development before they're ready for sale. Menards' is in a unique position to be able to do that. No dealerships or distributors (two kinds of entites that need to match orders to sales estimates) lie between their factories and their store shelves--they are effectively direct-to-the-public.
Refer to Number 1 to explain why they have no (or minimal) need to match production quantities to sales estimates (for a single model year). A quote from a Weaver interview years ago is telling: "I'd rather make 500 and sell out then make 700 and be left with 200 sitting on the shelf". The other train makers no doubt feel the same way. Menards' doesn't have that problem.
I have a carton for an eight-pack of Army flatcars-with-minivan that were recently offered as freebies. Among the nomenclature is this telling item:
If you can crank out 1250 8-pack cartons of any kind of O-gauge freight car in this day and age, you're not going to be terribly concerned about how quickly they sell out.
3: customer service
This is something that can be emulated to an extent (watch any of Tommy Z's videos ). But "easier said than done" likely becomes more and more a factor the more esoteric an item gets. We've been told Lionel gets its parts on high-end equipment from extras they order specifically to be dismantled for parts inventory. I suspect MTH operates in much the same way (I've seen their parts department, and I'm still waiting on a black Premier Superliner truck back from when Jim's Train Shop was winding down operations--there aren't any in stock and won't be till the black-trucked Superliners are rerun).
Oddly enough this probably means their European O-Gauge could be relatively easy to get parts for, since so much of that lineup is repeated year-to-year. I suspect the practice of "Keep the old one, we'll send you a replacement gratis" will be one that you shouldn't hold your breath waiting for the dedicated train companies to emulate
---PCJ