Diamond - time to restructure and start recruiting?

[Kevin Boyd]

Shad's post about his experiences polling pop culture stores about carrying comics got me thinking about Diamond distrubutors (who sell 99% of the comics sold today).

 

Maybe it's time for our single, monopolist distributor to get out there and start a drive to get more new accounts instead of simply relying on comic shops and independant dealers for their orders. Especially when those orders seem to be decreasing.

 

Perhaps Diamond should get out there and send small promotional catalogs or flyers out to try to get appeal to stores to open new accounts. Target stores that don't traditionally carry comic books but do carry other pop culture items - DVDs, CDs, books, novelty items, etc.

 

Instead of waiting for Marvel to make a deal with Wal-Mart, maybe Diamond should be out there looking for those types of deals instead of sitting on their fat behinds. It's time to get hungry for new business.

 

Maybe they could have starter accounts with recommended packages of books that they think will have appeal to general consumers. 10 Marvel Comics, 10 DC Comics and a few others with recognizable characters like Transformers, GI Joe, Street Fighter, Army of Darkness, Simpsons, Disney, etc.

 

Offer preliminary starter discounts to get them interested.

 

They should even consider offering a tradeback program - the books that don't sell can be sent back to Diamond for more credit and offered as a reorder option for regular Diamond accounts at a higher discount. That would provide comic shops with the opportunity to reorder selected titles two+ months after the fact.

[aardvark88]

Giving new retailers a rebate for returned unsold comics or returned torn-off title logos (like Maxim mag returns by comicshops to Diamond) is opening up a huge can of worms. The increased discount to retailers is predicated on the basis of NO returns. Less paperwork, less return transportation costs, less warehousing cost, less labor.

Since most returns would be bent, would your LCS want to reorder 2-3 month old FN+ copies of hot titles that may be reprinted as 2nd edition, variant cover or tpb in a few months anyways?

[Kevin Boyd]

Giving new retailers a rebate for returned unsold comics or returned torn-off title logos (like Maxim mag returns by comicshops to Diamond) is opening up a huge can of worms. The increased discount to retailers is predicated on the basis of NO returns. Less paperwork, less return transportation costs, less warehousing cost, less labor.

Since most returns would be bent, would your LCS want to reorder 2-3 month old FN+ copies of hot titles that may be reprinted as 2nd edition, variant cover or tpb in a few months anyways?

 

Just kicking around some ideas. And no I'm not suggesting a return system similar to the standard magazine return system (like your Maxim example).

 

If Diamond wants to encourage new accounts, perhaps they have to start thinking outside of the conventional box. They hold no appeal for non-comic book dealers because their product is non-returnable. Comic shops share the risk because they sell their product as backstock. Blockbuster, borders, et al. have no interest in selling back issues in their stores and thus will never carry the product. If they could find some way to eliminate the backstock - perhaps by selling unwanted stock to a third party wholesaler?

 

My LCS often receives their new issues in FN+ to NM- condition from Diamond.

[aardvark88]

Comic publishers may be able to donate some of their damaged returns (comic, manga, tpb) or overstock to a library dist'n system in USA or Canada. Start the kids out young by having access to a weekly reading group /club in their elementary school or public library.

 

Re: anime cons

 

These are 70% female, mostly tweens & teens dressing up & buying lots of anime video/dvd/Japan music cd's, plush toys, posters, drawings/art, cotton wall posters, etc. A 3 day local anime festival announced attendance of 2,000 but this might be the same 666 ppl /day.

[Kevin Boyd]

Anime North, our local Anime con announced that their attendance in May 2004 over three days was: 8500.

 

If weekend pass holders were triple counted, the attendance was more likely in the range of 4-5K.

 

Although, based on the number of kids I've seen going to this show, I could believe that there were 8500 people there without triple counting.

[aardvark88]

Hard for me to determine if attendance at the 4th annual Anime Fest was triple counted. Not sure how many ppl may have been sitting quietly in the 3 darkened theater halls enjoying the round the clock anime programming. Role playing (Magic, HeroClix) & videogaming was in 2 separate side rooms. The whole festival was spread out over 3 different floors due to technical & square footage demands.