Whats your take on the comic shops that limit the number of books you can BUY??

[Jiminy_Cricket-migration]

 

I quit following this thread because I worked retail. I was so good at ordering that management at the corporate level of a 60 store chain was calling up my store manager asking how my department was able to outsell larger stores both in volume and percentage of total store sales. A speculator is a customer. A collector who buys two or three for himself is a customer. If you are limiting any customers to a certain quantity restriction, you are not fulfilling the potential of what you could sell. You are under-ordering and that to me is inept if you work with the product day in and day out. . You are off the person willing to buy large quantities. Personally, I'd rather have one speculator buying thirty copies than deal with 30 wishy washy individuals that have no foresight into whether they want one copy or not. Less time and labor is involved selling to one person. You make a higher profit margin. It's an EXCELLENT opportunity to train your customers to plan ahead. It is an opportunity to steer them to Previews and realize sales on other things they would have been too lazy to find out about otherwise.

 

The guy who walks in a week late and decides he wants a book because everyone says it's hot is no better than the guy who walks in and buys thirty. I'd sell to him in a heartbeat, but it'd be first come first served. Whoever comes up short needs to pay attention and read the advance solicitations because he and he alone is the reason a pre-order was not placed.

 

Retailers worth their salt can predict purchasing patterns and adjust. Few stores in my area rely on walk-in traffic for their sales. It is their personal 1:1 relationship with their customers and their buying habits that grab the sale at the register.

 

You people make it sound like you are responsible for wiping their posteriors. I laugh at that.

 

I worked at one store and quadrupled sales from one supplying warehouse. Visual presentation and how you convey information is everything. A sign telling your customer "no" makes YOU the reason they left dissatisfied. I don't care how many times you bent over backwards to save that one copy for the guy showing up a day (or even an hour late). You will be still be judged by the one time YOU told them you hadn't ordered enough.

 

I saw dozens upon dozens of customers who could barely afford their comics when I hung out at stores. Give me ANY customer that can walk in and buy 30 copies without blinking. Get enough of those guys coming to you and you don't need the guy who was pouting because he didn't get one copy. Long term it's about meeting demand. That speculator will be proud to tell everyone that he was treated right by you. He will unwittingly steer customers to you when he goes to mark up what he bought and keep his customers happy.

 

When I worked for that 60 store retail store, a district manager was driving around stores checking on product levels before a holiday. An hour before closing, my shelf had a high demand product in stock. I had exact amount I needed to have. The other 59 stores as well as the warehouse had sold out. I had bumped orders in advance factoring that even the warehouse would sell out.

 

Yes, I'm tooting my own horn again. Why? Because it's fact and many people in this thread think inside a little box and ignore not only what is possible, but also what would be better for the publishers trying to pay their creators and get us the best quality product.

 

DG

 

Please stop posting your wet dreams in the forums.

[bababooey]

Guess what he's buying 30 copies of this month?

 

NOTHING.

Is this an Image book?!!!