Insights on how a retailer approaches ordering from Previews

[Kevin Boyd]

Brian Hibbs talks about how he approaches ordering from Previews in his latest Tilting at Windmills column over at Newsarama:

 

http://www.newsarama.com/pages/Tilting/Tilting10.htm

 

He looks at the offerings by the 4 premier publishers - Dark Horse, DC, Image and Marvel and all of the things he has to take into account when ordering for his store.

[awe4one]

Good article...

 

Jim

[hobbes]

Thanks for the link!

[drice6900]

Awesome insight - thanks for pointing it out, Kev

[Pablum-migration]

Very interesting. Thanks for the link.

[dam60]

Kevin - I actually printed this one out and read it on the subway home. Really a great read - although I was SHOCKED that newsarama would let him drop the f bomb twice in that article!! Unbelievable!

 

Great insights thought . . .

 

DAM

[Mephisto]

When this topic is bumped to the top of the modern section the title that is seen is just "Insights on how a reta..." so I thought it was going to be "Insights on how a person_having_a_hard_time_understanding_my_point..." and not retailer.

[Kevin Boyd]

What I find particularly interesting, and I think this is typical for most people ordering from Diamond, is that there is very little movement in orders above and beyond those made for the subscribers...especially on those books that fall outside of the traditional favorites from Marvel and DC - and even then - some of those (like Star Wars titles) are DOA. To order beyond subscribers requests is a risk that falls entirely on the shoulder of the retailer. He or she must decide what they think will sell, and they can decide whether a book will live or die two months before it actually arrives on the stands.

 

Do they still have "catalog" stores in the US? I noticed that up here in the small town where my parents are currently living they have a Sears catalogue store where they have a small amount of sample merchandise but the local people must order what they want from out of the Sears catalogue based on the descriptions of the merchandise and then it will be delivered in a few weeks (dependant on availability).

 

When it comes to new books, most Comic shops are essentially Diamond catalog stores. They have to be.

 

To be a new book reader you have to be as discerning as the retailers - picking and choosing what you want to get 2-3 months in advance based on descriptions in Diamond - descriptions that are often vague and incomplete with art samples that don't match the interiors.

 

I can't think of a better model for viability, but it makes it nearly impossible for casual fans to sample new books, or for the existing subscribers to sample outside of their window of interest.

 

If anything, the publishers should smarten up and start previewing their upcoming product more often then they actually do so that they can encourage interest at the ORDERING stage (2+ months in advance) or adopt an adaptive method similar to what Marvel is offering where retailers can adjust their numbers almost up to the ship dates. Only problem with the adaptive method is that a lot of companies rely on the pre-order specs to maintain viable sales projections.