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I'm opening up a brick and mortar this year and want some advice!!
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725 posts in this topic

I think you have to give a subscriber discount. 10% off for those subscriptions, because those books are guaranteed sales. I would also always slide in the 1:10 variant into your subscriber's pull list because they will 99% of the time just buy it. Also make "recommendations" into your pull list of like books and see if your subscriber picks those up. Offer free bags and boards to subscribers. Little things that cost you nothing that will make your customers come back. Give your subscribers first crack on any variants. etc etc etc

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The other big thing that a rewards system does is help you track in more detail what each customer is buying. Forget selling the info to 3rd parties - that data can be super valuable to your store. 

Given you’re newer, this probably sounds daunting, but eventually you’d have lots of customer purchasing history data which could really help you 1) identify all your top customers, 2) analyze the data to find out preferences, maybe make new title suggestions based on their history, etc. 3) a whole bunch of other interesting insights I can’t think of right now :p very “big data”-like! You get a lot of that from pull lists, but having a good customer data management system is even better as I have to think there’s a good chunk of decent customers who don’t have pull lists (maybe I’m biased because I don’t have on, as I enjoy going to my LCS every Wed and hand-picking minty copies of my books). 

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12 hours ago, FlyingDonut said:

This times one hundred million. If you have books out that aren't priced and I dig them and then you look them up? I will drop righteous anger on you. Not much in this hobby annoys me more than this.

Roger/Time Machine does this. But he looks in OPG, not ebay. So you go in here knowing it will be some % of OPG. How low a % depends on many factors.

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My opinion?  Don't open one.  Comics are losing their audience and frankly have out priced their customers.  The only reason comics shops stay open in my area of the woods (North Florida Panhandle) is for card games and D&D type activities.  They make the majority of their money there.  Comics have become an after thought and their inventory has shrunk according.

Jim

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Also, Pensacon, the big convention in the area, last year had one, ONE, dealer with anything considered vintage comics.  And no one was at his booth.  I actually set up a collection booth at another, smaller, show in Pensacola last Aug.  I was the only seller with comics in the whole place.  Did OK but was surprised I was the only one with comics to sell at a comics show.

Jim

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14 minutes ago, awe4one said:

My opinion?  Don't open one.  Comics are losing their audience and frankly have out priced their customers.  The only reason comics shops stay open in my area of the woods (North Florida Panhandle) is for card games and D&D type activities.  They make the majority of their money there.  Comics have become an after thought and their inventory has shrunk according.

Jim

Well he already opened it. It has been like a year? And more than half of his business is card games right now.

 

Edited by the blob
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7 minutes ago, awe4one said:

Also, Pensacon, the big convention in the area, last year had one, ONE, dealer with anything considered vintage comics.  And no one was at his booth.  I actually set up a collection booth at another, smaller, show in Pensacola last Aug.  I was the only seller with comics in the whole place.  Did OK but was surprised I was the only one with comics to sell at a comics show.

Jim

Well, comic shows with only one dealer don't tend to attract customers.  I've actually heard of buyers that will not go to shows if there aren't many dealers, or enough dealers with new inventory.  At our monthly show I'm amazing how many sports card dealers there are, they represent probably close to half of the tables.  It's like that place is stuck in an early 90s time warp....

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wThe number of dealers weren't advertised.  Hell, I didn't even know before the show opened.  The year before they had four to five dealers.  I was disappointed because I wanted to see what others had. But ultimately I was the only one with comics and, frankly, not many that attended were interested in what I brought.  My German shows drew much more interested customers.  But that was 10 years ago.  There were many other dealers there as well though.

Jim

Edited by awe4one
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4 hours ago, awe4one said:

My opinion?  Don't open one.  Comics are losing their audience and frankly have out priced their customers.  The only reason comics shops stay open in my area of the woods (North Florida Panhandle) is for card games and D&D type activities.  They make the majority of their money there.  Comics have become an after thought and their inventory has shrunk according.

Jim

The problem with this mind set is your assuming the only thing comic shops sell is comics and that just isn't the case with smart comic shops. I know one of the comic shops by me makes a significant amount of money from selling the cards for card games like Magic the Gathering. And there is PLENTY of other stuff comic shops can stock and sell. You have the smaller statues like Batman Black & White, POP statues, comic supplies (which many times I am willing to pay more for at comic shops as I am in desperate need of them and don't feel like waiting 2 days for an Amazon shipment), action figures, other types of cards like Wacky Packages and maybe even some sports cards depending on your customers. Again, there are PLENTY of other things that one can sell in a comic shop besides comics. And here is an article you should read:

Comic Books are selling better than they have in 20 years — here's why they're so popular

http://www.thisisinsider.com/comic-books-are-popular-again-heres-why-2016-7

Domestic sales of comics and graphic novels were at $265 million in 2000 and had reached $715 million in total sales by 2011, $805 million in 2012, $870 million by 2013, $935 million by 2014, 1.03 billion by 2015, and 1.085 billion by 2016.  Those growth rates are WELL above the rate of inflation. And of that 1.085 billion in 2016, $570 million of it came from comic stores. And this is just comic & graphic novel sales. It doesn't include all of those other things that one can sell in a comic shops like Magic the Gathering cards, statues, posters, art prints, etc.

icv2-comichron-2016-1.thumb.jpg.d9025ccf6c168672abc37a94ac23e68c.jpg

Complete 2017 figures have yet to be released, but based on what we have seen the last 5-6 years, I don't know how anyone can say that the comic market is in trouble. Sales for comics may go up and down, but sales for graphic novels have been steadily increasing for some time now and I don't see that changing anytime soon. 

Bottom line - It is still very possible to have a successful comic store. If you take advantage of both online and offline sales, stock the right books, sell other things like card games, statues, action figures, art books, posters, prints etc., there is really no reason why one can't have a very successful comic business. I'm not saying its easy, but as I have stated before, I think if people are passionate enough about something and work hard enough, anything is possible and that certainly includes running a successful comic store. Again, the best advice that I can give, which I gave in my first post in this thread, was not to listen to the naysayers. Had I listened to the naysayers, I would not be a photographer today. 

By the way, just as a tip in case your interested in stocking various DC, Marvel, or Zenescope art prints in your store, every year Zazzle has a big black friday sale where you can buy prints for 65-75% off. Depending on the paper you use, you can buy 13x19 prints for as little as $4-$7 apiece and they have a pretty big selection of DC, Marvel, and Zenescope comic prints available. I have taken advantage of that sale for at least 6 years in a row now. I have purchased many comic prints during that sale, but my favorite thing is having NASA/Hubble space prints made using NASA's highest quality digital files, which are readily avilable on NASA's website and are open domain thus your 100% allowed to make prints from them. I usually buy at least 20-30 NASA prints a year. Here is my favorite print that I received this last Black Friday.

https://www.zazzle.com/earth_moonscape_poster-228586693351184907

Moon.jpg.0a6bc6490171754d5475a3361bd8a293.jpg

I always use their premium canvas paper for my NASA/Hubble prints, which is the most expensive kind of paper Zazzle stocks. The prints wind up being around $6-$7 each with the 65-75% discount. They also have 3 other kinds of paper. They have value poster paper, poster paper & archival heavyweight matte paper. If you use the archival heavyweight matt paper, which is what I would recommend as IMO comic art looks VASTLY superior on matte paper, your talking around $5 per 13x19 print during the sale. If you go 11x17, it would be even cheaper, likely around $4 per print. You could easily sell much of the comic artwork available for $15 a print and basically triple your money.

My advice, save up some money and make a MASSIVE purchase during that sale and then sell off the merchandise as the year goes by. Rinse and repeat each year depending on how good your sales are. They have great DC, Marvel & Zenescope artwork to choose from. And they have a LOT of other stuff that you could buy during that 65-75% off sale and sell. Things like stickers, postcards, notebooks, binders, etc. If you go into the customize section and shrink the image size down once, it gives you a nice roughly 1" white border on most of their products. Thats how I get the white border on the NASA and comic prints that I order, like the example I posted up above and the comic prints down below. You just go into the customize option and press the minus button once. It shrinks the image size down once and gives you a nice white border, which IMO is an absolute must on art prints. I absolutely hate full bleed prints. You should  start a Zazzle account, look over all of the various comic merchandise you can buy and then really learn how to use all of Zazzle's customizing options so your good and ready to go once that sale starts. Zazzle has like 300 different products to choose form now. Here are a few of the comic prints I purchased this year. 

view-3.thumb.jpeg.18fe731a76eff9176fe5acc823b605bc.jpegview-1.thumb.jpeg.1bf6150725f77e3d9dc41e366f65b6ab.jpegview-2.thumb.jpeg.72abfe1e9d52aca2e748370122194e4a.jpegview-4.thumb.jpeg.36c130c7b5b977dec871ecc227589d2e.jpegview-5.thumb.jpeg.e78f5f782a28ba9bec428dde4a997e49.jpegview-6.thumb.jpeg.3ed0f10fd0c61c0ff9d121729e20d345.jpegview-7.thumb.jpeg.6450f4058e8148a7b83128fa70d2cc07.jpeg

 

And here is the receipt from this order so you can see the pricing for yourself. I purchased 11 - 13x19 prints on Zazzle's archival heavyweight matte paper and the order was just $60.93 and Zazzle has something called Zazzle Black where you get free shipping for a small fee each year so I got free shipping on the roughly 20 orders I placed during the sale including this one. I wind up buying a lot of X-mas presents during that sale as well. So basically I got those prints for $5.53 apiece. And they really are very nice prints. 

5a8e30d1a60c5_ZazzleOrder1.thumb.jpg.4b52d0a8d358effb4a0264b3e57a74a6.jpg

5a8e30ce978e9_ZazzleOrder2.thumb.jpg.572e5e530dee2d66f446e1e03780a5fb.jpg

I didn't get 2 of the Guardians of the Galaxy Prints. The receipt was too big to take a single screen shot so I used that print as the border between the top and bottom of the receipt.  Anyways, sorry for the CRAZY long post. I just truly believe that there could be some money to be made here for you if you really take advantage of that Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale Zazzle has each year. Honestly, given how many quality pieces of art they have from DC, Marvel, and Zenescope and the sheer number of products you can buy...well, again I would at least go over and give all of thier various products a look and then browse their selection of artwork from DC, Marvel and Zenescope. Worse comes to worst you can always sell them on eBay and I guarantee you can EASILY sell prints of this quality on eBay for FAR more than just $5.50 per print. Most 13x19 prints, even open edition prints, sell for at least $25-$30+ on eBay

 

Edited by OrangeCrush
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8 minutes ago, Mapleleafvann said:

I am not going to quote your response given the sheer size of it, but it is certainly a very thoughtful gesture and effort for you to help a fellow Boardie like this.  This is one of the reasons this community needs to be supported and developed further.  Great post!

Much appreciated!

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That's great data.  And it's is working for you.  But for the mass it's not.  Comics aren't an at sustainable forum anymore. And for anyone wanting to start a business its not as comics as they're majority business but other endeavors.  The toy and card business rules now and even those will fall given time.  Online gaming is stealing these folks and before long, and it is going to happen quickly, you won't have anyone in your shops.

Jim

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11 minutes ago, awe4one said:

That's great data.  And it's is working for you.  But for the mass it's not.  Comics aren't an at sustainable forum anymore. And for anyone wanting to start a business its not as comics as they're majority business but other endeavors.  The toy and card business rules now and even those will fall given time.  Online gaming is stealing these folks and before long, and it is going to happen quickly, you won't have anyone in your shops.

Jim

If magic people don't hang out in the backs of comic shops they may have no human contact except their parents.

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30 minutes ago, the blob said:

Do people really buy these prints? My shop has them, i have never seen one bought. I might have been the last one, buying a gullacy print that had been marked $25, then $15, then $5, and then $1.

Given the massive growth that has been seen with the comic print market the last 5+ years, I would say a very resounding YES. I don't know what prints the store your referring to is trying to sell so it's kind a hard to guage it given that fact. And again, its not just prints. He could make notebooks, binders, bumper sticker, regular stickers, postcards, T-shirts, keychains, zippo lighters, playing cards, wall decals, and the list goes on and on and on. Just look at the success Sideshow has had with their Premium Print line. They have to be up to at least 100 prints released thus far and they ALL wind up selling out in a timely manner and they are priced at $90-$135 a pop. And the edition sizes range from 200-300. Sideshow actually screwed the pooch with those prints too as they were using automated machine signatures instead of real signatures and were deceptive about it. People thought they were real signatures and they weren't. They lost a significant number of buyers, including myself, due to that mishap. Before the whole signature gate went down, Sideshow was up to edition sizes as high as 750 and they were still selling out in a very timely manner. After Signature gate they had to drop their edition sizes down by 50-60%, but they are still selling 200-300 prints for each release and they are starting to use real signatures on many of their prints, likely due to so many people wanting real signatures, so I expect their edition sizes will start increasing again. 

3-4 years ago, sellers like SunnysComics on eBay (one of the biggest comic print sellers on eBay) had roughly 200 different prints that one could buy at any given time. That number is now well over 1000. Pretty much all of the big name comic artists are now selling prints at various comic con and many have thier own web stores where they sell prints. And these artists are doing very well with prints. Stanley Lau (Artgerm) has been hugely successful with his print line and his prints are all open edition prints and sell for $60-$90+ a pop. So again, I would say a very resounding yes. Prints have only gotten more and more popular with each passing year and it doesn't show any signs of slowing down anytime soon. And with prices as low as $15 for a quality archival 13x19 print, I absolutely believe he could sell quite a few prints, if not in his store then definitely online.

Just look at the completed eBay auctions in regards to comic prints:

Comic Prints

Edited by OrangeCrush
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1 minute ago, OrangeCrush said:

Given the massive growth that has been seen with the comic print market the last 5+ years, I would say a very resounding YES. And again, its not just prints. He could make notebooks, binders, bumper sticker, regular stickers, postcards, T-shirts, keychains, zippo lighters, playing cards, wall decals, and the list goes on and on and on. Just look at the success Sideshow has had with their Premium Print line. They have to be up to at least 100 prints released thus far and they ALL wind up selling out and they are priced at $90-$135 a pop. And the edition sizes range from 200-300. Sideshow actually screwed the pooch with those prints too as they were using automated machine signatures instead of real signatures and they lost a significant number of buyers, including myself. Before the whole signature gate went down, Sideshow was up to edition sizes as high as 750 and they were selling out in a very timely manner. After Signature gate they had to drop their edition sizes down by 50-60%, but they are still selling 200-300 prints for each release and they are starting to use real signatures on many of their prints, likely due to so many people wanting real signatures, so I expect their edition sizes will start increasing again. 

3-4 years ago, sellers like SunnysComics on eBay (one of the biggest comic print sellers on eBay) had roughly 200 different prints that one could buy at any given time. That number now numbers will over 1000. Pretty much all of the big name comic artists are now selling prints at various comic con and many have thier own web stores where they sell prints. And these artists are doing very well with prints. Stanley Lau (Artgerm) has been hugely successful with his print line and his prints are all open edition prints and sell for $60-$90+ a pop. So again, I would say a very resounding yes. Prints have only gotten more and more popular with each passing year and it doesn't show any signs of slowing down anytime soon. And with prices as low as $15 for a quality archival 13x19 print, I absolutely believe he could sell quite a few prints, if not in his store then definitely online.

I was more questioning open editions really doing well in a comic venue. Limited with a real sig is different.buying at a show from the signing artist seems different.  Just wondering how many people are plopping down $20 for these unlimited print run prints. I can do a lot with $20. Offering hundreds doesn't necessarily mean they sell more than a few a year of each on line, to the world. For a shop owner to buy a stack at $6-7 each, they need to know they have a market at their shop. The gullacy one i got for $1 is signed and retails for $40 on line. Anecdotal, i know. I Wonder what shop owners think?

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41 minutes ago, the blob said:

I was more questioning open editions really doing well in a comic venue. Limited with a real sig is different.buying at a show from the signing artist seems different.  Just wondering how many people are plopping down $20 for these unlimited print run prints. I can do a lot with $20. Offering hundreds doesn't necessarily mean they sell more than a few a year of each on line, to the world. For a shop owner to buy a stack at $6-7 each, they need to know they have a market at their shop. The gullacy one i got for $1 is signed and retails for $40 on line. Anecdotal, i know. I Wonder what shop owners think?

There are lots of open edition prints on the market. Again, all of Artgerms prints are open edition. And you can take unsigned prints and get them signed if a signature is so vital to a particular buyer. I have done it with many of the open edition prints I have purchased over the years. IMO, people will buy a print if they truly love the artwork, regardless if its limited edition or an open edition and especially if it has a great price. Ebas actually has a DeviantArt account and he actually started selling prints on there for a short period of time. He wound up selling higher priced prints on other sites so he ceased selling on DeviantArt, but before he did I purchased 30 copies of a Wonder Woman print he put up for sale. Here is the print:

battle_wonder_woman_by_ebas-d598oqm.jpg.707701fc8b7a759329ed3a410f0fbd09.jpg

It wasn't a limited edition, it didn't come signed, and I still sold 29 of those prints in a single week for $70 a pop. I kept one copy for myself. So again, I believe people will buy a print if they really love the artwork and I believe this is especially true if they are getting it at a great price. With J Scott Campbell's store, you now have the option to buy his prints signed or unsigned (extra $10 for signed) and he has quite a few open edition prints. 

In regards to the EBAS print, I didn't buy all 30 prints at one time. That Wonder Woman image was a brand new image from EBAS and people were just super excited about it and it seemed like I was the only one that knew it was up for sale on DeviantArt. So I purchased 5 copies and listed them on eBay. They sold out in like the first 5 hours that I listed them. So I went back and purchased 10 more. Those sold out in like 2-3 days time and when I saw that they were still selling incredibly well, I went back yet again and ordered more. Eventually I wound up ordering 30 in total before Ebas stopped selling prints and pulled it from DeviantArt. 

Edited by OrangeCrush
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40 minutes ago, OrangeCrush said:

There are lots of open edition prints on the market. Again, all of Artgerms prints are open edition. And you can take unsigned prints and get them signed if a signature is so vital to a particular buyer. I have done it with many of the open edition prints I have purchased over the years. IMO, people will buy a print if they truly love the artwork, regardless if its limited edition or an open edition and especially if it has a great price. Ebas actually has a DeviantArt account and he actually started selling prints on there for a short period of time. He wound up selling higher priced prints on other sites so he ceased selling on DeviantArt, but before he did I purchased 30 copies of a Wonder Woman print he put up for sale. Here is the print:

battle_wonder_woman_by_ebas-d598oqm.jpg.707701fc8b7a759329ed3a410f0fbd09.jpg

It wasn't a limited edition, it didn't come signed, and I still sold 29 of those prints in a single week for $70 a pop. I kept one copy for myself. So again, I believe people will buy a print if they really love the artwork and I believe this is especially true if they are getting it at a great price. With J Scott Campbell's store, you now have the option to buy his prints signed or unsigned (extra $10 for signed) and he has quite a few open edition prints. 

In regards to the EBAS print, I didn't buy all 30 prints at one time. That Wonder Woman image was a brand new image from EBAS and people were just super excited about it and it seemed like I was the only one that knew it was up for sale on DeviantArt. So I purchased 5 copies and listed them on eBay. They sold out in like the first 5 hours that I listed them. So I went back and purchased 10 more. Those sold out in like 2-3 days time and when I saw that they were still selling incredibly well, I went back yet again and ordered more. Eventually I wound up ordering 30 in total before Ebas stopped selling prints and pulled it from DeviantArt. 

Ok, if you're flipping them for $70 then so be it. I guess its a market i don't understand.

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