The announcement of Marvel’s new retailer initiative – the New Stores initiative, to give it it’s proper title – is an interesting one, both in terms of timing (Coming, as it does, at a time when DC seems to be concentrating on opening up its digital space as much if not more than it is concentrating on print) and what it’s actually offering – or, more specifically, who it’s offering it to.
According to Marvel’s press release, the initiative includes (but, it adds, “is not limited to”) the following discounts for participating retailers:
A six-month 53% Discount (Marvel’s new inclusion in the ongoing Diamond “stocked to the Max” program, following the same Diamond rules with onetime Stocking discount of 59% on all in stock items!)
FREE copies of nearly two-dozen of Marvel’s top-selling collections featuring the world’s most popular super heroes
FREE recent variant covers
Unprecedented discounts on Marvel product for the first six months of membership in this program
Exclusive sales calls from Marvel and Diamond staff
FREE access to first looks on the Marvel Retailer Resource Center
FREE access to Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited
Promotion via Marvel.Com and Marvel’s social media networks
Extensive promotional material to create greater consumer awareness of Marvel product
And more!
All of which is pretty impressive, right? (I admit, I’m surprised that “exclusive sales calls from Marvel and Diamond staff, as well as free access to first looks and extensive promotional materials” seem to count as extras. Shouldn’t these just be regular publisher-supporting-retailer kind of deals? Are they? Retailers, please chime in.) But here’s the catch: They’re only available to new retailers. Yes, that’s why it’s called the New Stores initiative; the offer is only open to new bricks and mortar stores.
So, here’s my obvious question: How much of this is available to current retailers? I’m not being snarky or asking a leading question I already know the answer to, I genuinely want to know: Does Marvel do this for existing retailers? And if not, why not? I can understand Marvel wanting to help new stores launch successfully – not to mention, doing so with a heavy Marvel presence – but if Marvel doesn’t have a similar program for current retailers, I’d expect some kind of outcry (and, likely, some course-correction from Marvel) before too long.
July 13th, 2011 at 11:39 am
I can’t remember the last time a new store opened in NYC.
July 13th, 2011 at 6:23 pm
“the offer is only open to new bricks and mortar stores.”
Of which you can probably count the number of in the last year on one hand?
July 13th, 2011 at 10:55 pm
I’m not a business owner nor do I understand the intricacies of owning a comic book store but, in regards to your “Does Marvel do this for existing retailers?” query, while this is a practice that to some might seem unfair, it is widely used by other companies much bigger than Marvel. Have you tried to get the same deal that your cable or dish provider gives to new subscribers? How about getting that brand new smart phone for free after the rebate? As with any company in the business of making money, sometimes you have to make the product more appealing to get people to join, at the expense of the existing clientele.
July 14th, 2011 at 7:27 am
Midtown Comics just opened a third NYC store, it was maybe 2 months ago?
July 14th, 2011 at 8:41 am
It makes me think of this little chinese place around the corner from where I work.
They’ve been having a “Grand Opening” every day of the two years I’ve worked here.
I imagine at least one retailer will open a new comic shop every 6 months, that just so happens to be in the exact same location as the comic shop he’s closing down the day before the new one opens.
Swap in one new sign. Hey whole new retailer. Or maybe we’ll start seeing “seasonal” shops, that popup for the christmas season and fade away come January.