MattBrady
05-16-2006, 11:04 AM
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/dcnew/52/52Cv1_t.jpg" align="right"><i>by Vaneta Rogers</i>
Even people who haven't read the first issue would agree that <b>52</b> has been a big question mark from the start.
While the uncertainty of a weekly comic brings with it tons of issues (not only the numbered kind, but the potential problem kind too), one "issue" that surfaced early in the planning process -- and was among the most aggressively targeted by DC -- was retailer ordering.
After a few days of sales of the #1 issue and a month that has seen the release of both the <b>Civil War</b> debut issue and the <b>Infinite Crisis</b> finale, Newsarama contacted several retailers -- some small, some large -- from across the country to get their feedback on how ordering has gone so far and how all the events are affecting sales.
Almost all of the shops based their order numbers for <b>52</b> on the sales of <b>Infinite Crisis</b> -- most specifically on <b>Infinite Crisis #1</b>, often including its entire sell-through over several months. Others decided to just "wing it" based on their pre-orders from customers. So far, both methods seem to be working out well.
"We ordered equal to our initial order of <b>Infinite Crisis #1</b>," said Lisa Lopacinski, owner of Neptune Comics in Waukesha, Wisc. "We sold 65% of Week 1 in the first 2 days, so we feel we ordered pretty well on it."
Nick Purpura, store manager at Jim Hanley's Universe in New York agreed. "It's been pretty good so far," he said. "There are 52 weeks to sell this book. So, we are not concerned."
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/dcnew/July06/DCU/52Week10_t.jpg" align="left">One reason retailers were more than willing to take a risk on a book without Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman was the return offer that DC Comics made to try to alleviate the fears of retailers. As store owners struggled to figure out how to order a virtually unprecedented weekly comic, the company offered the option of targeted returnability on the first 12 issues -- an effort that was appreciated by more than one store owner.
"Any time a publisher is willing to let you return product, this helps boost my confidence that this is something that the publisher is sure will move," said Mike Malve, CEO and founder of Atomic Comics in Mesa, Ariz. "I wish more publishers would use this tactic more often. We offer similar returns in our stores and we wouldn't pick product we didn't believe in because, let's face facts -- who wants to lose money? Our word would turn to ____ if we started just peddling crap to the masses, and I'm sure DC realizes this as well. DC really put their money where their mouth was to get retailers to take a chance on this."
Most retailers admitted they ordered heavier on the comic because of the ability to return it. "I ended up to my 'full rack life' of <b>Infinite Crisis #1</b> because of the returnability," said Brian Hibbs, owner of Comix Experience in San Francisco. "Without it, I probably would have ordered a number closer to <b>OMAC Project</b> or <b>Day of Vengeance</b>. Or to put it a different way: I probably would have ordered in the 90 copy range, rather than the 160 that I ended up with."
Besides the return offer, the publisher also announced that there would be no collected edition of any of the issues until after the final issue hit shelves, and that there would be no reprints of the individual issues -- eliminating variables that would likely have affected sales of the weekly book.
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/dcnew/July06/DCU/52Week12_t.jpg" align="right">"We're generally very strongly pre-sold on comics, but in the case of <b>52</b>, I threw my natural methods out the window," said Paul Stock, owner of Astro Books/Librarie Astro in Montreal, Canada. "The combination of low-cost returnability and non-reorderability allowed/caused me to order almost twice my reserves, while customarily I would be risking only about 40% more than pre-sold."
While the return offer did seem to influence the way many retailers ordered the comics, few are expecting to actually return any of the first issue.
"I will not be returning any #1's," said Jason Pierce, owner of Alter Ego Comics in Muncie, Ind. "With a series like <b>52</b>, I want plenty available to catch people up if I need to. I anticipate selling out of my #1's around week 8 or 9. Then I will probably reorder."
Lopacinski of Neptune Comics agreed. "Based on how solidly we sold in the first few days, and the fact that we want to try and keep this stocked through the better part of the year that the series runs, we probably will not end up sending any back," she said.
Hibbs said it's too soon to tell if he will be returning any of the #1 issues at Comix Experience. "If this were a monthly comic, no, probably not," he said, "but as a weekly, the rulebook is out the window. Again: what will sales of #1 look like in week #2? #4? #8? Will people be jumping in, later on, or is this the audience we've got?"
Yet a lot of the retailers cited the long shelf life that the comic will have as being a big reason they ordered more heavily than normal.
"I am looking at this in the long term. It's a year long series and I'm thinking we need to keep this around for awhile, so reorders are currently on their way," said Malve of Atomic Comics. "DC has stated it will not reprint any issues of this historic series. So this book will have a long shelf life and we want to keep it in stock for as long as we can get away with it, as long as DC keeps them in stock and available for reorder."
Another way that DC tried to further ease tensions was by offering the Final Order Cutoff service (known as "FOC" in the retail world) for retailers to utilize while ordering <b>52</b> via the company's distributor, Diamond Comics. While Marvel has offered FOC for awhile now, DC Comics is just now instituting the service, which enables retailers to adjust their orders until the very last minute instead of having to stick with their initial orders that were placed with a longer lead time.
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/dcnew/Aug06/pre/52_Cv17_solicit_t.jpg" align="left">"We always take advantage of FOC," said Purpura of Jim Hanley's Universe. "It works well to really gauge excitement about a book from our customers and staff. FOC helps retailers review their orders that second time to make a solid final decision."
Yet most retailers didn't use FOC for their orders on #1. Hibbs said the reason he didn't use it was because they had no reason to adjust them, having no reason to think to pull back on those numbers since they had no sales data yet.
"Ask again at week 12 of this experiment, however," he pointed out.
But very few retailers are in the mood to complain about anything right now because of the amazing May numbers they're posting thanks to Free Comic Book Day, <b>Infinite Crisis #7</b> and <b>Civil War #1</b> all hitting in the same week. Add to that the additional sales generated by <b>Civil War</b> tie-ins and the weekly <b>52</b> comic, and the summer sales season is starting out well.
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/marvelnew/CivilWar/civilwar_title-.jpg" align="right">"Sales have been up around here for some time now, but these last couple of weeks have been just incredible," Malve said. "The week that <b>Civil War</b> and <b>Crisis</b> hit was like Christmas numbers, and numbers continue to be up at all my shops. I think the coming months will bring about probably the best year ever in comics with record sales numbers for the big two."
"The weeks when <b>Infinite Crisis</b> would come out were usually our best weeks," Lopacinski explained. "People who only come in once a month would be sure to come in that week. <b>Civil War</b> coming out the same day as #7 only helped with that, plus we also had Free Comic Book Day that Saturday, which helped us bring in even more new readers for both series.
"It was the best week we've had since we opened almost 2 1/2 years ago between the two big series coming out the same day and Free Comic Book Day," she said.
Purpura said that week was a great sales week for his stores as well. "There was a week of excellent sales," he said. "I think both events brought excitement to our shops. It gives something for the mainstream comic fans to be excited about."
"<b>Crisis #7</b> was solid as ever," said Pierce of Alter Ego. "People really seemed to love how that series wrapped up. <b>Civil War</b> was huge as well. I was down to one copy by that Saturday and have gotten reorders for it in since then."
Only one shop said his sales haven't gone up, but admitted they'd be doing even worse if it weren't for the big events going on right now. Why? The dreaded orange barrels of road construction season.
"Noise, dirt, and difficulty getting through the mess and traffic would normally kill trade, in fact my neighbors are really crying," said Stock of Astro Books/Librarie Astro. "Combine this with the fact that most of my customers know the books will be waiting for them whether they show up now or a month from now, and we SHOULD be absolutely dead. The continual comment though, is 'I had to come in to check out...' So in that respect, the big titles being released right now have had a wonderful effect on us."
Even people who haven't read the first issue would agree that <b>52</b> has been a big question mark from the start.
While the uncertainty of a weekly comic brings with it tons of issues (not only the numbered kind, but the potential problem kind too), one "issue" that surfaced early in the planning process -- and was among the most aggressively targeted by DC -- was retailer ordering.
After a few days of sales of the #1 issue and a month that has seen the release of both the <b>Civil War</b> debut issue and the <b>Infinite Crisis</b> finale, Newsarama contacted several retailers -- some small, some large -- from across the country to get their feedback on how ordering has gone so far and how all the events are affecting sales.
Almost all of the shops based their order numbers for <b>52</b> on the sales of <b>Infinite Crisis</b> -- most specifically on <b>Infinite Crisis #1</b>, often including its entire sell-through over several months. Others decided to just "wing it" based on their pre-orders from customers. So far, both methods seem to be working out well.
"We ordered equal to our initial order of <b>Infinite Crisis #1</b>," said Lisa Lopacinski, owner of Neptune Comics in Waukesha, Wisc. "We sold 65% of Week 1 in the first 2 days, so we feel we ordered pretty well on it."
Nick Purpura, store manager at Jim Hanley's Universe in New York agreed. "It's been pretty good so far," he said. "There are 52 weeks to sell this book. So, we are not concerned."
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/dcnew/July06/DCU/52Week10_t.jpg" align="left">One reason retailers were more than willing to take a risk on a book without Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman was the return offer that DC Comics made to try to alleviate the fears of retailers. As store owners struggled to figure out how to order a virtually unprecedented weekly comic, the company offered the option of targeted returnability on the first 12 issues -- an effort that was appreciated by more than one store owner.
"Any time a publisher is willing to let you return product, this helps boost my confidence that this is something that the publisher is sure will move," said Mike Malve, CEO and founder of Atomic Comics in Mesa, Ariz. "I wish more publishers would use this tactic more often. We offer similar returns in our stores and we wouldn't pick product we didn't believe in because, let's face facts -- who wants to lose money? Our word would turn to ____ if we started just peddling crap to the masses, and I'm sure DC realizes this as well. DC really put their money where their mouth was to get retailers to take a chance on this."
Most retailers admitted they ordered heavier on the comic because of the ability to return it. "I ended up to my 'full rack life' of <b>Infinite Crisis #1</b> because of the returnability," said Brian Hibbs, owner of Comix Experience in San Francisco. "Without it, I probably would have ordered a number closer to <b>OMAC Project</b> or <b>Day of Vengeance</b>. Or to put it a different way: I probably would have ordered in the 90 copy range, rather than the 160 that I ended up with."
Besides the return offer, the publisher also announced that there would be no collected edition of any of the issues until after the final issue hit shelves, and that there would be no reprints of the individual issues -- eliminating variables that would likely have affected sales of the weekly book.
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/dcnew/July06/DCU/52Week12_t.jpg" align="right">"We're generally very strongly pre-sold on comics, but in the case of <b>52</b>, I threw my natural methods out the window," said Paul Stock, owner of Astro Books/Librarie Astro in Montreal, Canada. "The combination of low-cost returnability and non-reorderability allowed/caused me to order almost twice my reserves, while customarily I would be risking only about 40% more than pre-sold."
While the return offer did seem to influence the way many retailers ordered the comics, few are expecting to actually return any of the first issue.
"I will not be returning any #1's," said Jason Pierce, owner of Alter Ego Comics in Muncie, Ind. "With a series like <b>52</b>, I want plenty available to catch people up if I need to. I anticipate selling out of my #1's around week 8 or 9. Then I will probably reorder."
Lopacinski of Neptune Comics agreed. "Based on how solidly we sold in the first few days, and the fact that we want to try and keep this stocked through the better part of the year that the series runs, we probably will not end up sending any back," she said.
Hibbs said it's too soon to tell if he will be returning any of the #1 issues at Comix Experience. "If this were a monthly comic, no, probably not," he said, "but as a weekly, the rulebook is out the window. Again: what will sales of #1 look like in week #2? #4? #8? Will people be jumping in, later on, or is this the audience we've got?"
Yet a lot of the retailers cited the long shelf life that the comic will have as being a big reason they ordered more heavily than normal.
"I am looking at this in the long term. It's a year long series and I'm thinking we need to keep this around for awhile, so reorders are currently on their way," said Malve of Atomic Comics. "DC has stated it will not reprint any issues of this historic series. So this book will have a long shelf life and we want to keep it in stock for as long as we can get away with it, as long as DC keeps them in stock and available for reorder."
Another way that DC tried to further ease tensions was by offering the Final Order Cutoff service (known as "FOC" in the retail world) for retailers to utilize while ordering <b>52</b> via the company's distributor, Diamond Comics. While Marvel has offered FOC for awhile now, DC Comics is just now instituting the service, which enables retailers to adjust their orders until the very last minute instead of having to stick with their initial orders that were placed with a longer lead time.
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/dcnew/Aug06/pre/52_Cv17_solicit_t.jpg" align="left">"We always take advantage of FOC," said Purpura of Jim Hanley's Universe. "It works well to really gauge excitement about a book from our customers and staff. FOC helps retailers review their orders that second time to make a solid final decision."
Yet most retailers didn't use FOC for their orders on #1. Hibbs said the reason he didn't use it was because they had no reason to adjust them, having no reason to think to pull back on those numbers since they had no sales data yet.
"Ask again at week 12 of this experiment, however," he pointed out.
But very few retailers are in the mood to complain about anything right now because of the amazing May numbers they're posting thanks to Free Comic Book Day, <b>Infinite Crisis #7</b> and <b>Civil War #1</b> all hitting in the same week. Add to that the additional sales generated by <b>Civil War</b> tie-ins and the weekly <b>52</b> comic, and the summer sales season is starting out well.
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/marvelnew/CivilWar/civilwar_title-.jpg" align="right">"Sales have been up around here for some time now, but these last couple of weeks have been just incredible," Malve said. "The week that <b>Civil War</b> and <b>Crisis</b> hit was like Christmas numbers, and numbers continue to be up at all my shops. I think the coming months will bring about probably the best year ever in comics with record sales numbers for the big two."
"The weeks when <b>Infinite Crisis</b> would come out were usually our best weeks," Lopacinski explained. "People who only come in once a month would be sure to come in that week. <b>Civil War</b> coming out the same day as #7 only helped with that, plus we also had Free Comic Book Day that Saturday, which helped us bring in even more new readers for both series.
"It was the best week we've had since we opened almost 2 1/2 years ago between the two big series coming out the same day and Free Comic Book Day," she said.
Purpura said that week was a great sales week for his stores as well. "There was a week of excellent sales," he said. "I think both events brought excitement to our shops. It gives something for the mainstream comic fans to be excited about."
"<b>Crisis #7</b> was solid as ever," said Pierce of Alter Ego. "People really seemed to love how that series wrapped up. <b>Civil War</b> was huge as well. I was down to one copy by that Saturday and have gotten reorders for it in since then."
Only one shop said his sales haven't gone up, but admitted they'd be doing even worse if it weren't for the big events going on right now. Why? The dreaded orange barrels of road construction season.
"Noise, dirt, and difficulty getting through the mess and traffic would normally kill trade, in fact my neighbors are really crying," said Stock of Astro Books/Librarie Astro. "Combine this with the fact that most of my customers know the books will be waiting for them whether they show up now or a month from now, and we SHOULD be absolutely dead. The continual comment though, is 'I had to come in to check out...' So in that respect, the big titles being released right now have had a wonderful effect on us."