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Post by urrutiap on Jun 20, 2018 17:34:18 GMT -5
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Post by urrutiap on Jun 20, 2018 17:37:02 GMT -5
it would be nice if places like drug stores/pharmacy stores would do it all over again but should they really where they're doing good with drugs, hallmark cards and jelly beans and knock knacks?
Thats where I got my stash of Wizard Magazine and Toyfare issues is by going to the drug store every month and a few issues when I was a teen in the mid 1990s.
But these days drug pharmacy stores have been doing fine without comic books and the spinner rack anyway
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Post by Rob Allen on Jun 20, 2018 18:41:29 GMT -5
Spinner racks would work in any store where kids can buy a popsicle.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 20, 2018 19:01:04 GMT -5
This is a pipe dream. For one, newstands are all but dead, so why should comics succeed where other publications, with more mainstream appeal, are failing? The answer is they won't. Most of these complimentary businesses they are citing are retail chains, with product placement determined by their parent corporation; so, you'd have to give them a big incentive to carry that product. If DC and Marvel can't do that directly, via the power of parent companies Warner and Disney, how is Diamond going to do it? Mom and pop operations (what few still exist) have to look at the bottom line. Most are renting expensive retail space and need to have a high turnover of product to keep their heads above water, let alone make a profit. Barnes & Noble has been carrying comics for some time, without making much of a blip in sales (of periodicals, not trade collections), and that is with stores across the nation. And, they are one of the few periodical outlets that is still successful in selling the product.
Brick-and-mortar retail continues to face massive challenges, not least of which is the cost of inventory and location rental, vs on-line companies who only need to maintain a distribution warehouse or two to serve the entire country. Comic sales are a blip on the radar compared to other goods; so, why take a chance?
The talk of consignment and other agreements is also a dream, as most established businesses do not operate that way and most consignment businesses deal in more necessity goods, like children's clothing and home goods. Their margins are too slim.
This just sounds to me like no one involved in this idea has any background in retailing, beyond the standard comic shop model. I doubt this scheme, if implemented, makes it a year.
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Post by tarkintino on Jun 21, 2018 4:32:18 GMT -5
This is a pipe dream. For one, newstands are all but dead, so why should comics succeed where other publications, with more mainstream appeal, are failing? The answer is they won't. Most of these complimentary businesses they are citing are retail chains, with product placement determined by their parent corporation; so, you'd have to give them a big incentive to carry that product. If DC and Marvel can't do that directly, via the power of parent companies Warner and Disney, how is Diamond going to do it? Mom and pop operations (what few still exist) have to look at the bottom line. Most are renting expensive retail space and need to have a high turnover of product to keep their heads above water, let alone make a profit. Barnes & Noble has been carrying comics for some time, without making much of a blip in sales (of periodicals, not trade collections), and that is with stores across the nation. And, they are one of the few periodical outlets that is still successful in selling the product. Brick-and-mortar retail continues to face massive challenges, not least of which is the cost of inventory and location rental, vs on-line companies who only need to maintain a distribution warehouse or two to serve the entire country. Comic sales are a blip on the radar compared to other goods; so, why take a chance? The talk of consignment and other agreements is also a dream, as most established businesses do not operate that way and most consignment businesses deal in more necessity goods, like children's clothing and home goods. Their margins are too slim. This just sounds to me like no one involved in this idea has any background in retailing, beyond the standard comic shop model. I doubt this scheme, if implemented, makes it a year. Pretty much signed on to this; comic publishers must be desperate to think some retro scheme will connect with a generation of readers (including those on the younger end of Generation X born by the early 80s) who never experienced spinner racks, or have some nostalgic feeling for / interest in the sales tool. My local comic shop has a old spinner rack only used for older TPBs, but the weekly/monthly publications line the walls as in many a comic shop. I guess its easy to say that comic publishers would not need to push some old-time gimmick if the content was drawing in large numbers, but that is the heart of the problem: placing responsibility on their heads to actually create content that does not make readers avoid/resent the publishers more than support them. |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 21, 2018 5:48:55 GMT -5
Comics are no longer the cheap and disposable entertainment they were when spinner racks were a thing. Nowadays they’d target the nostalgia market but little else. Their time, alas, has passed... much as I miss them, they’re like the stegosaurus; ill-fitted to today’s world.
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Post by Icctrombone on Jun 21, 2018 6:01:09 GMT -5
I remember spinner racks bending comics in half after a while. Maybe if they are placed in bags and boards first ?
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Post by MDG on Jun 21, 2018 7:36:01 GMT -5
I remember spinner racks bending comics in half after a while. Maybe if they are placed in bags and boards first ? Well that's one thing--comic collectors will shy away from buying something that's already 8.0 before they get to the checkout. Plus, it's not just the spinner rack, but what's in it. I'm not in comic shops lately, but are current covers of Superman, Batman, X-Men, Avengers appealing to kids? And to a parent expected to fork over 3 bucks when their kid brings it to them? If it ends on a cliffhanger, is it clear when the next part will be available at that store? Maybe with the spinner rack, a line of appealing books for younger readers that match what they see in movies and on TV, at a price point that seems like a good value. Somewhat related: Wegmans seems to have an endless supply of new Mad Libs books at the checkout every week, 90% branded with thing from The Avengers and Scooby Doo to Muppets and Dr. Who to (and I'm serious) Aerosmith and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Comics on spinner racks might do better creating good comics that appeal to impulse buyers. |
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Post by brutalis on Jun 21, 2018 7:46:08 GMT -5
I am all for anything that puts comic books out into the public awareness beyond just the LCS. Even when it is doomed to fail. Even if the racks don't carry current or popular titles at least they are trying to place them where it is possible people will purchase them. A game shop is a start and for folks who drop 50-100 dollars or more for a game they "gotta" have then $4-6 for a comic might draw their attention just like us oldsters would spend our change on soda or candy.
And on the positive side: when this spinner rack attempt fails then there will be more used racks on the market for us to buy!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 21, 2018 10:17:18 GMT -5
I've mixed feelings about them and I felt that they should come back and appeal to the Comic Book readers like ourselves so that we can have them at our home for reading alone and make it easy for us to enjoy our favorites regardless of conditions. Yes for Private/Personal Sales and No Elsewhere period.
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Post by urrutiap on Jun 21, 2018 11:08:38 GMT -5
Well, f it even happens, drug pharmacy stores need to learn comics aren't just for kids. Adults buy comics too.
That and there's more companies than just marvel and DC.
Here's Image, Dark Horse, IDW, Boom Studios and more.
There's comic series that drug pharmacy stores need to be informed of such as Snotgirl, walking dead, dark horror such as Regression, gideon falls and stuff that come along like witch stuff Harrow County
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Post by urrutiap on Jun 21, 2018 11:12:08 GMT -5
Drug pharmacy businesses or any other business they can't cater to only kids if they're gonna get involved with comic books in their business.
Otherwise I'll just stick with doing the usual 2-3 hour road trip to the city every few months just to buy comic books
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 21, 2018 11:54:24 GMT -5
Here's the root of the problem: trying to appeal to comic readers. They are already buying. Where the industry has been failing is creating comic readers. That's down to price and content. Scholastic is the most successful comic book publisher out there, because they have created new readers, via hybrids like Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Smile. DC and Marvel can only dream of selling at those levels.
If you jump into your wayback machine, to the days of spinner racks and the mass market, you see a funny thing, vs the direct market. One is variety, with Archie and Richie Rich sitting alongside Batman and Spider-Man. You also saw a lot of books that the hardcore fans hated, yet sold big numbers. Superman was considered corny by the in crowd, yet sold and sold and sold on the spinner rack. Once things were narrowed to the hardcore fans, those books disappeared, or were turned into something else. The more you narrow your market, the smaller it becomes until it can't sustain itself.
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Post by Randle-El on Jun 21, 2018 20:08:26 GMT -5
As much as I would like to see this work, I have to agree that the spinner rack is basically a nostalgia trip for older folks. The monthly single issue comic book is a niche product, not a growth market. I could see something like this working back when there were more one-and-done stories. But with everything being written for the trade these days, the potential for attracting new readers is in collected editions, not single issues. With trades you get a complete story, and in most cases at a more cost effective price point. Consider that you'd have to shell out $20-$25 for a single arc in floppies vs. a trade that usually retails for less than that, esp. if you get it online. I know some people who are what I'd consider casual comic book readers, and they are buying trades not floppies -- and usually they are trades with a complete story or arc.
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kellyg
Junior Member
Posts: 23 
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Post by kellyg on Jun 21, 2018 20:42:06 GMT -5
Very hard to imagine their return beyond a novelty that would die fast. Everything is cell phone and digital now. Unless you are talking little kids and even they are getting cell phones.
Sure was exciting looking at those racks in the old days though!
I remember missing out on Gi Joe # 1 at a 7 11 in 1982.
It's the ones that got away that stick in the memory the most.
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