Disturbing Trend

Post by **JWR** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 12:42 pm

It seems that some of the Anime / Manga companys here in the US are trying out something new in the way of sales.

They are taking some of their titles and instead of the normal distribution network are holding them for sale only on their company webstores.

ADV announced that with one or two new Anime releases but now Tokyopop just announced that several of their new Manga releases will only be able to be orderd through their website. I can see they are attempting this to generate more profits for themselves instead of selling at wholesale.

If this takes hold , I can see the day that online stores may go out of business as well as there not being many choices of dealers at Anime Conventions.

darksuzaku · Post by **darksuzaku** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 2:43 pm

mmm, if they do that i believe the reason is because they are not getting the profit they were expecting to get....... I mean, proportionally it's cheaper to distribute and sell 1 million dvds on wholesale stores from a given title than just 1 thousand.......

of course, for the "selling from their webstore" to work they require the customers to know about their web store.... that's why they can't do that with just every title.

Another trend that i have noticed is companies that make a "pact" with a retailer to release everything through them..... For example, VIZ towards the Right Stuff. The Right Stuff gets special treatment from Viz releases. I'm getting all the DVD box sets of Maison Ikokku (8 boxsets of 3 dvds each) and starting with the 4th one Viz released them only through the Right Stuff, and only several months later they start appearing on other retailers like Amazon (where i ussually do my purchases)

RoboFlonne · Post by **RoboFlonne** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 7:15 pm

Do you think that stores are ordering too little?

That would be the only reason that they would eliminate retail sales....

Post by **JWR** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 9:24 pm

RoboFlonne wrote:Do you think that stores are ordering too little?

That would be the only reason that they would eliminate retail sales....

No I think it's more looking for a larger piece of the profit on the sale.

Lets say that a Manga title costs the company $2 to print & distribute but as now sells it to a dealer at wholesale for $5.50 for $3.50 profit and the dealer then can sell it at either the list price of $9.95 for a profit of $4.45 or as some online dealers at 10% off or $8.95 for a lesser profit of $3.45. The idea behind the printers selling in their own stores is that they cut out the middle man and make the full profit but the danger I see is if your places one can buy from get elimiated then due to the lack of competion you loose the company's incentive to give a discounted price thus one ends up paying more in the long run. "You buy it here for this price or not at all!"

wELCOME cONSUMER · Post by **wELCOME cONSUMER** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 11:08 pm

RoboFlonne wrote:Do you think that stores are ordering too little?

That would be the only reason that they would eliminate retail sales....

That's actually a big part of it. A lot of retailers were burned by manga when
Tokyopop did its big push a few years back. Every place you could imagine
had manga displays: Tower Records, Best Buy, Fry's Electronics, independent
comic shops and so on. Places that had absolutely no right to carry manga
had it. They had no clue what kind of shelf cancer manga truly is and suffered
financially for it. Retailers have cut back significantly on what they order
of things like manga because they simply don't sell enough. And more and more
volumes come in every month. It's impossible to keep up. Only dedicated
bookstores like Borders can juggle that. And who knows what will sell like
gang busters and what will belly flop? The retailers have no clue and
don't tend to want to hazard a guess. It's too expensive if they're wrong.
Look at ADV, CPM and Del Rey. They dove into the manga craze, thinking they
would revolutionize it and make big money. Didn't happen.

Online sales have never even come close to what retail brick and mortar
stores bring in. A site like Amazon, which is large and well known, did
not turn an annual profit till 2003. Considering the site was founded in 1995,
that's not good. Ultimately, the majority of commerce takes place in person.
Not online. If a retail store doesn't want to carry your manga anymore,
because all of the other manga didn't sell, then the companies don't have
much choice. They have to offer it online.

Suncoast Motion Picture company is a prime example of a retailer that
was hurt heavily by carrying manga. Suncoast was spread so thin, trying
to sell things like DVD players, manga and snowglobes, that they basically
went bankrupt. Best Buy bought Suncoast and killed it on purpose, to get
the distribution centers (warehouses). Specialized retailers like that cannot
diversify that much and still expect profit. They were not properly set up
for it. Therefore, most retailers would be incredibly gun shy about
carrying niche products, like manga.

I spoke with an Anime Works employee earlier today and we discussed
Voltron. While Voltron is anime, it also falls into the category of "retro
television." As such, Wal-mart, a retailer that does not order anime, ordered
a staggering quantity of Voltron. Wal-mart makes money on placing
gigantic orders like that. That purchasing power affords them the ability
of deep discounts. A smaller, less powerful chain cannot hope to compete.
Similarly, the sales for manga are not high enough to warrant the interest
of retailers. They will carry a Harry Potter book, which sells something
like 13 million copies, but manga sales could never reach those numbers.
I'm speaking strictly from a retailers perspective at this point. The goal
is to make profit that's not razor thin.

Edit: Damn typos

Krafty · Post by **Krafty** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 7:11 am

Seems like the big companies are reeling in their product to make some profit for themselves and I don't blame them.

Anime/Manga doesn't sell well- not only is it still a fringe interest at best, but the overwhelming types are people interested in it are teens and students who don't have much cash.

Sales of anime to TV stations could be the only money maker but I'd assume that's a one-off payment and might barely cover their overheads once the licence is bought.

To me personally, I'm not too bothered by this because I have to buy online anyway. Whether it's from Store A or Store B, I don't care as long as the price is good. There lies the issue. [As has been mentioned]
If the distributor has the monopoly then they can charge $20 per disc/book whereas other retailers used to offer the same items at $15.

Consumers aren't that stupid, if the cost is high they won't buy THEN the industry is in deep doo-doo as we all illegally DL it from the internet.

miz ducky · Post by **miz ducky** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 12:13 pm

JWR wrote:No I think it's more looking for a larger piece of the profit on the sale.

Basically, it's because they know that a particular title won't do well in stores. If a title fulfills a niche then the company releasing is going to take a hit in sales when compared to popular series but printing/production costs stay the same.

So Yes they've come up with a way to make some money off of the titles that they know won't sell well.
(or in the case of anime some retailers won't carry some titles at all - like needing to rename UFO Princess, UFO Maiden because stores think that something with Princess in the name won't sell)

But would you rather they not be available at all?

Post by **JWR** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 1:30 pm

miz ducky wrote:
But would you rather they not be available at all?

No , what I worry about and why I posted this thread is if this trend continues to the extream we would see even the popular stuff avalible only from one place , at one set list price and the "bargan" dealers online and at conventions will be forced out of business.

I can see this also reducing customer service for if you want a perticular title then your forced to either buy it from them or go without. Having a monopoly and lack of competion can lead to indifference.

RoboFlonne · Post by **RoboFlonne** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 2:35 pm

Maybe just for the manga that bookstores don't order enough of.

But they'll never eliminate borders/Barnes&nobles.

Whew!

wELCOME cONSUMER · Post by **wELCOME cONSUMER** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 5:26 pm

A really good way to get what you want and ensure manga is on the shelves
of your favorite retailers is to preorder. Let your local stores know what
you like and what you want. If there is a vocal interest in manga and specific
titles, then retailers will take a chance on the titles you like. This is one of those
kinds of things where you have to voice your opinion, otherwise it will
be taken away. This helps you, the retailer and the supplier.

Most retailers offer discounts on preorders, especially if you pay up front.
That, for the retailer, is like an interest free loan, or "money now."
They can put that money in the bank and it immediately draws interest for the
company/retailer. Most places will offer incentives to entice you to preorder
and pay up front or pay a partial deposit of some sort.