As noted also in the updated main post below: Dan Manser, director of marketing at Diamond, has confirmed my understanding of the numbers: Indeed, all three findings that have been reported are correct. The 3-4% drops in Diamond’s 2008 sales mentioned in previous interviews with Bill Schanes and Roger Fletcher refer to Diamond’s overall sales, … Read more
Diamond Comic Distributors released its top-sellers list and market shares for December 2008 last week — and as the end of a quarter and the end of the year, the report from the comics industry’s main distributor provides a lot to talk about. First, speaking just of December: As seen from the tables with estimates … Read more
Diamond’s Vice President of Purchasing Bill Schanes talked to Newsarama about the changes to the purchase order minimums, confirming the basic math discussed here earlier and my own assumtpions about they whys and wherefores coming from Diamond’s side. Every item, or SKU, a distributor carries has an attached maintenance cost on their end, not limited … Read more
I had mentioned earlier the piece where a California newspaper built interviews with a comics shop owner into part of a series on the recession — making, the retailer said, a year of sales growth seem like a year of declines. Which brings us to California’s biggest paper, the Los Angeles Times — and today’s … Read more
The release of Amazing Spider-Man #583 with the Barack Obama appearance and its attendant press is old news by now — and while presidents in appearing comics isn’t new (as many including myself have observed), the timing of the press push and the historic nature of the inauguration have already paid off for comics retailers. … Read more
Heidi MacDonald spied another media report on a California comics retailer battling recession — this one, Earth-2 in Sherman Oaks. The six-year-old operation saw revenue drop by 20% in the year to Black Friday, according to the Daily News report. There have been other newspaper reports noted here on how comics shops are weathering the … Read more