Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2009 1:57 am Post subject: POSTPONED
The proposed price increase scheduled for Monday March 30th 2009 has been postponed. Yes folks that is the best news we have had this year.
As most of you are aware, Diamond Distributors increased the import price of comics last December, this came at a most unwelcome time and a time when it seemed that while VAT had been reduced to 15% the wholesale price on comics and Graphic Novels was set to rise be 13%.
This was in some part due to the pounds weakness as a currency against the Dollar and I believed in some part due to a certain amount of greed by our current number one supplier.
Now there is no denying that this supplier does in general give the UK retailer an above average and at times an excellent service, this is not in question, but to raise the price when it did was hurtful and I felt unnecessary, still the price when up, and there was nothing that I could do to prevent it. Didn’t mean I had to like it.
What did it mean to you the comic buyer, well for a larger part not a lot, as we chose not to increase the retail prices on import comics for the time being and absorb this increase, however the new pricing of Graphic Novels would have to implemented due to the fact that we get a set discount on these rather than a net price, so 50 / 50 then, in the wake of a global recession it seemed only fair that I should share the burden.
Well fuck me side ways and call me a Tinker, when I received notification of another price increase I was to all intents and purposes left speechless as I descrambled the information and related it to the product, realising the impact it would have on the retail prices in general. With this new increase we would realise a full on 25% increase on the wholesale price since December 2008. And that would have hurt.
On Friday of this week while discussing it with a customer I received a call, it was Diamonds general manager who told me that for the time being the proposed price increase had been postponed.
Fantastic, I replied, Brilliant, it felt like a whole cloud of gloom had been lifted, I thanked him for calling, looked at RC and said, its only been postponed. Awesome.
And that folks has been the high light of my year so far, it means that for the time being I can continue to charge the same on import comics, and lets face it we have enough with the increase on cover prices to deal with, (Marvels $2.99 to $3.99 price jump as an example) let alone a combined import price increase as well.
For now at least we don’t have to deal with it, lady luck has smiled down on us, and for once it seems prayers have been answered.
I wonder if it's do with the number of retailers and publishers I have heard from recently saying they are not going to bother with Diamond and look at alternatives like Haven, (for the USA) Apocalypse, Smallzone, direct sales etc?
Almost cut their own throats I think. _________________
I think CatFang mentions an excellent point there.
After all, one of the net results of Diamond raising their prices is the obvious effect that will have on the retailer. That ripple then continues, and perhaps escalates, as the customer may decide to simply drop a comic or three from his weekly or monthly purchase list to maintain paying a similar-level price to what he/she can afford. Furthermore, in these difficult financial times, its highly likely the customer will reduce the number of comics he/she buys anyway.
That result is fewer comics sold. This equals less profit to the retailer, less profit to the distributor... and less profit to the publisher. Given that many comic companies are preparing to, or are in the process of, increasing their cover price for an individual comic due to an increase in their own production costs, I'm sure the possibility of a further impact in sales, and profit, came as extremely unwelcome news to them.
However, this is a postponement and not a cancellation. This means that unless there is a significant re-think on Diamond's part, we will likely be enduring that increase soon enough.
We should take a moment to thank Whatever Comics for their support to the customer during these difficult times and for their efforts in absorbing a cost they simply do not need to. It's a strong sign of customer care from a long-standing retailer. Whatever Comics has survived difficult periods within the industry before and I have every confidence they will do so during the new challenges they, and we, now face.
As a side note, I'm under the impression that Marvel were only raising the cover price on certain, higher-selling titles (New Avengers & Dark Avengers) as well as on mini-series (although I'd noticed some mini-series were shipping with a higher cover price before the start of 2009 anyway). Is this now an across-the-board decision...? Can anyone clarify...?
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