Spotlight
Comic Book Store Hell
By Hervé St-Louis February 14, 2009 - 17:10
For years, I’ve read and sometimes even written articles
about the bad customer service found in many comic book stores. The problem
seems to be so widespread, that the Simpsons have been making fun of comic book
store owners since the show started in 1989 twenty years ago. But there comes a
point where enough is enough for this customer.
Some stores try very hard to provide great customer
service. They understand that that their business is based on the amount of
disposable income of their clients. They also understand that their clients, often
repeat customers, don’t just care about the product. They also care about the
experience that goes with it. I read about a trisomic kid who way back when new
comic books arrived on Fridays, went crazy eagerly waiting that special day of
the week. As much as one may want to mock that child, going to the comic book
store was an event, and experience. Notice how Apple Computers have modelled
their stores as destinations. You just don’t go buy an iPhone, you go to the
store for the experience and the nice crew.
All that’s related to comic books is about sales. It’s
how you connect with your client. How you treat him, how you respond to his
needs and concern. If you can’t do that, whether you are a publisher, a
distributor or a retailer, you don’t deserve to be in business. Frankly, the
average comic book customer plumps quite a lot of money in this industry but
often gets less than he paid for. And it’s considered normal and desirable by many
people on the other side of the counter.
Case in point, I went to buy some action figures a few
weeks ago. I went in the store; brought them to the counter. Ask the clerk to
put them aside for me. I would pick them up later. When I came to pick up the
action figures, he had already sold them to someone else. Whoa. I’ve been going
to this store for years now. Much of the review material that I reviewed at The
Bin was purchased there. This means I’ve plunked a few thousand dollars in this
store over the years. Yet, he cannot be bothered to send me an email of phone
me to ask me when I was expecting to pick up the action figures, before he sold
them.
The answers I got. “We’ll get more” and “it’s not my
fault.” Then whose fault is it. There are lots of dubious business practices
that the comic book industry is involved with that in my view is equivalent to
playing with fire. For example, Marvel Comics suddenly raised their price on
several comic book series from $2.99 to $3.99. That’s quite an increase. Has
the customer gained anything? Nothing. Does the customer need a comic book
printed on the most expensive card stock available. I doubt it.
Some Canadian stores, following the new decline of the
Canadian dollar against the American dollar have begun advertising that all
their prices were now in US dollars and adjusted to the daily stock exchange
rate. The problem with some stores is that they’ve suddenly priced all their
old stock in US dollars. That’s stuff that was purchased and amortized years
and months ago. A lot of big ticket items, such as statues and book collections
that have been sitting on shelves for years have suddenly increased a good 30%
in price, by simply changing the currency used in the store. You would think
that in a recession, stores would try to give deals to customers to entice them
to buy stuff, not increase their price on stuff that’s already paid for.
There is one truth about retailing and selling stuff
targeted at people’s disposable income. It takes far more efforts to get a new
regular customer than it takes to lose one. In the comic book industry, that’s
so true, it’s should not even be mentioned.