Posted in: Comics | Tagged:

The Number of Comic Stores in 2018 Dropped by 1.7% – C2E2 Retailer Breakfast

David Pierce and Brian Lake are reporting for Bleeding Cool from the Diamond Retailer Breakfast being held in Chicago right now, just before the C2E2 convention from ReedPOP kicks off. And there are statistics, announcements and analysis aplenty. And it began with a Diamond Comic Distributor presentation.

First there is the confirmation of news Bleeding Cool ran that January and February were a bit of a pair of boom months, with comic book and graphic novel sales up almost 5% based on the same period in 2019. And February 2018 even had an extra day…

But it is worth pointing out that sales oevrall in 2018 were down on 2017 which was down in 2016. And partially as a result, there have been a number of comic shop closures (as well as those opening). Overall, Diamond revealed that the number of vendors who they sell do dropped in 2018 by 1.7%

With an estimated round figure of 2000 comic book stores in the direct market, that indicates a net loss of around 35 stores through the year…

There was a lot more to talk about as well.

There were orders of 5.2 million comics for Free Comic Book Day this year, across 51 individual titles.

Comic stores have been asked to make sure that their details on the Comic Shop Locator system are up to date.

They talked more about developing their Diamond Pullbox, which allows customers to update their pull list at a retailer's store from anywhere. The system in beta to enable stores without time or money to have an online presence for their store. It will soon be coming out of Beta and they are urging retailers to give it a try. They state that stores in beta showing increased sales, and that the data belongs to store and consumer, it does not go to Diamond and there are no plans on Diamond's part to sell directly to customers. There is also no payment through the site so stores control that. Clearly a contentious issue…

They also talked about Diamond Select having purchased inventory from Gentle Giant…. anything you fancy? More to come…

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!