The Bastards keep offering deals....!

Tuesday, was a slow day, like most Tuesdays. But I did have a couple above average sales.

In both cases, it was odd product. Not the usual thing. Art books, art graphic novels. Not even stuff that I would normally replace after selling it.

But here's the thing. I had them in stock. They sold.


Meanwhile, my main distributor seems to be offering more and more deals.

This week alone:

1.) The Blizzard Sale, which runs about a month, and which I've already utilized. There are Image graphic novels I want to buy, that are about half the normal price. Next week, probably.

2.) DC Archives. Reprinting the original DC comics -- Batman, Green Lantern, Wonderwoman, Superman, etc. -- in deluxe HDC's, at about half the normal price.

3.) Star Wars Graphic novels -- and extra 10% or so.

4.) Marvel posters -- a minimum price.

5.) Wolverine Graphic novels -- about half the regular price.

6. The usual Thursday liquidation sale.

7.) Marvel HDC's at about 1/3rd normal price.

I have a theory -- the engine of Pegasus Books sales is lubricated by a constant flow of new material. It's important to get the Evergreens, but that's not enough.

So if I order, on a constant opportunistic basis, material that is offered on "sale", I'll have a constant flow of affordable material. The material I order on any one week may not sell, maybe I'll sell something I picked up six months ago, but SOMETHING will sell. It isn't really about the margins -- the margins make it possible to bring in a flow of new material when sales are down, and to be able to wait longer for the material to sell, and to feel good about offering the occasional discount to regulars.

I'm trying to get a 'taste' of each sale -- not go crazy. Thinking in terms of 100.00 worth of stuff, instead of 1000.00 worth of stuff. But constantly get that new material in.

This week:

A.) I ordered the Star Wars Graphic novels on the list I didn't have in stock. All Star Wars Graphic novels are evergreen. So even at 10% off they make sense. What I didn't do, and might have done in the recent past, is order multiple copies.

B.) I am going to order some posters, because they are pretty cheap, and I have a few gaps in my poster rack. Not the best posters, but I never am quite satisfied with the posters offered, and I am often surprised by what sells -- not necessarily the posters I would pick for myself. Again, getting them cheaper allows me to find that out.

C.) I ordered eight DC Archives -- Green Lantern 1 (double) and 2; Wonderwoman 1 and 2; Justice League of America 1; Legion of Superheroes 1; Flash 1. All iconic characters. This is really back-list product that doesn't sell very well -- but then again, if I'm going to carry 10 Archives -- 18 Archives will sell them better.

D.) I'm going to order a few of the Wolverine graphic novels. They sell, though are more mid-list than evergreen. Just titles I don't have.

E.) I'm not sure I'll order any of the Marvel HDC's, even though the price is enticing. They don't sell all that well, and I'm already overloaded with them. I'm thinking maybe I ought to just take up Marvel's offers every few weeks and stock up to the gills and then have some sort of blow-out half priced sale. If I thought that work, I'd do it. This week, I might just pluck a few of the best ones.

F.) Made a minimal liquidation order. Just to get a small taste of unusual stuff.

G.) Held off on the Image graphic novels, because the Blizzard sale extends into next week.

Trying to fit all these multiple sales into a tight budget is hard, but I'm thinking with the economic factors at play, maybe even more crucial. The temptation is to quit ordering them, since they aren't necessary -- in the short run. But I think that would be a mistake in the long run.


The rest of this post is pretty wonkish. How I decide on what material to order.

I categorize my product into three types.

A.) Evergreens. These are proven sellers.
B.) Mid-list. These are worthy, but slower sellers. Possibly 'prestige' product that sells slowly but which no good store is without. (Maus, for instance...)
C.) Back-list. These are much slower sellers. Normally, I pick these up when they're on sale. Or they are leftovers.

These categorizations are for in-stock product. My advance orders are obviously more of a guess. Some of the new product will turn into Evergreens. Others will be mid-list, and yet others become back-list.

My theory is, everything sells eventually, even the back-list. If you have broad expanse of them, at least a few will sell every day. And if you got them at a cheap enough price, you can afford to wait.

It makes my store different than any other store, even stores of a like-mind. All good comic stores will have the Evergreens. Most good stores will have the prestige mid-list. But no other store will have exactly the same mix, and especially the same mix of back-list.

Yesterday, for instance, I tacked on two sales of graphic novels by offering the customer a very good deal on them; I had purchased them at much cheaper prices and have multiple copies. So that was a good bonus for them and for me. (At the end of the very slow day, these hand-sells were about 10% of the total, which has been my overall guess about how much I can add by working; my employees can't really make the same deals...)

Going into the future, I want to continue to be opportunistic -- but to fit into the budget. My basic strategy will be to:

A.) order all Evergreen product offered at a discount.

B.) order mid-list product if it is half the usual price or less.

C.) order backlist product if it's a screaming deal.