Sales To Astonish #8 – April 2023 Comic Market Report
Welcome to Sales to Astonish, a new column in association with comics retailer The Unreality Store, in which Matthew De Monti brings us news on comic sales and the general moves in the comic market over the past month or so!
There was an expectation when I entered the realm of online retail that being open and having product available 24 hours a day would mean that sales would take place almost anytime. On the cusp of my third anniversary selling comics, graphic novels and Roleplaying games predominantly as an online retailer it’s fair to say that the majority of my sales occur during normal retail trading hours with the exception of a few night owls who buy between 10pm and midnight (does this coincide with the finishing of a shift?). Weekends are generally quiet and sales in the wee small hours of the morning are few and far between and mainly to US and Canadian residents willing to pay the Royal Mail’s exorbitant international shipping rates.
The same mirroring of online and bricks-and-mortar trade could be said for holiday periods and Easter week 2023 was no exception in that regard. As people went away or spent time with family and friends and chilled out sales all but dried up. Following on from a difficult March only saved by a 50% off sale, this was understandable, but at the same time a desperately bitter pill to swallow. Oddly the Thursday launch ahead of Easter saw the most daily website traffic of the year so far but this did not translate into many sales.
Trying to mix things up a little, on Easter Saturday I took another stall at Market Harborough Market. The Market Hall is a really nice environment and there’s always a buzz. It’s been a bit hit and miss for me so far with Easter Saturday being a definite miss – takings didn’t cover the cost of the stall. I’ve no doubt that appearing regularly and building up a customer base at somewhere like Market Harborough will eventually pay dividends but at this point in time there’s precious little disposable income to cover days like Easter Saturday.
Following on from the Easter weekend I took a train down to Brighton to do some filming for a new YouTube channel a friend and I are setting up. Keep your eyes peeled for more details as they become available but hopefully, it will mean more exposure and engagement for The Unreality Store on a platform I don’t currently use. I took the time to check out a few comic and retro shops in Brighton and if you are down on the South Coast you are well serviced in terms of availability of both new and old comics alike.
Returning home on the train I realised that I was experiencing my longest stretch without taking any sales online for over two years! It felt a bit like supporting a football team who are on a losing streak and they need a lucky deflection to score a goal and break the sequence. That sequence was duly broken by the sale of a lot of Batman comics from the second Thursday launch of the month the highlight being a nice copy of Batman #423 with the classic McFarlane cover in FN+ at £75.
On 16th April I attended Striking Events Bedford Comic Con & Toy Fair. Although the event didn’t seem as busy as the Northampton Con in March that may have been down to it being in a slightly larger venue therefore giving attendees a bit more aisle room. I sold a stack of Star Wars comics and some Marvel and DC variant covers, chatted to some great people and generally had a good day. And I’m happy to say I covered the cost of the table!
The third week in April saw the first part of an Iron Man release along with variants, books and Roleplaying games. The run from #200 – #250 was a great period in Shellhead’s history with classic story arcs like Armour Wars and fantastic art by Mark Bright and Bob Layton amongst others. Most of the issues were in mid-grade so I tried to price them as competitively as possible so people could pick up a stack relatively cheaply. It bombed… If I’d had any idea of how poorly the Iron Man issues would be received I would have pulled the second part of the release from the schedule and gone with something else for the last release of the month, but I have been trying to get ahead with scheduling and most of the work for Tony & Rhodey Part 2 was already done!
One of the key challenges I am facing at present is turning stock into cash flow so on Saturday 22nd April I ran a subscriber-only 50% off sale on all variant covers. I’m pleased to say it was well received and I’ll do further Saturday sales throughout the year to the email subscribers so if you haven’t signed up then having access to various promotional events is a good reason isn’t it?
The final release of April saw relatively good traffic to the website but only a couple of sales including a David Aja Scarlet Witch cover for £10. His run of covers on the title included some genuine breathtaking art.
Finishing the month I had a stall at the Alternative Market & Toy Fair at Kettering on Saturday 29th. It was a well-attended event and I sold a wide selection of comics ranging from Transformers and Star Wars through to Conan and Suicide Squad. Following that on Sunday 30th I had a stall at Market Harborough Vintage & Retro Market. I was really pleased with my stall set up which I had been tweaking over the last few months. Regrettably, footfall was sparse on the day and my takings were just shy of covering my table costs. The sad fact is that having a presence on a Saturday or Sunday at the moment is losing me money so my next appearance at Market Harborough is likely to be on 17th September at the Harborough Comic Con which is being run by Vinyl Culture. Anecdotally, online sales over the Bank Holiday weekend were as rare as hen’s teeth too and it was probably the worst weekend for over 18 months which again lends weight to my earlier thoughts of online sales now starting to mirror bricks and mortar retail in some degree.
To finish if anyone (who has got this far without nodding off) can suggest any ideas on how I can increase online sales or events in the Midlands area that might be worth exploring then please do leave a comment or drop me an email or DM on social media.
April was pretty terrible. Let’s hope things start to turn a corner in May!
