It is something that has been whispered and talked about for a while, and it looks like comics are going to arrive to retailers on Tuesday instead of Wednesday. That’s the consensus reached at the retailer summit held by Diamond at the Baltimore Comic-Con.
Now before you freak out, realize that New Comic Tuesday is the day retailers will receive their shipment for Wednesday sale. The announcement is actually a pretty good thing for those who want to line up first thing Wednesday morning to get their comics, as opposed the large number of stores who don’t get their stuff until late Wednesday causing customers to stand around waiting for the books to come from the back room.
Diamond’s complete announcement after the jump!
Effective in January, 2011, Diamond retailers in North America and the UK will have the option of “day-early” delivery of weekly product shipments on Tuesdays for sale on Wednesdays.
Day-early delivery – which was outlined to retailers in the form of a Q&A following Diamond’s Retailer Summit in April — will take effect with shipments delivered on Tuesday, January 11, that have a scheduled on-sale date of Wednesday, January 12.
Please Note: The current industrywide Wednesday new release day will remain unchanged, and retailers who do not wish to use the new option may continue to receive their shipments on Wednesdays.
“Our decision to proceed with day-early, Tuesday-for-Wednesday delivery resulted from positive discussions with leading publishers and vendors, from retailer requests and feedback, and from retailer responses to our recent survey on the topic,” explained Diamond Vice President of Sales & Marketing Roger Fletcher.
In that survey, retailers were asked how they thought the day-early option would affect their business and the Direct Market. “Of more than 1,000 retailers who responded to the survey,” Fletcher said, “75% believe day-early delivery will benefit their business, while 72% believe it will benefit the entire Direct Market.”
The survey also asked retailers: “If given the choice between Monday delivery for Tuesday on-sale, and Tuesday delivery for Wednesday on-sale, what would be your preference?” Retailers could choose between the two options, or for “Either Monday for Tuesday or Tuesday for Wednesday.”
“The number of respondents who selected Tuesday delivery for Wednesday on-sale and the ‘Either’ option totaled 63%,” Fletcher said, “while those selecting the Monday-for-Tuesday alternative and the ‘Either’ option totaled 38%. This encouraging consensus has convinced us that moving forward with day-early delivery for Wednesday on-sale holds considerable advantages for vendors, retailers, and the industry.”
With the implementation of day-early delivery, Diamond will also initiate a “mystery shopper” program to ensure that participating retailers abide by the industrywide Wednesday release date for books received on Tuesday.
Fletcher urged retailers to “stay tuned” to Diamond Daily and Diamond Dateline for more details about registering for the day-early delivery option.
Additionally, Diamond has announced that — working in concert with vendors — Diamond will deliver product on its normal Wednesday schedule in December. The first shipment of 2011 will arrive after the New Year’s holiday on Wednesday, January 5. Day-early shipping will commence the following week.
“During the holidays, our retailers and their customers depend upon Diamond to keep the newest and hottest product flowing into stores, and we’d like to thank our vendors for working with us to maintain our regular schedule,” Fletcher said. “We’d also like to thank our vendors and our customers for working with us to get 2011 off to a great start by making the day-early shipping option a reality. We look forward to a smooth transition to what we feel will be a highly beneficial and profitable service.”
6 Comments
This is good news for me, as at the moment my local comic book shop doesn’t get their delivery until Thursday (being in the UK), so now I may be able to get my comics at the same time as those in the US.
OH, GOD! THE SKY! IT’S FALLING!!!!!!!
The retailers have been asking for this for years. Something must have changed. Scott: I’m not sure if this is going to available overseas.
Also missing from the notice above was the fact that Diamond will be charging stores to receive the shipment early, so some stores will not participate because of the additional cost. Also, mail order customers still can’t be shipped until Wednesday, even if the store has the items on Tuesday and the customer won’t receive them till Wednesday (or later).
This is a good thing for retailers because it allows all stores to have the Wednesday product ready when the store opens instead of trying to help customers and check in product at the same time. It also eliminates the natural advantage one store has over another based on the time UPS decides to deliver to a store.
I believe the proposed amount for stores to participate is $5 per week. This works out to ~10,000 (if all 2,000+ stores participate) a week. Half a million a year. This should be able to hire quite a team of “mystery shoppers”.
It says in the press release that, ‘Diamond retailers in North America and the UK will have the option of “day-early” delivery.’ Indeed, the extra cost involved raises the question as to the number of retailers that will participate. Personally, although I’d like to get my comics on a Wednesday, waiting an extra day has never been a massive deal.
I have several LCS stores. One that I used to go to used to get their comics on Tuesdays but had to keep it hush hush. The employees went home early with the comics while us schmoo’s had to wait.
My current store opens at 10 and gets their delivery at 11. So now I don’t have to wait an hour? Meh … this news doesn’t effect me.
I have three comic shops that I try to support with my business. Only one of them receives their shipment on time for Wednesday releases. It as a result is the one that gets the majority of my business. Hopefully this will help those other stores compete a little better.