Ilan Strasser of Fat Moose Comics and Games in Whippany, New Jersey saw the comments from Dave Brzeski of The House on the Borderland on volume pricing and retailer incentives (see 'Dave Brzeski of The House on the Borderland on Volume Pricing'), and had this to say:

Dave Brzeski responded to my posting by saying he did not agree with the volume pricing given bigger stores and that he has come to loathe 'retailer incentives' as offered to Diamond retailers each month.  I would like to answer Dave's comments at this time.

Relative to volume discounts, I would like to ask Dave: let's say a customer came into your store and after looking through your shelves, brought 10, 15, or 20 trade paperbacks to the front counter.  Let us assume you do not regularly offer discounts on store merchandise.  If he then inquired about receiving a discount given the sizeable purchase he was considering making, would you risk losing such a large sale by not giving him a discount you could afford (say 20%)?  If you already offered a discount, would you give him an extra 10% over other customers to facilitate the sale?  I certainly would.

There are certain factors involved to be sure.  The discount could not be so high as to make selling the books counterproductive.  Assuming the discount fulfills the customers' desire and I do not hurt myself by giving it, full speed ahead I say.  For cash flow purposes, a purchase of that magnitude could save an otherwise terrible sales day as well.  The bottom line is the bottom line and customers who purchase three, four, or five times what other customers buy, especially on a regular basis, will get a bigger discount, at least with me.  Keep in mind this does not apply to new comics which I never discount.

The big stores, compared to ours, often buy 100's of times the merchandise we do.  Even if the merchandise is returnable, there are real expenses in receiving, stocking, maintaining, and eventually returning that merchandise.  You order 600 (or 6,000) units instead of 6 or even 60, I say you deserve a bigger discount.

Volume discounting will never go away and has its merits.  You can benefit from it both when purchasing stock for your store or when trying to sell product as well, especially during sales when old, previously unsellable material may sell at an attractively reduced price.  Dave, as well as other retailers who share his viewpoint, shouldn't throw away money when it is there to be had.

Relative to retailer incentives: I've yet to see any that justify the extra expense.  This is especially true when the incentive isn't anything 99% of your customers would probably want anyway.  Dave's point is right on - the only incentives I ever take advantage of are ones where I get something for free with the numbers I was going to order anyway.