Talk the Talk, Walk the Walk is a weekly column by Kendall Swafford of Up Up Away! in Cincinnati, Ohio.  This week, Kendall talks about how he displays comics and graphic novels.

How do you merchandise this week’s new comics?  With the recent talk of day-early delivery, and the benefits it would bring, I thought I would focus on display merchandising, and specifically merchandising new-to-the-store merchandise.

I think the differences are regional, but here in the midwest, most store segregate their weekly shipments in a separate section.  In other parts of the country, stores mingle this week’s releases amongst the products already on the shelf, usually with a handmade shelf talker proclaiming “NEW!” or something similar.  I favor the segregated approach for a couple of reasons.  It’s way too easy for a customer to miss something new with the integrated approach, and it makes Wednesday somehow less important, less exciting, less special.  One downside to the segregated approach is similar products in multiple locations in the store.  I have a Batman section of course, and most weeks you can find all of my Batman merchandise in one section, plus the latest and greatest Batman items in the section for this week’s new stuff.  And that becomes easily confusing for a new customer.

But here we are.  I think the advantages to the segregated approach outweigh the disadvantages.  What I want to know, is how do all of you make the most of your display space?  At Up Up & Away!, we (largely) build displays around characters, not companies.  There are exceptions of course, Vertigo as a brand sells to a customer with specific tastes, and Marvel’s Ultimate Comics line lives together because it is one cohesive universe, apart from the ‘regular’ Marvel U.  But you’ll find displays featuring Batman, Star Wars, Superman, X-Men, Buffy/Angel, The Simpsons and so on.  I don’t have rows and rows and rows of alphabetically-arranged trade paperbacks, they’re compartmentalized into smaller, easier-to-digest sections.  Besides, it seems idiotic to me to find Amazing Spider-Man under ‘A’ instead of alongside all the other Spider-Man merchandise that’s available.

In order to provide a consistent shopping experience throughout the store, and to facilitate cross-merchandising, we extend our display methodology to this week’s new releases.  Within one large 16-24’ section, (depending upon the volume of new releases), smaller, themed sections are created, and this entire part of the store changes every seven days!  But by applying the rules of display consistently, it’s still very familiar to regulars and easy to shop for noobies.

So a typical week starts with a planagram of the new stuff section.  I look for logical connections; 6 X-Men comics + 3 graphic novels or 9 ‘kid stuff’ titles.  There’s still a main alphabetical section for all the comics I can’t group together any other way.  3 is the minimum it takes for a segregated section.  These sections are then laid out based on space considerations, including signage for every segregated section. 8.5 x 11 signs in acrylic signholders above each section.  Small 3x3” shelf talkers point out 2nd printings, first issues, etc... Then the whole display is balanced visually.  Tuesday afternoon, we move last week’s leftovers to their appropriate sections, and organize this week’s display according to the planagram.  This way, come Wednesday morning, as the comics are counted and then scanned into MOBY™, they are placed in their section. 5 days later, the process begins all over again!

A lot of work?  Yeah, but I’m not afraid of work, and it makes a difference in my sales.  Avengers under ‘A’ is easy enough, but Secret Avengers under ‘S’ and New Avengers under ‘N’?  And I know stores that do exactly that!  If a customer is a Stephen King fan, they can walk in, see a large, easy-to-read pre-printed sign that points out all the new Stephen King (and Joe Hill) stuff they can buy today.  With a dynamic approach such as this, we never stop speaking to the customer visually.  Static displays become invisible after even a few visits, and they become invisible.  The last thing you want is for the customer to become lazy, going to the same spot for the same thing week in and week out.  Can you frustrate a customer by constantly moving things?  Yes.  Yes, you can.  But my store isn’t the size of Target.  2500 square feet.  The character or branded display can and do move based on the size of the display I need for that particular character or brand.  While my Batman display is to big to move to another part of the store easily, I’ll make sure his 700th issue is celebrated with additional Bat-stuff on display.

I guess my point to all of this is kind of a theme I’ve had to many of these columns; make the effort.  It’s really easy to unpack the comics, put them in the same old place week in and week out, without much thought given to how customers interact with your store.  But they do interact with your store.  We’re affected by the colors, the lighting, the clutter (or lack thereof), everything they see from the minute they approach your store dictates how long they’ll stay, and ultimately how much they’ll spend.  With the possibility of early receipt of product, I’m almost giddy at the prospect of being even better prepared for Wednesday.  Even with as much prep work as I do on Tuesday, adjustments are still necessary on Wednesday morning, and every minute counts.  The breathing room that Tuesday delivery gives us allows for better displays, more accurate pulls, and a chance to be proactive on Wednesday, instead of reactive.

When it comes to store displays, take a proactive approach to the brand-new products your customers will be experiencing for the first time.  The results may just surprise you.

The opinions expressed in this column are solely  those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.