Category management, the retailing strategy brought to book retailer Borders by CEO Gregory Josefowicz, is now being applied to the graphic novel category. The graphic novels category 'captain' is bookstore distributor Client Distribution Services, which is also involving its clients Marvel, Tokyopop, Titan Books, and Crossgen.
Category management was developed in the grocery business beginning in the late 1980s, and was learned by Josefowicz during his 22-year tenure at Jewel/Osco. As applied at Borders beginning in 2000, a category captain is chosen, and asked to contribute to support the market research that is the basis for managing the category. The amount of the contribution has been reported as high as $110,000 per category. Borders plans to eventually apply the technique to over 200 categories.
The category management strategy at Borders has been criticized by figures ranging from Ralph Nader to Noam Chomsky, who argue that appointing dominant players as category captains increases the centralization of publishing decision-making in a relatively few large companies. Josefowicz responded that the criticisms were based on a misunderstanding of the strategy.
The graphic novel category is being handled in an unusual way in that there are a number of publishers, through CDS, involved in the decisions. For a category as disparate as graphic novels, this makes sense, with manga, superheroes, movie/TV, and fantasy all represented by CDS clients.
Focus groups were conducted with purchasers of graphic novels at Borders stores, and that research has been shared with the CDS group, which is now meeting with Borders to develop recommendations on such issues as placement of the graphic novel department within the store, what other departments it should be close to, signage, organizing the merchandise, and ways to highlight the category. No buying recommendations are made, although the merchandising strategy can affect mix. After the committee completes its work, Borders upper management will review the recommendations and determine what will be implemented.
