Tony Hazzard of The Bookshelf in Winnipeg, Manitoba shared his experiences with Free Comic Book Day this year (see 'FCBD Success Stories'):
Hello, I'm writing to say what I thought about Free Comic Book Day 2004 (FCBD). This year's FCBD was a success in my store. We had more traffic than we do on a regular Saturday; in the first three hours we had over 160 people come in, which was great for a major long weekend. We had over ten people at a time in the store most of the day. Sales for this year tripled last year and when the local media showed up they had lots of people and footage to shoot. We allowed everyone two free comics, which we had spilt into three categories: all ages; 16 plus; 18 plus. We also set up free pop and donuts for everyone, and all the kids that came in received a Hulk and Spider-Man HeroClix figures.
We ordered all the free comics that were available because we wanted to show off the diversity of the industry. After FCBD, we continue to give out our extra free comics year round one per person, no purchase necessary, which we've been doing since the first FCBD. The comics have been a great in-store marketing tool. They've helped develop return business because people feel good when they receive something, no strings attached. For many years, I've have given free comics to teachers in my area to use as incentives for their students. I also promoted a good grades contest: students would bring in their report cards and if they showed improvements in their grades, they were entered to win an inflatable Spider-Man. Unfortunately, Marvel stopped making the inflatables and we finally gave away what we had.
Industry promotion has to start with the retailers. We have to do the right things at our level to make our customers want to come back to our stores. Promotions such as comic movies, and FCBD are just a part of it. Fourteen years ago I changed the kind of customer my business was focused on. We paid more attention to our female clientele, and we moved away from the people purchasing comics for investments and focused on the readers and the fans. When other retailers at the time gave deep 25% discounts, we stuck to our guns and are still here today. Most of our competitors have gone. Although we can't order quantities like we did back then, because of shipping charges, the Canadian dollar, and the variety of entertainment options, we still have a loyal customer base that keeps growing; events like FCBC just help even more.
The opinions expressed in this Talk Back article are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.
