I had a very different experience with LCSD. Because it's a weekend when customers have the mindset of sale hunting, we decided to combine LCSD with a large sale, that included sales on all trade paperbacks and hardcover books in stock. Our sales on TP's alone were higher than the our total sales from the prior Saturday. We promoted the event heavily in our Facebook group and on our Facebook page, and paid a whopping $10 to Facebook so more people would see the event listing. We also promoted heavily in the store. Turnout for the event was great and we stayed busy the entire day. People snapped up the LCSD items, along with sale items. Our final tally for the day was 4 times the previous Saturday. We did not sell the more exclusive items, as we didn't want customers fighting over them. Instead, we ran a raffle at no charge. Everyone who came into the store got a ticket and anyone who bought LCSD items received a second ticket. This turned out to be extremely popular with the customers. We "sacrificed" 17 items, but the sales it brought in more than paid for the cost of these few book. I had done a little math in advance and realized that we could pay for the entire event by selling enough of the exclusive Dark Knight III #1 cover. That was the only book we sold above cover price and priced it at a more realistic $7.99 to reflect what we had paid for the book, and we did cover the entire event with sales of Dark Knight, alone.
I think tying it in with Small Business Saturday was a good idea, as it is a weekend people are out shopping and looking for deals. I think using a little imagination to create an event around LCSD will improve any store’s LCSD experience. I vote to keep it on the same weekend, as in the past, we have not had any luck competing with the huge Black Friday efforts from major retailers. This event gives us a piece of the holiday pie that we haven’t been getting in the past and I'd like to see this continue. The comic biz needs a holiday season, too.
The opinions expressed in this Talk Back are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.
