Michael Boze of HawgHead Comics in Fort Smith, Arkansas has been following the commentary on discounting (see 'Sharpening the Sword--Pricing Part 2') and has argued against it for years:

I would like to make a couple of comments: 

One, since I opened my store in 1993, I have waged a continual campaign to stress how bad discounts are to our businesses.  Back when there were three stores in Fort Smith and often times 25% discounts, I tried to get each store owner or manager to lower or eliminate discounts and tried to use the same logic as in the articles posted.  But it is often the case that the reason to use discounts is that each store owner thinks that if they discount they will pull customers to their store.

Two, and a big point I think, is what we are faced with as brick and mortar stores.  We have huge online stores that discount like there is no tomorrow.  We are also in direct competition with the comic book publishers.  I have not looked at DC's discount in several years, but I get a weekly update from Marvel where they offer discounts from 39% to as high as 54% and include free shipping.  How can a store owner compete with that?  I know that there is an impact to my sales because I have customers who 'get out of comics' but still show up every few weeks to pick up a comic or two (maybe a miniseries) and want to talk about what is happening in this title or that title, so I know that they are ordering through the mail.

I for one cannot fathom why Marvel or DC or any of the publishers would give that big a discount to someone that orders through the mail.

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.