Mike Eakins
BOOM! Studios today announced the new DAY ONE RETAILER SUPPORT SERVICES PROGRAM, an industry-first plan to immediately support comic shops and their communities worldwide. Every comic shop will have its own “Day One” – the date they reopen their doors to their communities and engage with new customers. BOOM! Studios have committed to arm their retail partners with clear advance information in support of every comic book store has a successful Day One. In that spirit, the groundbreaking program from BOOM! Studios was announced alongside the award-winning publisher’s new single-issue comics release schedule beginning May 20th (a full release schedule through the end of June can be found here).
“We know that comic shops will reopen their doors soon on the schedule that’s right for them, so our DAY ONE RETAILER SUPPORT SERVICES PROGRAM is built to provide each one with everything they need to make that first day incredibly successful,” said Filip Sablik, President of Publishing & Marketing, BOOM! Studios. “This new program allows retailers to not only receive the new comics they need to drive much-needed business every week beginning May 20th but also arms them to stock up on their best-selling books right now in advance of their Day One at industry best discount levels with absolutely no risk and begin generating revenue before they reopen.”
The DAY ONE RETAILER SUPPORT SERVICES PROGRAM brings comic shops an unrivaled slate of discounts, returnability and sales tools including extensions and expansions of previously announced benefits, as part of their commitment to ensuring comic shops remaining a thriving part of every community:
- Full Returnability Through August: BOOM! Studios will extend the industry’s best returnability program, the BOOM! Guarantee, by making all items that ship between May 20th through August 26th fully returnable via an affidavit in order to allow retailers to order with confidence. Any retailer not already enrolled in the BOOM! Guarantee can sign up for free right here.
- Rare Variant Cover Gift Set: BOOM! Studios will offer retailers a direct cash infusion by providing previously released rare and popular variant covers for free to qualifying Diamond accounts in June. These gifts will create an opportunity for retailers to generate additional revenue and promotion at no cost. For retailers who do not normally sell variant covers at an increased price, these can be used to reward loyal pull-box subscribers or used to further incentivize customer engagement as prizes or purchasing rewards.
- Monthly 1-Per Store Variant Covers: BOOM! Studios will provide new, previously unannounced 1-per-store variant every month through December 2020 free to qualifying Diamond accounts. This program will begin with a new 1-per store variant for in June.
- Deep Discounts on OGNs & Collections: BOOM! Studios are offering an additional 15% discount on OGNs & Collections through Simon & Schuster, which are fully returnable. This covers all releases through April 2020 and is in effect until May 15th, marking the highest discount level of any graphic novel publisher for accounts in the US, Canada, and the UK.
- Please note: For accounts distributed by Simon & Schuster UK, any account signing up will receive the same discount off their OGN & Collections. BOOM! Studios are extending promotional discounts to ALL Simon & Schuster UK accounts, and existing UK accounts should check with their sales representatives for available offers.
- Deep Discounts on Top-Selling Titles: Beginning on April 27th and running until May 11th, select top-selling BOOM! Studios’ backlist titles will be an additional 25% off to encourage stocking up on key titles in preparation for customers returning to your stores. This includes recent releases such as All My Friends Are Ghosts and Something is Killing the Children along with popular series like Fence and Jim Henson’s Power of the Dark Crystal.
- Affiliate Sales Opportunities: BOOM! Studios are the first comic and graphic novel publisher to work with Simon & Schuster, Ingram, and Bookshop.org to bring comic shop retailers new affiliate sales opportunities. These opportunities allow retailers to drive additional revenue through online sales opportunities even when they’re not able to reopen their doors for their new Day One. Once stores are open, they can lower their inventory exposure by offering a wider selection of graphic novels and collections to their communities.
- Curated Retailer Support Tools: BOOM! Studios will continue their weekly communications to retailers every week with information on the tools to benefit them like bookstores through Simon & Schuster, the ABA (American Booksellers Association), and more.
- #BoostYourLCS Paid Promotion: BOOM! Studios will increase targeted advertising and promotion around comic shops, and specifically spotlight stores offering Safe Services (like curbside and mail order options), using the #BoostYourLCS hashtag to reach over 361,000 fans worldwide. A full list of BOOM! Guarantee and Safe Service retailers (with regular updates) can be found right here.
- Diamond Summit Variant: BOOM! Studios will deliver our promised free Diamond Summit retailer variant cover for Faithless II #1 to all qualifying stores in June so that retailers don’t miss out on this new Must-Read series.
- Exclusive Convention Variant Opportunities: BOOM! Studios will offer select variant covers and other items previously planned for 2020 conventions direct to retailers through Diamond, as long as supplies last. Since fans can’t go to conventions, we’re bringing the conventions to the fans!
Diamond Comic Distributors and BOOM! Studios will be sharing more information directly with retailers as soon as it is finalized to clearly outline how to receive benefits from the DAY ONE RETAILER SUPPORT SERVICES PROGRAM.
For continuing news on the DAY ONE RETAILER SUPPORT SERVICES PROGRAM stay tuned to www.boom-studios.com and follow @boomstudios on Twitter.