Neferpitou
Stand User
chaos said:
:wink:
With so many companies like Revelation and ADV hitting financial trouble, it simply better for the industry to buy direct off somone like AOL shop instead of the profits been eaten up by other retaliers.
Okay to buy from?
- Thread starter Ein
- Start date
:wink:
With so many companies like Revelation and ADV hitting financial trouble, it simply better for the industry to buy direct off somone like AOL shop instead of the profits been eaten up by other retaliers.
Dave said:
Except if current fans only buy from direct(ish) distributors high street stores will stop stocking anime period. And then it will become even harder to pick up new fans, as they'll actively have to go looking for anime rather than seeing it during browsing. So you're talking short term gains at the cost of long-term losses.
That's true, buying through HMV etc keeps anime more profitable for them in the long term. Ultimately if everyone stops buying it through the retail chains, it won't be worth licensing any at all.
But it's certainly not bad advice to check AO-L too. MVM do a pretty good job with their store and deserve to make some money.
R
But it's certainly not bad advice to check AO-L too. MVM do a pretty good job with their store and deserve to make some money.
R
Neferpitou
Stand User
Ambrogino said:
Where can you browse for anime these days really? Zavvi are in trouble and could go under, when i went down recently it was all Manga titles. So that leaves tiny ranges of titles at hmv or forbidden planet.
Most fan more likely get into anime through watching fansub these days, through friends reccomendations or tv screening of ghibi film than browsing the tiny selection in local shops. I don't buy this image that people go into retaliers and by chance see anime dvd and pay £20 with no pervious knowledge on it, it just does not happen.
There's a wide range of difference between paying £20 sight unseen, and picking up Vampire Hunter D because it's £7 quid in the sale and looks different. IF that buyer likes what he sees he's likely to pick up a few more titles in the store, rather than going from zero to ragaing fanatic expert in the ways of stuff that can be illegally downloaded. I'm talking about people broiwing for other stuff and seeing anime - not people looking to browse through anime. They're already fans - and it's new fans that companies need to attract in stores. The ones looking at horror movies or martial arts and noticing Bleach or XXXholic. The guys posting in message boards, well aware of every product are only a tiny fraction of the consumer base the suppliers are trying to tap.
Neferpitou
Stand User
Ambrogino said:
It just does not work like that anymore, it worked like that when the industry just started over here when everything was on VHS, a smaller selection and the only place pick up title was instore. A lot of stores nearly had the whole range of anime available. But with so many titles from so many different distributor's the choice instore is tiny compared to what it is online where most of the purchases are made now.
For company like MANGA to sell in store is viable and good idea as they likely to sell several thousand copies of single releases. But companies like MVM, ADV, BEEZ, etc who struggle to sell more than a thousand per volume also taking account splitting sales between online, is not worth selling instores volume 5 of various series at £20.
As i made the point before with Zavvi range that was all MANGA titles, HMV had a more diverse range but I didn't notice one BEEZ title among them.
You don't realise the amount who start through watching fansubs, ONE PIECE for example was for one month was the most downloaded TV show in the world beating shows like Heroes & Lost. Episodes of certain anime series where getting minimum of 400,000 downloads per episode towards the end of one fansuber run with a series.
Dave said:
I'm well aware of exactly how many people start watching through fansubs. The sad reality is that the vast majority of people exposed to a medium for free are unlikely to ever consider it worth paying for. People exposed via fansubs stay watching fansubs on the whole. The distribution companies might be able to attract them via offering pay to download or advertising-supported streaming, but those are never going to be the fans who pick up vast quantities of DVD's.
Fans who want physical media need that physical media to be available in stores to attract new fans who want physical media. Fans who are happy with fansubs are going to stay watching fansubs, on the whole, regardless of it being £2-£3 cheaper to buy a DVD online than in a store.
I'm a pretty bad store buyer in general (I do most of my buying online) but even I spend quite a bit in Zavvi/HMV. The bigger Zavvis carry plenty of non-Manga anime on DVD and there are usually other customers browsing alongside me when I am there. I wouldn't completely dismiss the importance of impulse buys and browsing - maybe this is something Andrew of Beez can write some words about if mentioned in the Beez thread?
When I buy online I never impulse buy anything, but in stores the "B" series get an extra chance to catch my eye with their box art, price point or blurb. If it all moves online only the UK companies are fighting with the US branches, most of whom offer the same discs cheaper even with the floundering currency rates right now. The convenience of buying in a shop gives them an extra edge. Frankly if it all goes online only I see no point in buying UK discs either except in sales, and I'm a pretty hardcore fan with hundreds of DVDs. I don't really care where a legitimate disc comes from when the practical benefits of a UK release disappear.
Plus the fact that there's an anime shelf in HMV at all puts the idea of anime as a form of entertainment into peoples' minds subconciously. When I started out it wasn't quite comparable but I was a kid, and I didn't have a credit card to reliably mail order with. I could however quite easily pop to the local comic shop and buy Akira on VHS with cash. If it hadn't been out there and relatively readily available, I might never have become so hooked!
I think it says it all when Manga is the one you keep mentioning as having the biggest shop presence, and they're also the most long term successful UK anime company with some of the biggest shows there are right now in their catalogue. They have their own online store too but I doubt Naruto would be selling in such impressive numbers over here if it wasn't being heavily promoted in local shops as well.
R
When I buy online I never impulse buy anything, but in stores the "B" series get an extra chance to catch my eye with their box art, price point or blurb. If it all moves online only the UK companies are fighting with the US branches, most of whom offer the same discs cheaper even with the floundering currency rates right now. The convenience of buying in a shop gives them an extra edge. Frankly if it all goes online only I see no point in buying UK discs either except in sales, and I'm a pretty hardcore fan with hundreds of DVDs. I don't really care where a legitimate disc comes from when the practical benefits of a UK release disappear.
Plus the fact that there's an anime shelf in HMV at all puts the idea of anime as a form of entertainment into peoples' minds subconciously. When I started out it wasn't quite comparable but I was a kid, and I didn't have a credit card to reliably mail order with. I could however quite easily pop to the local comic shop and buy Akira on VHS with cash. If it hadn't been out there and relatively readily available, I might never have become so hooked!
I think it says it all when Manga is the one you keep mentioning as having the biggest shop presence, and they're also the most long term successful UK anime company with some of the biggest shows there are right now in their catalogue. They have their own online store too but I doubt Naruto would be selling in such impressive numbers over here if it wasn't being heavily promoted in local shops as well.
R
the problem with like zavi and hmv its like 20 pounds for a dvd, but on line its 14 usually.
so really its better to buy online i dont like to see anyone get ripped off like i did with my kenshin dvds (bought them at hmv for 50 quid they were 17 pounds on play)
so really its better to buy online i dont like to see anyone get ripped off like i did with my kenshin dvds (bought them at hmv for 50 quid they were 17 pounds on play)
sheentaku said:
To their credit they have been getting better with things like that like when MVM slashed the prices on their dvds and Manga making it so you're getting about 8-12 eps for £20.
Also if i may add something to what was said earlier, Last time i looked in the my local HMV each Distro had at least one title in the selection with even a .Hack//SIGN part boxset there representing Beez (amongst the traditional Gundam and Cowboy Bebop DVDs) and even Zavi which was still predominantly Manga had titles from Revelation, MVM and ADV. I think the range of titles is going to be subject to a store by store difference. Plus i think about 60% of my collection has been purchased on the highstreet, mainly because waiting for stuff has never been my strong point.