Starting up an anime/manga store? [was: FEEDBACK PLEASE]

R

_Riamu

Completely Average High School Student
I was completely unsure on where I'm allowed to or supposed to post this but hey:

I'm going to start up my own online anime/manga store and I'd just love to know what you guys would expect from the site! For example, what the site has to offer & what kind of things the site sells i.e DVDs, Manga, Figures, Accessories & from what series etc.

Thanks :D
 
Try this version of the link.

But yeah, starting your own anime/manga store will be difficult. Couple of observations.

1) Have a solid business plan before you start. Where's the initial start up money coming from? Can you forecast your turnover and show that you can make a profit? Do you know where to acquire the merchandise to begin with? If so, how can you convince them to sell through your store?

2) If you can do all that, think of how to convince people to buy from your store. Have you got any previous retail endeavours that you can point to?

3) Have a professional layout for your website. Don't look like those cookie cutter sites you get when you Google something like "cheap laptops". You need to make yourself stand out.

4) Sell only genuine merchandise. No-one wants to spend loads and loads on bootlegs.

5) Focus on merch that isn't Blu-ray or DVD. Chances are you won't be able to compete with the bigger players on price and delivery with those so I wouldn't attempt it.

6) Good luck. It's fiercely competitive out there.
 
Ath said:
Try this version of the link.

But yeah, starting your own anime/manga store will be difficult. Couple of observations.

1) Have a solid business plan before you start. Where's the initial start up money coming from? Can you forecast your turnover and show that you can make a profit? Do you know where to acquire the merchandise to begin with? If so, how can you convince them to sell through your store?

2) If you can do all that, think of how to convince people to buy from your store. Have you got any previous retail endeavours that you can point to?

3) Have a professional layout for your website. Don't look like those cookie cutter sites you get when you Google something like "cheap laptops". You need to make yourself stand out.

4) Sell only genuine merchandise. No-one wants to spend loads and loads on bootlegs.

5) Focus on merch that isn't Blu-ray or DVD. Chances are you won't be able to compete with the bigger players on price and delivery with those so I wouldn't attempt it.

6) Good luck. It's fiercely competitive out there.
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Thanks a lot. This was MORE than helpful and I'm trying my best to plan everything out before I pursue anything.
I'm going to seriously think about all those points you've made, thanks again.
 
animefreak17 said:
Good luck.

If you do open one please try and get some older titles if you can.
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Sure thing. I want to be able to provide products that most other sites do not, so I'll try my best. Thanks.
 
_Riamu said:
animefreak17 said:
Good luck.

If you do open one please try and get some older titles if you can.
Click to expand...

Sure thing. I want to be able to provide products that most other sites do not, so I'll try my best. Thanks.
Click to expand...

The thing is I think it's great your starting a anime site but don't get me wrong I think you should wait til anime gets a little more popular over here............... iv seen people who isn't in to anime ask me to lend them a few series and they liked them so that's good news.
 
might be worth having a read of viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7680 as a how not to plan.

Was a guy who basically decided he was going to start a store without any kind of research and then take it out on the people he was suppose to be be attracting when his grand opening fell apart.
 
Ryo Chan said:
might be worth having a read of viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7680 as a how not to plan.

Was a guy who basically decided he was going to start a store without any kind of research and then take it out on the people he was suppose to be be attracting when his grand opening fell apart.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that! Although I do feel as though I am planning my way through this very cautiously. No offence to the guy/girl but they did not seem to think things through so well, I mean, a grand opening on the same day as the midlands expo?.. that is certainly not something I'd dream of doing.

I feel as though he/she never took into account the costs of running an actual brick-and-mortar store compared to the income they'd make.. as stated in the post the UK anime popularity is still very low and so for it to of had enough customers regularly to make a profit would of been close to a miracle.

& that is why I'm opening an online store so that expenses are very, very minimal & also being very careful as to what stock I get in. I want to make sure I get in what people will actually buy.

Anyway, I've rabbled on for long enough. Thank you for the link, it was very much appreciated.

p.s. if my project goes to pot... I'm not going to blame anyone else but me :)
 
You seem to be thinking pretty well about it. Much better than the other two threads linked in this topic. I wish you all the best.

My personal preference would be for merchandise from shojo shows, as not as many places carry it. You could make a fortune selling Free! stuff for example.
 
Admittedly, the thought of running a store dedicated to niche interests like anime and manga has always been in the back of my mind, but as I'm a 22 year old with no real work experience at all, it probably isn't going to materialise any time soon, so I might as well share my thoughts.

One of my biggest concerns would be whether, regardless of location (be it a brick-and-mortar store in a small village, London or an online presence like you suggest), if the store could attract many customers and make a profit. Although anime certainly is bigger than it was back in the days of that hilarious example presented earlier in the thread, it's still not quite mainstream. One thing I have personally been thinking of to try and make up for that, is to partner up the anime/manga stuff with something that is a little more mainstream. Forbidden Planet for example, are known as being a good brick-and-mortar location to get anime and manga. However, that is not their main speciality. Forbidden Planet is mainly known for selling American comics (such as Marvel and DC) and selling merchandise for comic books, video games and even movies. While anime and manga do have large sections in my local Forbidden Planet, the store windows are always full of either superhero comics or memorabilia for things such as video games or Adventure Time.

What I'm basically getting at is, maybe it would be best to try and pair up the anime/manga stuff with something in a similar category, but perhaps with a bit more mainstream appeal to try and get the numbers up? One area that immediately comes to me would be video games. As others have said in relation to selling anime DVDs/Blu-rays and manga volumes, it might be hard to under-cut the big guns (like Amazon etc) in regards to the pricing of actual games, but maybe selling merchandise of more main-stream video game titles alongside the anime/manga stuff could help boost sales?
 
Joshawott said:
Admittedly, the thought of running a store dedicated to niche interests like anime and manga has always been in the back of my mind, but as I'm a 22 year old with no real work experience at all, it probably isn't going to materialise any time soon, so I might as well share my thoughts.

One of my biggest concerns would be whether, regardless of location (be it a brick-and-mortar store in a small village, London or an online presence like you suggest), if the store could attract many customers and make a profit. Although anime certainly is bigger than it was back in the days of that hilarious example presented earlier in the thread, it's still not quite mainstream. One thing I have personally been thinking of to try and make up for that, is to partner up the anime/manga stuff with something that is a little more mainstream. Forbidden Planet for example, are known as being a good brick-and-mortar location to get anime and manga. However, that is not their main speciality. Forbidden Planet is mainly known for selling American comics (such as Marvel and DC) and selling merchandise for comic books, video games and even movies. While anime and manga do have large sections in my local Forbidden Planet, the store windows are always full of either superhero comics or memorabilia for things such as video games or Adventure Time.

What I'm basically getting at is, maybe it would be best to try and pair up the anime/manga stuff with something in a similar category, but perhaps with a bit more mainstream appeal to try and get the numbers up? One area that immediately comes to me would be video games. As others have said in relation to selling anime DVDs/Blu-rays and manga volumes, it might be hard to under-cut the big guns (like Amazon etc) in regards to the pricing of actual games, but maybe selling merchandise of more main-stream video game titles alongside the anime/manga stuff could help boost sales?
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I've thought about also selling things like you have suggested but I don't have much knowledge about them! I want to be able to answer almost every question about what I'm selling tbh. But I do understand that making a business successful would come before that! I will see how it goes with just manga/anime products and then if its not making enough of a profit or any profit then I will move onto also selling the items that you've mentioned! thank you for the ideas!
 
Have a word with Otaku Cloud. They have (soon to be had) the cutest little website with some good stuff on there. They were successful but are having to shut down. Maybe they can give you some tips?
 
-Danielle- said:
Have a word with Otaku Cloud. They have (soon to be had) the cutest little website with some good stuff on there. They were successful but are having to shut down. Maybe they can give you some tips?
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okay thanks!
 
while it may be a bit awkward to set up initially, if the store is big enough, it might be also worth setting up an area where people who play/collect games such as yugioh/pokemon/other anime card games can meet and play, and thus potentially bring in more impulse buys and potential customers into the store

it's something the closest thing to an anime store we have in Preston does and knowing the assistant manager, has started to really reap rewards http://www.harlequins-games.co.uk/
 
Ryo Chan said:
while it may be a bit awkward to set up initially, if the store is big enough, it might be also worth setting up an area where people who play/collect games such as yugioh/pokemon/other anime card games can meet and play, and thus potentially bring in more impulse buys and potential customers into the store

it's something the closest thing to an anime store we have in Preston does and knowing the assistant manager, has started to really reap rewards http://www.harlequins-games.co.uk/
Click to expand...

okay thanks for that, sounds like an awesome idea!
 
The anime merch shop in Edinburgh does a similar thing, and it seems to work quite well for them. I'm not a massive fan of them though as they stock a lot of bootlegged stuff. They also have a thing where you pay x much per month and you can read the manga they have in the store at the tables in the back.
 
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