SALES TO ASTONISH #3 - NOVEMBER 2022
Sales To Astonish #3
November 2022 Market Report
November was a month of highs, lows and highs.
The beginning of the month saw sales of nice runs of Flash and Marvel Star Wars comics and also a Bonfire Night promotion with 50% off variant covers.
Variant covers generally sell well, more so when they are at half price, and this time round was no exception. However there’s always a risk of going to the well too many times before it runs dry so next time we do a sale on variant covers we will ensure there’s been a healthy re-stock into the collection.
A return to Sheffield Comic Fair on 12th November would be our last public appearance of the year (the 2023 diary is currently being worked on) with the hope that we would at least cover the cost of our table, something that didn’t happen on our debut back in October!! Sales were brisk once the door had opened and then around midday tailed off. The highlight of the fair was a sale of a New Mutants #87 in VFN- condition for £50.
There seems to be a some what of a mid-month slump developing at present so we have to think carefully about what type of product we should launch on a Thursday to maximise sales. Choosing Batman and New Mutants as launch headliners in November would see a good response to the latter but sadly no one took a visit to the Gotham to pick up Batman back issues.
Notable sales from the month were:
New Mutants #1 FN+ @ £15
New Mutants Annual #2 VG @ £10
Totally Awesome Hulk #1 NM @ £17.50
Secret War #2 VFN @ £17.50
U.S Avengers #1 (Red Hulk variant) NM @ £17.50
Invaders #1 VG+ @ £25
The end of the month was an opportunity to piggy back on Black Friday/Cyber Monday with a 50% off sale on graphic novels and books. We sold a healthy number of graphic novels and will be looking to re-stock the selection in the coming weeks.
As most of our sales are achieved through the website we keep a weather eye on our online metrics. During November visits to the store dipped mid-month only to recover in the final week in part driven by some activity generated by TikTok (no our videos do not feature us dancing with comics!!).
The number of people adding items to their carts remains high which is encouraging, the flip side being the number of checkouts was marginally down on October. Being able to nudge people at the appropriate time to complete their purchase remains the key to unlocking this sales conundrum
As December approaches the focus invariably switches to Christmas presents. Whilst single issue comics may not make the best gifts we have plenty of graphic novels, vintage Roleplaying games and books in store that would do. And for anyone who is able to visit Vintage Guru in Northampton we’ve added board and war games to our offering there along with some figurines, models, cards as well comics. The whole store is worth checking out as there’s so much great stuff under one roof!
We hope that everyone has a great Christmas and you get all those comics and collectibles from your Christmas lists!!
Joyeux Noel 🎄
