Forum - View topicNEWS: Manga in Walmart
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GATSU
Posts: 15305 |
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Sakechan: Wal Mart will force anime and manga distributors to lower the cost of their goods to levels just not feasible in today's market. The people who work on translations, mastering, editing and covers have to get paid too, not just the Japanese licensors. So if we buy anime and manga at Wal Mart prices, we could wind up with a Studio Ironcat situation of epic proportions.
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Nagisa
Moderator
 Posts: 6128 Location: Atlanta-ish, Jawjuh |
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I think your doom & gloom message is unfeasable, personally. You're either underestimating the growing strength of the North American anime industry, or your overestimating Wal-Mart's power over the national economy.
Wal-Mart will not kill anime, because you know what? Even their stock of mainstream movies is, at best, a bare minimum. They aren't going to stock so much anime that it will cause "OMG FATUL DAMIDGE" to the industry as a whole, because as it is, they barely stock a decent amount of mass-appeal films/games/CDs. 
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GATSU
Posts: 15305 |
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Nagisa:
I think the word you're looking for is unlikely.
I'm doing both. But anime is still a niche genre, until another movie makes as much money as the first Pokemon movie. Everyone makes money in home video sales. Anime's not much different there. And Wal Mart has enough of an impact to force American competitors to fold or go to Chinese sweatshops. Wish the situation was different, but it's not.
Then I guess that's the only kind of anime you'll be seeing anywhere in the future, because studios and stores will be too afraid to take chances on titles which have less accessability. (Although I see that happening already.) |
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Nagisa
Moderator
Posts: 6128 Location: Atlanta-ish, Jawjuh |
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Whatever. I've seen you make childish "issues" out of non-events before, and I'm not going to participate in one of them. Just go on and spout your nonsense, but I'm going to stop here and save the mods the pain of quelling another flame war.
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GATSU
Posts: 15305 |
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Assessing the market is not nonsense. It's common sense. You only take big risks when you have the money to risk them. The industry has grown, but its dependence on a limited demographic hardly makes it a sustainable growth.
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Kidotai
 Posts: 138 Location: one of those islands in the pacific |
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Nagisa, Nagisa....*rubs head* If you bother to look abit, you'll find that Wal-Mart's annual sales outtop many small nations GNP. I've heard the case that if you took the GNP of the lowest 20 nations, it still wouldn't equal the YTD sales of Wal-Mart. And maybe you should also search for say "Community Killers." There is one documentary (forgot the name) detailing a small towns decline due to a SuperWal-Mart built outside of town. There is a ton of amterial about Wal-mart that maybe is worth a night to look at. Like how Wal-Mart stiffs women in pay scales.
I'll mark those words...I am so gonna mark those words.... |
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Crowley
Posts: 2 Location: Canada |
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Emerje
 Posts: 7338 Location: Maine |
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Walmart hasn't killed the music industry Walmart hasn't killed the software industry Walmart hasn't killed the video game industry Walmart hasn't killed the toy industry Walmart hasn't killed the clothing industry Walmart hasn't killed the movie industry Walmart hasn't killed the book industry So what exactly makes you think Walmart will kill the anime and manga industry? Because it's a niche market? Because it's not for everyone? Nah, I don't buy that, this could be what it takes to get things moving even more. Because it's going to drive the prices down? Don't buy that either, Best Buy and about a half dozen online sites have been able to sell anime at below cost and they haven't killed the anime industry yet, why would manga at Walmart be any different? You do know the reason why these different retailers are able to sell at discount rates right? Not because of underhanded buying tacticts or sleezy back door purchasing. Nah, it's because they buy in bulk which means they don't have to pay as much for shipping and can pass that savings on to customers. Anyone can do that, when I buy stuff online I never just buy one item, I buy multiple and save several dollars doing so. Put that on a larger scale and they're saving hundreds, maybe even thousands when it comes to larger retail markets like Best Buy or Walmart. Walmart could be more like a guardian angel, ensuring stability in the market buy giving it a powerful retail backing, rather than a grimreaper slashing prices and making things no longer managable. Emerje |
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Tempest
 I Run this place.ANN Publisher  Posts: 10420 Location: Do not message me for support. |
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There's nothing inherently false in that article, but keep in mind that it was posted on a website with a political agenda for ultra right wing economics. As in much, much more right wing than our beloved Reform Party. That being said, as I said above, I don't like Wal-Mart, but they aren't the all-evil corporate empire that everyone makes themout to be. Sure, local businesses often fail to compete with Wal-Mart and shutdown, but that's just the way economics work. Independant book sellers have been falling to the book chains for years, independant music stores got trashed by HMV. Yet many of these large corporations themselves started out as small companies. Theyw ere obviosuly the ones that adapted. Should Wal-Mart start to carry a ton of anime and manga it will undoubtedly hurt the independant anime/manga stores. But as Danny Devito's Garfield character so aptly put it (in a movie whose name I do not recall) (paraphrased), "Imagine you're the best damn cart & buggy manufacturer there ever was, your cart & buggies ran circles around the competition, and your service was the best. All that will do nothing for your company with the advent of the automobile." The point is that unfortunately, many companies will go the way of the dinosaur thanks to "progress." Be it that their products get outdated, or their business model, it's the price we pay for progress. In Quebec (where I live) the small corner stores complained to the government that they were being pushed out of business by supermarkets that were undercutting them and staying open long hours seven days a week. Now the government has imposed artificial limitations on the supermarkets, limiting their employees outside of mon-fir 9-5, in order to protect the corner store. to me this is stupid, if the corner stores can't adapt to the new market, there's no reason to artificially damage the companies with the better business model. As long as I have the choice, I'll continue to buy my anime & manga at the local specialty shop, even if it costs a few dollars more than at Wal-Mart. Should the day come that Wal-Mart actually pushes the local anime/manga specialty store out of business, I will trully be sad. But fact is, I would not have all progress stopped to ensure a niche. There are certain legal boundaries placed on fair business, and as long as Wal-Mart plays by these rules, complaining is a waste of breath. -t |
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GATSU
Posts: 15305 |
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Emerje:
Actually, they have killed clothing and toys by forcing them to be manufactured in sweatshops, instead of in decent-paying American institutions. And while they haven't killed media yet, their ban of Maxim and the like limits consumer choice. And despite what someone else argued, not everyone has the money to move away from a "small town" to get their sex and violence. And no, not everyone owns a computer either.
Well I do think niche titles will slip through the cracks. Not everyone will be able to compete. I mean look how long it's taken Animeigo to get a distributor.
Of course they sell goods at costs in which the suppliers can still make profits. Wal Mart does not.
Well actually, they got around it, because they didn't have to tax their merchandise. I think most states are finally cracking down on that, because it's putting non-on-line stores out of business. And when you add shipping, you really don't save that much on-line most of the time. Don't even get me started on possible manufacturer delays, shipping delays, or waiting... Plus, call me old-fashioned, but I like patronizing businesses where I interact with human beings.
Of course,if not enough people are buying the anime and manga to justify the lower price, Viz and Tokyopop are f**ked. Tempest:
Economics which doesn't have a level playing field, you mean.
Of course what makes the independents appealing is they have variety, not just what's popular.
They're already nearly gone in California. Of course that might have more to do with their reliance on bootlegs and their inability to convert from vhs to dvd fast enough to compete.
Yes, but lowering worker's comp is not progress. It's just bringing us one step closer to the days of child labor. Women and minorities are already paid less than white males as is.
Of course, a lot of chains intentionally underhire and force many of their employees to take those extra shifts...But being able to wait in longer lines anytime of the day is more important than not being overcharged by employees too tired to scan groceries correctly, it seems. |
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Tenchi
 Posts: 4469 Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer. |
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Well, I'm one of the rare Quebecers that voted Reform/Canadian Alliance the past few times. Now that the party has merged with the Progressive Conservatives, it doesn't even exist. And that site is for capitalist libertarians... right wing economically, without a doubt, but nothing particularly "ultra" about it.
It's fine if you like shopping there but, really, since HMV and Metro Video started stocking anime with a selection which far surpasses what the comic book stores have, I don't shop at comic book stores anymore except for those rare occasions that I'm looking for merchandise. I'm just not one for the "mom & pop" shopping experience, I like my stores as big and impersonal as possible, and I don't particularly see any huge difference between shopping for anime at HMV or manga at Chapters and shopping at Wal-Mart, all being big box stores of one sort or the other, capitalism being inherently amoral, not that I'm assuming I'll be doing my anime shopping at Wal-Mart from now on, since I doubt they'll ever have the selection of HMV or Metro Video, certainly not in Quebec, but if, hypothetically, Wal-Mart did have a comparable selection and if Wal-Mart did beat them on prices, I'd have no qualms about shopping for anime there. |
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Emerje
Posts: 7338 Location: Maine |
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Ok, now that's just bull. For over the last 20+ years toys have been "Made in China" or "Made in Taiwan". It has nothing to do with Walmart driving down the prices forcing the companies to seek cheaper labor alternatives, it has to do with keeping products afordable and still making a profit for both the manufacturers and the retailers. Maybe if it wasn't for Unions forcing pay raises for dumber than dirt factory jobs in the US the companies could afford to run factories over here. I'll tell you what would kill the industries, having to pay American workers $7/hr plus benefits forcing prices to go up to levels that no one can afford. As for your comment on Maxim, Walmart has every right in the world to decide not to carry any products they don't want in their stored. Walmart doesn't limit consumer choice, it's crazy to think that. There is nothing that says they have to be fair and carry every single product under the sun. There are thousands of products they don't sell and they all seem to be doing all right for themselves. Walmart isn't the deciding factor in what is a success and what is a failure. Do I denie that Walmart does some really underhanded things? No I don't, but most businesses do at some extent, none of them are pure of faults. Emerje |
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Kidotai
Posts: 138 Location: one of those islands in the pacific |
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Okay then, then howabout the allegations that Wal-Mart employees were forced to work "Off the Clock" which is illegal under US Labor Laws? Or the fact that wal-Mart routinely does underhanded tactics that supresses worker rights? http://news.corporate.findlaw.com/prnewswire/20031125/25nov2003151156.html And maybe you'd like a link from PBS?? I think their fair and balanced. http://www.pbs.org/itvs/storewars/
Now I must say [Don't say anything like that gain -t]. By taking away the choice of consumers on what they can and should buy by adhearing to "the whims" of either CEO's worried about a lawsuit from "Psycho-Soccer Mom" whom thinks that a pic of Beyonce in an outfit on a Men's magazine that barely even qualifies as "scantily-clad" or because some artist decides to say "Wal-Mart sells guns to little kids" is "offensive, we ain't gonna sell her," or the "Psycho-Soccer Moms" that would rather have the duties of parenting done by SOMEONE ELSE other than themselves because their too busy thumbing thru the lingere racks while their kids are pulling down $3000 Plasma TV's and allowing them to drop and break. And when said kid does act, they instantly blame the store for "not being careful in stopping their precious angel from knocking down a TV than could've crushed them." I would like to go into a Wal-Mart, get groceries, maybe some housewares, and yes, maybe the latest Eminem CD with him "Threatening the President" unedited and unabridged along with other Rap CD's with them saying the F-Word every 3rd letter. One-Stop shopping. But because of the ineptitude of others, the rest of us who chose the right to decide and take responseability for ourselves have to suffer from others. |
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Tenchi
Posts: 4469 Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer. |
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Buy your explicit and/or controversial CDs elsewhere. Artists and record companies have the right to record pretty much anything they want, but Wal-Mart has no obligation to stock it.
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Emerje
Posts: 7338 Location: Maine |
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Ok, there's a difference between debate and getting personal. You my friend are crossing the line there and it's uncalled for. Tenchi is right, you don't like it, buy it somewhere else, that's Walmart's loss, not yours. Kidotai and Gatsu, you both make it sound like Walmart is the only place that sells ANYTHING! No one is forcing you to buy from Walmart, there are other options, if you're already boycoting them then you should know that by now. Maybe some of you are just getting to lazy to shop around (yeah, that's getting personal, but am I wrong?) Emerje |
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