[ACML] Respond to dealers

[Greg]

>>It depends.  Revenue for a lot of dealers are sliding.  these are older
>>dealers that have been around.  but I do not know if it is due to their
>>laziness or lack of new inventory. 
>
>Those are two possible factors. The other possibly being that the market
>is just changing.
>
Just to get this out of the way, there are more dealers and there are more anime goods and such being "localized" for America.  With several dealers carrying these goods, many fans comment on dealers having the "same" goods.  I'm curious if there is any dealer trying to cater to an audience for goods related to "older" (not NECESSARILY 80s old) titles that have interesting merchandise but aren't currently the "flavor of the month".  Like maybe, Escaflowne or Ranma or maybe Kenshin.  I don't KNOW that there's a strong enough market for these, but I have seen numerous people bemoan the overabundance of the same: Naruto and FMA items.  (add in whatever else may be overexposed atm, like Trigun, Evangelion (perenial fav), Gundam Seed, or whatever)  Don't get me wrong, these things sell and they HAVE fans, but people want variety too.  It also hurts that several dealers have the same gashapon, UFO catchers and keychains.  So PART of it is what they have to choose from, and if it's just the "surface" stuff, many of the "hardcores" will just find their purchases online, I know I do.  That said...


>Are people spending the same amount of
>money at each? 

I have no empirical evidence with which to back this up, and really only have anecdotal and local proof, but my answer to this would be "no".  And outside of the "hardcore fans finding stuff online" arguement I noted above, I'd say the "average" spending of a con attendee is trending DOWN.  The reason for this (IMO) has less to do with the glut of cons and items than it has to do with a simple equation:

anime con attendee <> anime fan

That is not to say anime fans don't attend cons, because they do (altho less so, or less vigorously than they once did), but it IS to say that not all people who attend an anime con ARE fans. (and from my PoV, not all people who attend anime cons wish to BECOME anime fans)  I think this is also the root of the conduct problems, but that's my own take on it.  But regardless, people who are not anime fans see no reason to spend X dollars on anime trinkets, because they're not interested in the anime in the first place. (I can link you to various statements by anime con attendees attesting to their lack of fandom for anime)  

I'm not sure what can be done about that, but there it is.  I also understand how "artists alley" can hurt dealers room, and I think the mass produced items SHOULD be pushed toward dealers room, but for genuine "artists", I think they need the exposure and really help keep the fannish feel, but again, that's just my opinion.  Honestly, if we could see improvement in artists efforts and contributions, I think that's one of the best things cons have to work for right now.

Greg Simoes
heero at ushicon.com