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 Remember some weeks ago when everyone was all abuzz with TEKKEN and how it sold so many thousands and thousands of copies? Didn't it seem just a little too good to be true? Well, it was.Large retail chains like Barnes & Noble
and Blockbuster ordered a lot of those copies. Once hesitant to carry
anime, they seemed to be very interested in this product, especially with
the video game tie-in. It seemed a perfect fit. It was marketed well (to
the retailers, at least). ADV had an aggressive
campaign and it paid off, at least at first.Unfortunately, though, many of those record
number video tapes are being returned. The reason? Simple. They didn't move.
People weren't buying; maybe they weren't even renting. As a result, the
retail stores started losing money, and that doesn't make them happy.When a large retail chain agrees to pick up
a video, it expects a certain rate of sell-through. This means that they
expect a certain percent of the number they buy to sell. If they don't,
then the buyer has the option to return the unsold product to the distributor.
When this happens, everyone winds up losing money, so large chains tend to
be certain about their chances of selling when they order titles. This is one
of the reasons it has taken so long for anime to make it onto mainstream
retail shelves. Why use up valuable shelf space with a video that will only
sell a handful of copies when you could fill the whole row with TITANIC and MULAN?Now that TEKKEN has
come and gone, what impact, if any, can we expect there to be in the
marketplace? Well, first of all, industry insiders note that large chain
stores (one in particular) have become very wary of anime again. With the
poor performance of TEKKEN fresh in their minds,
they will be very wary of anime when placing future orders. Distributors
are reportedly already feeling the pinch as retailers decide that right
now anime isn't worth the risk.For fans, what this means is that new titles
may be harder to find. Since retailers don't want to order any more stock
until they sell out of existing inventory, anime seekers may have to turn
increasingly to specialized stores or online retails outlets. While not
necessarily a bad thing, this does limit the general public's exposure to
anime.And it makes anime's uphill climb to mainstream
status an even steeper one. Companies will have to scramble to find new ways
to get their products into mainstream stores, which was already no easy task.
Of course, in a few months—or even weeks—this could all blow over.
After all, it was only two short months ago when VIDEO
BUSINESS featured an in-depth feature on anime. But the market is
nothing if not fickle, so only time will tell.In the meantime, however, just make sure to
keep your eyes open for the titles you're looking for, as chances are high
they may not be showing up on local store shelves as frequently as they
would have been before.
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  Charles McCarter
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