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by Brandon Schatz

Just ahead of the next Image Expo and San Diego Comic Con, Image has announced two new retailer incentive programs that will have shop owners reaching for their calculators.

First up is a line wide discount incentive that will see retailers who order 85% or more of the company’s periodicals each month get an additional 2.5% off their total cost of the orders. Within that 85% of books, a retailer would also have to meet a certain sales threshold for half of said periodicals. The threshold ranges anywhere from 15 copies of each book, all the way to 40, depending on what a retailer’s discount is with Diamond. Sound confusing? Welcome to the wonderful world of incentive based retail discounts, where 250% of your All New X-Men orders will get you deeper discounts on your Death of Wolverine orders if you don’t drop dead from running numbers endlessly.

The second incentive program is a floor display program wherein participating retailers would get a cardboard display from the company, as well as a monthly shipment of six different periodicals to stock in the display, delivered on consignment. At the end of each pre-determined sales period, retailers can return unsold copies, and will only be billed for copies sold. Again, the number of copies sent would be determined by the retailer’s corresponding discount with Diamond. Working in unison, these programs should see the presence of the company’s book increase in the coming months, just ahead of some fairly large releases, and what will no doubt be yet another slew of big announcements at Wednesday’s Image Expo.