(Mis)fortune Telling: Amazon Comics?: Introduction

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Since the outbreak of COVID-19, comics shops and other retailers have been scrambling, trying to deal with a massive reduction in foot traffic as state and local governments mandate stay-at-home orders, as well as transitioning to a "new normal" of social distancing and the latest iteration of selfish behaviors.

On top of having to pivot to curbside service, mail order, and new shipping alternatives, there’s the big slumbering dragon which nobody wants to think about: Amazon. Amazon is already a behemoth, and has quietly spread across the country, adding distribution centers nationwide in a variety of sizes and needs.

This is nothing new to retailers. "I'll get it online" is the death-by-a-thousand-cuts, as customers respond to store selection, service, and prices. Of course, those are paper cuts, administered by thousands of dollar bills walking out the door. Some retailers have robust online stores, offer mail order, pre-orders, events, and myriad other tricks and techniques to combat that and other discount retailers online.

However, Amazon isn't just an online retailer. They now have pop-ups, the retail equivalent of food trucks, bookstores, grocery stores, online communities, and a delivery system that will soon rival the U.S. Postal Service. 

Think it unlikely? Consider the Wells Fargo wagon a coming down the street. Or the Sears, Roebuck catalog found in outhouses across the country a century ago. Or the Home Shopping Network.

This series will delve into the many ways in which Amazon is adapting and altering the retail ecosystem that exists now, how it affects the fragile Direct Market of comics shops, and how these small businesses can compete.

1. How Amazon ships locally, completing the final step from warehouse to household, and how Amazon might disrupt local retail.
2. Amazon's online websites and communities: Can Amazon replicate the unique experience of a comics shop?
3. Amazon's New Frontier online
4. Bricks and clicks: Amazon's physical storefronts, the current retail apocalypse, and the changing landscape
5. How local comics shops can anticipate change and thrive in the new retail status quo.

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