EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 248
album: Cocomelon (Panini)
stickers : 192 (1-192)
starter pack: album + 5 packets 4,90€
box: 5 packets (5 stickers per packet) 5,00€
It may happen that seeing new albums on newsstands, some collectors ask themselves “who are these?”, As if the publishers were dedicating productions to unknown realities. Perhaps if you are no longer very young and do not follow the news.
Cocomelon more than a cartoon, in the classic sense of the term, is a YouTube channel. In 2021 it was among the most viewed programs in the US and in the world. So, right there is an album.
This review, rather than our usual analysis of interiors, details and stickers, is a brief analysis of the market for stickers in newsstands. This new Panini release gives us some ideas for reasoning, we are not marketing people and not even economics, we are passionate, so they are reasonings that start from the base, from the bottom.
The presentation of this album on newsstands, taking into account the new market rules, could lead the way. We are not sure if the problem is the decrease in newsstands or the turning point towards direct internet sales of Panini but the Cocomelon product offers a substantial novelty: instead of the classic box with many packets, less and less bulky (from the classic 50 we had reached 24), now the packets are sold not individually but in boxes of 5 each.
Basically you can no longer buy the single packet, classic for collections especially intended for children where those who buy are parents or grandparents. It is perhaps not wrong as a basic concept, we hope it is an evaluation in the case of albums that are not born to be completed, but only to cover a certain moment of market demand. So the parent buys a box and maybe some extra but doesn’t go any further. Although the very idea of the concept of “albums that are not meant to be completed” makes us horrified.
Impractical and disastrous if instead you want to try to complete it, because in the classic box of 50 or 36 there were usually a few doubles (in those of 24 it already works little), but buying boxes of 5 packets each, the risk of finding the same is very high.
It is likely that this formula will be adapted for all the albums on which Panini does not consider a potential success, so perhaps as to limit, on the one hand, the returns from the bulk sticker kiosks, on the other hand to push the purchase of a minimum of 5 packets. The cost of the packets is extremely questionable, 1 euro for 5 stickers, although of good quality, it will also be in line with the market, the Panini one, other publishers are cheaper, but we find it too high. But if we go back to the initial reasoning, that is to push the parent to a minimum purchase, knowing that maybe it will not go beyond 10 or 20 sachets, then from an economic point of view it makes sense.
However, and even more wrong at this point to make a useless and lengthened album of 192 stickers, better album with 110 maximum 130 stickers as we are finding on newsstands and that, with a box of 24 packets for a total of 20 euros (other publishers, such as written, they still sell the packets at 0.70 or 0.80) you can almost complete.
As collectors it leaves us perplexed, we fear this 5-pack mini box formula will be the novelty and probably, at least as far as we are concerned, it will also bring us precise choices on which albums to try to complete. Much more correct than done with the Score cards, which will surely be repeated with subsequent albums, or rather a reasoned choice of covering only the newsstands with good sales feedback. So the product is supplied only to those who have a market, perhaps the possible sales are limited but on the other hand the waste is also limited. Sergio Bonelli Editore, with comics, is moving in the same direction. Just read what was written in this month’s comic book editorial.
From our point of view, it is right to reward those who work well or simply have the good fortune of having a school nearby, even if you run the risk of burying a good percentage of newsstands, but the problem is much wider, with a lot of material sold only on Panini website. If this can lead to a “natural selection” of newsstands but those that remain will be strong subjects, let’s say that perhaps it is the only way forward, whether we like it or not.
(EN)