Buying habits (no need to post collection here)

[bhl88]

Originally Posted by ANN

This is old news to anime publishers. Even if the general public still wanted to walk into a physical store and buy an anime DVD, they'd have a hard time these days. With the number of DVD retailers dwindling, and the few that remain cutting back on their shelf space, anime has mostly been pushed out. With few other places to sell, publishers are now putting more and more of their efforts into online retail. With only a handful of sellers to deal with, there's less need to offer crazy wholesale discounts, and less worry about retailers ordering too many discs and then returning them.

The people buying anime DVDs are now mostly the ones looking to buy a specific show. Now that the logjam of liquidated stuff from 2007 has cleared and several shows from the past have gone out of print, fans are reminded that there's value in having a permanent copy of your own. Publishers are finding ways to boost this collector's value, with books and nice packaging, and ever so slightly bump their prices up. Most people watch the show for free, but the few thousand people who love it enough to collect make the whole venture profitable.

Price range comparison:
Funimation: $40-50
Any other: $50-60
Sentai: $60 (disc/12 episodes)
NISA: $65 (hybrid/12 episodes)
Aniplex: $60 (rarely), $75-100 (sometimes/mostly), $150 (complete series box)

So who here has their buying habits changed?
EDIT:
(Maybe I should have put the title to: "Future of Anime Blu-Rays/DVDs and Physical Merchandise: Buying Habits" or something)
And I probably forgot to account for 'crowdfunding', which is probably 1% of where Blu-Rays come from (Time of Eve, Bubblegum Crisis, Little Witch Academia 2, Kick-Heart, WONDER....)

[Akito Kinomoto]

The lack of an overlap option displeases Akito. But anyway, I usually pay for streaming services and buy one or two series a year from FUNimation or Sentai. Back then I used to buy from a wider range of companies, though I'm fortunate enough to find as passable a selection at a retailer as online (roughly). I don't care enough about the few titles Aniplex has to pay an arm and a head for them (except maybe Madoka movie 3. If/when they get it. I don't keep track of that).

[Kotohono]

I prefer buying Merchandise personally as it's definitely area I've spent the most on, but I do occasionally buy DVD/BR as well for select series I really like or consider reasonably priced (I don't really follow who released it).

[bhl88]

Originally Posted by Akito Kinomoto

The lack of an overlap option displeases Akito. But anyway, I usually pay for streaming services and buy one or two series a year from FUNimation or Sentai. Back then I used to buy from a wider range of companies, though I'm fortunate enough to find as passable a selection at a retailer as online (roughly). I don't care enough about the few titles Aniplex has to pay an arm and a head for them (except maybe Madoka movie 3. If/when they get it. I don't keep track of that).

Oh. Seems I can't edit it anymore. It would be assumed that you'd watch it in some form.

[Lord of Fire]

In terms of anime, I'd say whatever fancies my interest, not so much who releases it.

And I was tempted to say I don't buy much anime, because it's expensive, but then I remembered I don't have any trouble buying figurines of $50 or more (and I got quite a lot of those), and I pay almost double for them when they arrive due to custom tax, which (when totaled) is sometimes enough to get two anime DVDs.

[speedyexpress48]

Voted for "other methods", though to be honest I do spend at least $500 a year on random merchandise if not more (everything from figurines to keychains!) Couldn't be bothered to buy DVDs anymore though. Also, I do buy a lot of manga as well.

[bhl88]

I end up getting 1-3 titles a month (especially if it's Aniplex). The only exception is this month.

[GDiddy]

What if you do several?

I buy dvds, but I also stream(mostly) and I also own a few seasons digitally too.

[bhl88]

Originally Posted by GDiddy

What if you do several?

I buy dvds, but I also stream(mostly) and I also own a few seasons digitally too.

Mostly during Black Friday and probably nothing from Aniplex.

It just usually increases to 6-8 DVDs but that's it. I'm surprised the DVD/Blu-Ray prices didn't go up (if people are buying less DVDs/Blu-Rays), but then, the only one with a high price would be NISA and Aniplex)

[Ichihara Asako]

I used to buy DVDs, but got fed up with the industry in recent years intentionally censoring/textrolls/other broadcast idiocy, or crippling broadcast version (eg SHAFT) to "encourage" people to buy DVDs.

So I started diverting my DVD money to figures. Which have been vastly more expensive. I've spent almost as much on figures in three years as I had on DVDs two decades prior. So your poll option saying merch is cheaper is quite false.

[speedyexpress48]

Originally Posted by Ichihara Asako

I used to buy DVDs, but got fed up with the industry in recent years intentionally censoring/textrolls/other broadcast idiocy, or crippling broadcast version (eg SHAFT) to "encourage" people to buy DVDs.

So I started diverting my DVD money to figures. Which have been vastly more expensive. I've spent almost as much on figures in three years as I had on DVDs two decades prior. So your poll option saying merch is cheaper is quite false.

Depends on what kind of figurines you buy. If your stuff is mostly Nendoroids, I guess it's kinda true. Scale figs...oh boy...

[bhl88]

Originally Posted by Ichihara Asako

I used to buy DVDs, but got fed up with the industry in recent years intentionally censoring/textrolls/other broadcast idiocy, or crippling broadcast version (eg SHAFT) to "encourage" people to buy DVDs.

So I started diverting my DVD money to figures. Which have been vastly more expensive. I've spent almost as much on figures in three years as I had on DVDs two decades prior. So your poll option saying merch is cheaper is quite false.

That''s generally (keychains, notebooks, nendoroids....)

[Ichihara Asako]

Originally Posted by bhl88

That''s generally (keychains, notebooks, nendoroids....)

The poll says figures, not nendos. Nendos aren't much cheaper than DVDs, anyway. I spent about $22,000 on DVDs through the 90s and 00s, now at the end of 2013 I've spent almost $20,000 on figures, and I only started collecting three years ago. Damnable hobby.

Nendoroids too, are like crack. So it's not like they're just some cheap replacement for DVDs.

[speedyexpress48]

Originally Posted by Ichihara Asako

The poll says figures, not nendos. Nendos aren't much cheaper than DVDs, anyway. I spent about $22,000 on DVDs through the 90s and 00s, now at the end of 2013 I've spent almost $20,000 on figures, and I only started collecting three years ago. Damnable hobby.

Nendoroids too, are like crack. So it's not like they're just some cheap replacement for DVDs.

Well, to be fair, Nendoroids are figurines. Though there is the crack part.

[Echoes]

Not to mention that shipping for figures usually ramps the price up even higher compared to DVDs/BD. (And even many other forms of merch.) Another factor that makes figures more expensive than disc media is the availability. For most titles, you don't need to run out and buy them as soon as they're released. You can wait, and snag up a bunch of them at a sale, or simply wait for the prices to drop, which they usually do. You can save a lot of money that way, and that's not as easy to do with figures, which often go out of print very quickly in comparison. (And then they might increase in price, rather than decrease )

Being a collector in any significant way within our niche is very expensive. I think we can all agree on that.

I'm mostly a DVD/BD collector myself. I buy quite a few series, whenever I can spare the expense. (Which sadly, has taken a bit of a nosedive lately.) I've only recently ventured into the figure market, I own about 7, and they're quite lovely. They are certainly expensive as well, most of mine were in the 80 dollar range, but they're well worth the investment and really spice up the collection.

I don't think I'll ever make a full switch and stop buying DVDs/BD, but as my economic stability (hopefully) improves over the coming year, I think my figure expenditures will increase, making for more of an even split between the two.

There's other minor things I purchase such as wall-scrolls, posters, soundtracks/singles and the occasional wallet/key-chain/mug, but even all of these combined don't add up to more than a fraction of my disc expenditures.

[bhl88]

Originally Posted by Ichihara Asako

The poll says figures, not nendos. Nendos aren't much cheaper than DVDs, anyway. I spent about $22,000 on DVDs through the 90s and 00s, now at the end of 2013 I've spent almost $20,000 on figures, and I only started collecting three years ago. Damnable hobby.

Nendoroids too, are like crack. So it's not like they're just some cheap replacement for DVDs.

Nendooids are smaller, thus you can get more.

[speedyexpress48]

Originally Posted by bhl88

Nendooids are smaller, thus you can get more.

Doesn't really help much on the price though. Well, ok, you won't be buying as many shelves, if that counts

[bhl88]

Lol the typo

DVD and Blu-Rays are also small enough.... Unless it's premium.