Okay! Get ready for holiday sales galore! I promised I would write about this earlier, so here we go~~
In an unprecedented move, The Right Stuf started their holiday anime sale waaaaay early this year. Historically, they have always started the holiday season with a "Black Friday sale" the week before Thanksgiving. But this year, they started on the 12th of November--the second week of November--and announced that they would be running their sale from that day until December 27th. Instead of offering "waves" of sales, where they would update every few days, their new strategy is to add about 50-odd items into the sale each day. Doing some quick and dirty math, we're looking at around 2000 items (at least) going on sale total.
TRSI is also doing two more promotions during the sale. Each day will have a "Mega Deal," usually a new or popular release discounted heavily; normally, newer items take a long time to go on sale, so it's a good way to get new releases for cheap. They are also offering "limited time" promotions, where a deal will be available for a few days (or until their stock runs out). So far, the limited time promos have been Viz manga bundles, but we'll see if that changes.
It will be interesting to see how this new strategy works. I admit that it is more exciting to offer new items every day, but also a bit more hassle to have to check every day. It is also was a bit easier to strategically plan out orders when the sales were placed a bit further apart. But I have a feeling that if this strategy works at least as well as the sales models they've used before, then it is here to stay.
Not to be outdone, Robert's Anime Corner Store is offering their own holiday sale, but using the same model that TRSI has done previously: various "waves" of sales. (In this case, 12 total.) Only the first wave of titles is up, but their selection is mainly comprised of new titles, collector's editions, and figures, which is impressive. The prices are very comparable to TRSI, so it's more than worth a look. From what I can tell from the newsletter announcement, the last "wave" will be on December 18th, but the sale prices will be good until December 24th. The prices for each item are also only valid "while supplies last only," so it looks like no rainchecks or restocks. Free shipping is available for orders of $50 or more, so there's that. Also, they're giving out free chocolate coins with each order (again, as long as supplies last).
That seems to be all for now, so Miss Scarlett is signing out!
