Obviously that's not literally possible, but it's the shape of the inquiry. They're hoping perhaps something new has arrived that's more of that that, and perhaps we've got it ready to sell. And honestly, I want visitors to have exactly this mindset. It's wonderful for us. I myself have been that visitor many times. I have been the guy who has walked into the store knowing what they have, and what I like, and knowing what they have that I like, and either I already have it, or already decided it's not for me, but wait -- what if maybe they have something else that is also that specific thing I like?
They probably already know about products that are parallel to what they know they like. Sometimes parallel products work fine. Everyone knows what's going on when they buy guild-themed sleeves and deck boxes for Magic's Guilds of Ravnica expansion. I'm not even talking about licensed merch as such, but parallel merch implies that it has a direct tie to the reference product and is a natural extension of what you might buy if you bought or own the reference product. The elusive D&D Spell Cards are another good example. Technically not required for play, but many players want them. It's also not a stretch to stock them, from a business perspective.
There's a marketing truism that you have a greater chance of success by making something a few people love, rather than making something everyone meh kinda likes. The thing everyone likes may seem like a safer thing to make or sell. But they won't feel the same level of excitement when they discover it, and that means they may not feel the same urgency to buy. By contrast, make something that a few people utterly love, and they'll buy it the moment they find it. And what's more, you've probably earned a happy customer. People absolutely love the feeling that you had something just for them. (Or for their tiny niche of fans, anyway.)
Of course, the challenge is finding such merch. Merch that is not parallel, but perpendicular.
Loot Crate is an example of a company that uses perpendicular pop culture goods as the primary attraction. If you've ever gotten their subscription box, it's not exactly filled with durables. The pop-culture "exclusives" you get were manufactured specifically for the offering. It's very much a Franklin Mint scenario, and an awful lot of it amounts to shelf junk. But I tell you what, I got a loot crate secondhand and it had an Assassin's Creed scarf in it. I don't live in a place where we need scarves very often. And I'm only casually familiar with the Assassin's Creed series. But I got it. It wasn't even aimed at me and I saw why someone would be delighted to get this thing. Some Assassin's Creed devotee got that month's Loot Crate collection and opened it up and saw this scarf and it blew their system right out.
I've made a few attempts in this space and will continue to. More often, I am encountering the stuff as a consumer, because the possibilities are so vast. One of my employees knew I was a fan of Metroid and Iron Maiden, and what do you figure he found? Its licensing legitimacy is questionable, but hot damn, is that ever a cool thing. I've bought Ori and the Blind Forest socks. And who hasn't seen comic convention attendees sporting homemade riffs on Jayne Cobb's cunning hat?
Probably the coolest perpendicular merch I've sold has been solid-silver Jace coins and giant plush Triforces. (In fact, I have the Triforces in stock now and my DSG price is lower than what you'd pay on Amazon, a phrase you might as well get used to because it's going to get more and more common as the ease of frictionless "press the buy button" continues to override price resistance.) Also the WizKids D&D Trophy Plaques. Who doesn't want a big wicked-looking dragon head on their game room wall? Or a mind flayer head. Or a floating beholder. Even at a price tag of a few hundred bucks per unit, we've gone through several of each.
My biggest shot at this was one where I chickened out. I had a black and hunter-green Acura Integra that I had bought just as a silly tuner car to commute with. It had sweet rims, a turbocharger on the engine, and a tactile thrill to drive. I was going to set it up as grand prize at the biggest tournament we could muster in late 2012, as "the Golgari car." I would have had some graphics applied and gotten it cleaned on up. I think it would have been a marketing home run. I couldn't quite make the economics work; I had to clear $2k on the car to make it worth selling it, and my best tournament math had our likely direct take barely clearing that figure ($25 entry and 80 players to par). And that would only have covered first prize, not the rest of the prize slate. And when Wizards tried to award a Magic-themed Toyota FJ truck at the Pro Tour World Championship, they were hit with a raft of complaints. I decided discretion was the better part of glory, and ended up selling the car the ordinary way instead.
Perpendicular merch is, by definition, tough to find. Its very nature is that it's not the first thing you think of when you're thinking of the reference product it ties to. But I want to keep my eyes and ears open and take better advantage of these opportunities, because even at the risk that I'm going to be sitting on it for a while, this kind of merch is going to be something somebody out there loves. Possibly only one person. But someone. And that person is going to love DSG forever, and on top of that I end up getting dollars of money out of the deal. This ain't rocket surgery. Oh, it's difficult to pull off, but the decision to try it shouldn't be difficult in the slightest.
I'm keeping this scarf. I'm going to wear it this week on a business trip to Prescott. This is one seriously cool scarf.
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