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Market Analysis

Main Street in Durango Colorado is home to a large variety of shops targeted at many different customers. Despite this diverse selection of industries, there is no establishment that caters to the comic book fans. Colossal Comics will also be buying and reselling used merchandise to our customers, which is a growing industry in the current economic situation. To gain a better understanding of the local economy, demographics and preferences of our target customers we used data from the U.S. census as well as other sources to compile information on the subjects. A short survey was also used to get first hand information on how the community of Durango feels about comic books, used merchandise and the other services we offer. The following sections describe many details on La Plata County, Colorado, and explain why Colossal Comics has a high success rate. Although the economy is not at it’s best, Colossal Comics has a niche that no other shop has quite captured.

Local Economy
Population
The population for La Plata County has been increasing over the years. According to the US Census Bureau, the countie's population has been slowly, but steadily increasing at 1% annually (2012, para. 4). La Plata County's ever-growing population creates an ideal environment for a new business. The birthrate is also on the rise, growing 44% from 2000-2007 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2007, para. 7). The graph below (see figure 1) shows the changes in birthrate from 2000-2007. Rising population and birthrates indicate that more people are moving to and settling down in Durango. This can be seen from the sale of Durango country homes rising an immense 60% in 2012 (Setka, 2012, para. 8). Overall, La Plata County's population is doing well, and doesn’t seem to be dropping anytime soon.

Figure 1
Local Trends
Durango's economy is mainly composed of mining, construction, retail, transportation and health care. Colossal Comics will fall under the retail category, which is one of the top sources of income for the county. The most popular shops are those that produce goods and services for people from outside the area, specifically tourists (Sonora, Walker, 2011, para. 2). This verifies that tourists are a critical target audience, which is why our store will focus on promoting to this demographic. The establishment of new companies actually helps create economic stability in the community (Sonora, Walker, 2011 para. 6). This creates income and employment for the businesses' employees, which aids in driving the economy. Therefore, the conception of a new retail store in Durango has a high success rate.

Target Customers
Comic Book Fans
Colossal Comics has a wide range of potential customers, due to the variety of products and services our store provides. The target customers are males from the ages 15-34 who enjoy comic books. According to Region 9, in 2008 males ages 15-34 made up approximately 6% of Durango's population. For such a specific demographic, it takes up a decent portion of the community. This demographic includes a large number of students at Fort Lewis College, which is considered a substantial economic driver for the town (Region 9, 2010). College aged males are more likely to be interested in comic books, and our store can use this to create a strong community relationship. In fact, about 70% of comic book readers attend college (Carlson, 2007, para. 4). This large amount of target customers will be a continuous source of business for our store.
Tourists
Our store's relaxing atmosphere will also attract the eye of tourists walking down the sidewalks of Main Street. The overall long-term tourism trends continue to rise and are up 13% from the beginning of the recession in December 2007 (Region 9, 2010). These tourists will enjoy our unique selection of comic books, used goods and collectables. Colossal Comics will be the only comic book shop in La Plata County, creating a unique role in the area that will attract customers for that reason alone. Marketing to tourists is essential, because in 2010 tourism was responsible for 19% of total contributions in Durango (Region 9).
Others
The store will be inviting to more than just comic book fans and tourists. We would also like to welcome video gamers, movie lovers and collectors to check out our assorted selection of items. Our used video games could also be marketed to college age students who might not have the money for a new game. Around 70% of college students play video games at least occasionally (Weaver, 2012, para. 2). Collectors will be especially interested in our stock of rare collectables that no other store has available.
Primary Research
The different preferences of locals and tourists is crucial knowledge when trying to market to these groups. We decided to gather survey data from 25 locals and tourists to discover these differences.
Comics
According to our data 72% of locals enjoy reading comic books and 68% of tourists felt the same way. This information implies that we can market our comic books to locals and tourists equally. Locals may buy comic books at a higher rat, because they will be able to sign up for monthly subscriptions. Fortunately, 80% of locals and tourists surveyed agreed that a comic book store would be a good addition to Main Street. This statistic gives us confidence that Colossal Comics would be popular with locals and tourists.
Used Merchandise
Since our store will also be selling a variety of used merchandise, we decided to gather information on how our potential customers feel about different used products. The results yielded that only 32% of tourists would be interested in buying used merchandise, which is understandable due to most of them being on vacation. The locals would be much more apt to purchase used merchandise, with 78% of them being interested in buying used merchandise.
Custom Comic Books
Our business will be offering the service of taking a customer's sketch or idea and turning it into a real comic book. We asked the participants of our survey if they would like to see a comic book created from his or her ideas, and got great results. Over 90% of people said that they would enjoy this service. The excitement towards this service is very promising, and will be an exclusive feature of Colossal Comics.
Price
The pricing on used items depends on many different qualities of the product. Therefore, we decided to figure out how much a customer would be willing to pay for a comic book. The average price chosen was $3.50, which is close to $3.99, the retail sale price of most comic books.

Niche
While Colossal Comics will fit in well with the other businesses on Main Street, there are no other shops quite like it in or around the county. This uniqueness is what will draw in customers and allow us to reach out to the community. Our employees will be friendly, productive, knowledgeable on all products, and trained at graphic design. The assortment of customers includes comic book fans, tourists, gamers, and collectors, demographics that are not typically catered to in Durango. This edge gives our store a chance to gain customer loyalty. Colossal Comics will also promote creativity by allowing those who may not be talented artists to make a custom comic. This feature caused a lot of excitement during our survey and will prove to be a defining feature of the shop.

It's no question that the current economical situation is not at its best. Many new business owners face harsh competition and difficulties, however our research shows that Durango's economy thrives on new businesses. Our target customers are not hard to find and many of them will be attending Fort Lewis College, one of the counties most profitable establishments. Our survey that was conducted on future customers revealed that a majority of participants would be excited about our shop and it's exclusive services. We have drawn the conclusion that Colossal Comics is not only a viable business, but it could also become an iconic part of Durango.

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