The collapse of Diamond Comic Distributors as the near-exclusive supplier to comic stores, beginning in 2020, created a new environment for comic retailers, requiring them to take more control of the data coming into their stores, managing relationships with multiple suppliers. When Diamond’s support for ComicSuite, and RMH-based POS system that used Diamond’s data feeds to populate most of its information last March, the situation became critical (see “Paths Forward from ComicSuite”).
We reached out to the four primary companies that provide tools for comic store order management, including pull lists, and/or POS systems with a group of standardized questions to allow retailers to compare their features. ComicHub, ComicKnowledge, and Comic Shop Assistant are point-of-sale systems that incorporate other tools such as support for customer pull lists, advance orders, and inventory management. Manage Comics is built as an order management tool that integrates with specific POS systems, including the RMH system once supported by ComicSuite.
Although there is considerable overlap, there are also major differences between the systems, which can become more clear via this comparison. Cost also comes into play, which depends on the configuration of the system in each retailer’s case. Our goal is to support decision-making with comparable information, allowing retailers to evaluate how each system fits with their store’s needs and budget. Once again, we want to thank the four companies for their support of this effort with their answers (lightly edited for length and clarity).
Thanks to the cooperation of all four companies (listed alphabetically throughout, ComicHub, ComicKnowledge, Comic Shop Assistant, Manage Comics) we are able to provide this comparison of the top four order management/POS systems.
Basic Architecture
Is your software in the cloud or does it sit on the user’s computer?
ComicHub: ComicHub is a desktop program. It is an offline cloud solution, syncing with the web regularly throughout the day. If the internet drops out, the POS switches to offline mode and continues operating. When the web comes back, the data resyncs with the store’s website and customer accounts.
ComicKnowledge: Our program is not a web-based program. The system is installed on the local machines in the store or remote location as designated by the retailer. All data remains at the store location and could be accessed remotely within the software.
Comic Shop Assistant: Comic Shop Assistant is fully in the cloud. Our users can do their FOC from the beach if they want (and we have some who send me photos when they do)
Manage Comics: Manage Comics is entirely cloud based, and is a web application. While there is no offline mode, anywhere you can get an internet connection, Manage Comics will work. One of the benefits of an online SaaS model is that the application is constantly updated, we handle all security and data responsibilities, and we maintain a robust server architecture.
Does it have full POS, including checkout and payment?
ComicHub: Yes.
ComicKnowledge: Short answer: Yes! Long answer: ComicKnowledge is an all-in-one system that does not require any additional plug-ins. You’re able to operate your store with CK from processing sales, to ordering, time-management, inventory management, and in-store subscription management through our CK Pullbox, among many other features.
Comic Shop Assistant: We include full checkout and payment tracking. Our users can pick any credit card processor they want. We do not integrate directly with a credit card merchant account.
Manage Comics: Manage Comics is platform-agnostic. We currently work with Shopify, Lightspeed and RMS, as well as the gaming POS SortSwift. We import products and orders into these systems currently, and we are working on deeper ERP tools this year. We have plans to work with more POS systems, specifically TCG systems, and will make announcements throughout the year.
Customer Tools
Does your system have customer tools that allow consumers to manage subscriptions and other advance orders? If so, on what platforms (web, iOS, Android)?
ComicHub: Mobile-friendly website plus iOS and Android apps allow managing of subscriptions
ComicKnowledge: We have recently just rolled out our CK Pullbox. Customers are provided with a unique web address associated with their local comic shop where they can manage their subscriptions and place their advance orders.
Comic Shop Assistant: Yes! This is our customer portal website. No special tools or apps needed, just a browser, so it can be used on pretty much any device.
Manage Comics: Manage Comics has a Shopify integration that allows customers to manage their subscriptions directly on a store’s website. We also launched ComicPreviews.com earlier this year and will be rolling out a suite of customer tools around that platform. We do not have dedicated apps, everything is web-based. If you have a web browser, you have access to our application.
Does it have customer tools that allow consumers to order in-stock items online for shipment or pick-up in store? If so, how (full website, integration with online stores, other)?
ComicHub: Yes, ComicHub offers a complete website package with advance ordering and in-stock sales support as well as ordering from the store websites via iOS and Android
ComicKnowledge: With CK Pullbox, customers can place orders for items for in-store pick up.
Comic Shop Assistant: We have a couple of options for this…
- Comic Shop Assistant lets our shops set up with Shopify if they want to take money through the web. Inventory and sales history is closely integrated with Comic Shop Assistant, so shop customers can see if something is in stock.
- Our customer portal also allows folks to request in-stock items as well as preorder items.
Manage Comics: Manage Comics provides the data so that stores can sync their data up with whatever platform in particular Shopify) that they use.
Does it support inventory management across sales platforms (i.e., both in-store and online)?
ComicHub: Yes, all sales tracked through ComicHub, both web and in-store, work off the same inventory database
ComicKnowledge: Yes, we do, through CK Pullbox.
Comic Shop Assistant: Yes. All customer-facing tools pull from and update the same inventory database.
Manage Comics: Manage Comics does not fulfill transactions, we are a data provider who provides the necessary data directly into Shopify and Lightspeed platforms. Where the transactions themselves tame place, and where the requisite inventory management happens.
In-store—
Does your system have tools to support shipment check-in?
ComicHub: Yes, ComicHub has multiple options for shipment check-in.
- Scan & Sort
- Printed pick lists in every conceivable comics shop layout. (We had a new client advise that the word on the street is we do not have pick lists. Couldn’t be further from the truth.)
ComicKnowledge: Absolutely. We support direct receiving files form PRH, Lunar, Universal, Simon and Schuster, and we have more coming with our robust receiving feature.
Comic Shop Assistant: Yes.
Manage Comics: Yes, we fully support Lunar, PRH, Diamond UK, and Universal Distribution, and we are working on support for other distributors.
Does it support in-store processing of advance orders?
ComicHub: Stock is assigned to customers automatically, arrival notices are sent automatically, products and availability update automatically, pull list items are ready at the register AND customers can pay for their orders via web, iOS & Android.
ComicKnowledge: Customers can order up to the FOC date via CK Pullbox online, and the retailer then has the ability to manage orders placed and have them ready for in-store pickup upon release.
Comic Shop Assistant: Yes
Manage Comics: We do not process transactions.
Database—
Does it import data from distributors, if so, which ones?
ComicHub: Yes, Lunar and PRH
ComicKnowledge: Yes, as an all-in-one system, stores can pull distributor data from Penguin, Lunar, Universal and Simon and Shuster, and with the CK FEED add-on, they will then have access to up-to-date data from over 100+ vendors.
Comic Shop Assistant: We have built-in templates for Lunar/PRH/Faire/Diamond, and a SUPER-flexible way to import data from any other distributor. So as long as the distributor supplies a .csv, we can import it.
Manage Comics: Yes, Lunar., Diamond UK, PRH, Universal Distribution. We are in negotiations with other distributors and are working to help them adhere to the COMET standard.
Does it import data from publishers, if so, which ones?
ComicHub: Yes, Hachette (Yen Press) and Simon & Schuster (Viz, others)
ComicKnowledge: Yes, as an all-in-one system, with the CK FEED add-on, they have access to up-to-date data from over 100+ vendors.
Comic Shop Assistant: Our users are in charge of their own data, so they can bring in any distributor or publisher data as an import.
Manage Comics: Currently Manage Comics only supports imports through distribution partners, however we are working on publisher tools that will allow them to update, modify, and fix their data.
Does it allow retailers to add products that aren’t imported?
ComicHub: Yes
ComicKnowledge: Yes, retailers are able to add any products that will be included in their inventory, and if needed, create their own barcodes for different categories.
Comic Shop Assistant: Absolutely.
Manage Comics: Since we are platform agnostic, retailers can add whatever they want to their own platforms.
Does it clean data provided by others (e.g., series codes)
ComicHub: Yes
ComicKnowledge: Everything is customizable with ComicKnowledge. Our CK Feed provides the most accurate and cleanest data available to be immediately input into your system and the retailer can edit information as needed. This saves our retailers countless hours of data entry.
Comic Shop Assistant: Not yet. We provide a lot of tools for retailers to double-check and fix series codes (and anything else they want). We are working on Comic Shop Assistant-managed catalogs, but we’ve used a system that offered that and didn’t love the way it was done. So we are trying to get it right.
Manage Comics: Yes, we maintain our own “Rosetta stone” of series codes to make cross-distribution data seamless and allow a retailer to choose which distributor to use without impacting subscriptions.
Does it maintain a backlist and back issue database that can be used for backlist or back issue sales at POS? If so, how many items?
ComicHub: 500,000+ back issues database. Instantly add and clone back issues to your website—no manual entry.
ComicKnowledge: Yes! The retailer that is subscribed to the CK Feed has access to thousands of back issues data that can be tailored to the store’s specific inventory.
Comic Shop Assistant: Yes, we include the Grand Comics Database, which has around 2.5 million items that are ready for our shops to sell.
Manage Comics: We currently have approximately 580,000 individual products and over 1.8 million distribution codes going back to 2009. This includes comics, magazines, graphic novels, manga, games, novelties, toys and more.
Purchasing—
What tools does it have to support purchasing (sales reports, organization by vendor, etc.)?
ComicHub: FOC Order Management, with centralized ordering across suppliers; demand forecasting, using pull lists and sales data to guide quantities; sales analytics, allowing you to see what’s selling, and what’s not; inventory control, to help keep stock aligned with demand; and catalog management, with clear visibility across new and backlist titles.
ComicKnowledge: ComicKnowledge offers a full array of reporting features:
- Profit and loss
- Inventory
- Purchase Reports
- Sales Reports
- EOD Reports
- Including Z and X reports
- Items-not-sold reports
- Out-of-stock reports
- And growing!
Comic Shop Assistant: That’s a broad question. We have everything our shops or our users have thought to ask for. Feel free to poke me for more info if you need it, but this is a super-integral part of our system. I think we could say it’s “full-featured” and be guilty of being too modest.
Manage Comics: Manage Comics helps stores manage their Initial orders and Last Call/Final Order Cutoff orders through the various distributors. We also have reports for sales history, shipment shortages, subscription shortages, and more.
How many stores use it?
ComicHub: Around 125 use full POS, another 50 use ComicHub to manage pull lists and subscriptions
ComicKnowledge: ComicKnowledge is currently used by a growing number of comic retailers, and we’re expanding steadily as more stores discover a system built specifically for their needs. Especially accounts with multiple stores.
Comic Shop Assistant: Last I checked, it was 119 or 120.
Manage Comics: There are over 470 stores using Manage Comics
Any unique features you want to draw attention to?
ComicHub:
- Central Dashboard allows you to manage customers, orders, and inventory in one place.
- PRH In-Stock Feed (Indent Sales)
- Daily in-stock titles auto-added to your website—sell more without tying up cash.
- Customer Self Sign-up
- New customers prepay, trusted customers order on account—grow safely without risk.
- Built-in Rewards Program
- Incentivize sign-ups, purchases, and referrals—build loyalty and repeat business.
- FOC Alerts that remind customers before final order cutoffs.
- Preorders at POS allow you to capture subscriptions during checkout.
- Email Marketing from POS:
- Advertise new titles to customers based on current subscriptions and previous purchases.
- Advertise Publisher Events to all customers linked to any issue in the customer event.
- Bounce-back Marketing using ComicHub Rewards –
- Target lapsed customers who have not been in for a long time
- Target customers based on purchases (e.g,, who have purchased Batman, Batgirl, Robin etc, over a defined period for Batman Day
- Target customers who shopped on FCBD and have not been back in store since.
- Email late customers with all items.
- Retailer Stock Take and Order Pick app
- User Rights, allows store owners to limit staff to certain features
ComicKnowledge
· Development
- CK is constantly growing. Our retailers have our direct line, and their input helps tailor CK for a more bespoke experience. With their input CK has gone through consistent advancements, and because of that we have more upcoming growth happening. Plus, it helps that our developers are in-house and if our retailers need something they are just an office away!
· CK Feed
- Up to the minute changes on any title, CK feed will send you curated title data and is updated on its own.
· CK Pullbox
- CK POS will generate orders directly from CK Pullbox, orders can be printed and ready for pickup in minutes
· High level customer service and availability
- Our team is always actively working on your account, and you are designated a rep that handles all your questions and stays with you during your time with CK
· Coming soon
- We are hard at work on a mobile iOS/Android app!
- With our credit card processing partner, not only will you get great rates, but we are also developing a CK POS app on the hardware!
- We are working on a gaming module that will integrate TCG and tabletop games into CK POS
- For QuickBooks users, we are actively working on an integration with our system!
Comic Shop Assistant: We have a bunch of multi-store tools that are live now, with more coming in the next few weeks.
- We also test everything in our high-volume shop in Bellingham, WA (more than a million in sales each year, heavily weighted to comics rather than Magic or Pokémon) before it goes out to our users. Our shop’s staff is trained to be very persnickety about user interfaces and efficiency.
Manage Comics: Our strength lies in the flexibility of letting massive companies work on the commodity systems like Point of Sale and e-commerce, while we focus on the vertical slice of supporting comics for comic shops. This discipline allows us to build the best customer facing tools that make shops more money.
When Diamond abandoned ComicSuite, we rushed in to provide an option that did not require shops to abandon their infrastructure, and instead we became platform agnostic. This decision allowed us to become additive to a shop’s success rather than disruptive. Now shops only need to learn a few new streamlined processes rather than entirely new systems.
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