The Diamond POS system

Good news all comic book retailers!

In the Diamond Dialogue (March 07) issue on page 48 Diamond is announcing their POS solution for its customers. On the face of it, this sounds like great news. What could be better than for your distributor to also be your POS provider.

As the CBPF is not a POS system I'm not in direct competition with this POS system, but it will contain a pull list system which would be in the CBPF territory.

I'd like to list some pros and cons of Diamond providing a POS system.

Pros

1. Probably more consistent data in the files which Diamond provides. It is relatively common for Diamond to change the Item Description for a series from one issue to the next (the most recent example would be Dark Tower, which became Stephen Kings Dark Tower, then issue 3 was titled Dark Tower again). Series code also erratically changes occasionally. There were several titles which this occurred with in the last 2-3 months. The series code is supposed to keep a link to all issues in a series, so when the series code changes, the series is broken. The Diamond Previews on Windows program uses the series code to show the history of the stores ordering for each issue of a series. Another common error is for the issue number to appear in the Item Description field.
2. Seamless integration between the Diamond website and your POS system in the store. As long as they can change/modify/update both ends of the communication, there should rarely be failures. (This however will play havoc with any other system which uses the same method of retrieving data from Diamond. Unless Diamond announces the changes to the retailer community through some standard procedure, which will then partially negate the Diamond advantage.)

Cons

1. The tendency for the operating system provider who is a monopoly (in this case Diamond) to release inferior software because they can (and it's much cheaper to develop than competitive software). This can be seen throughout history by looking at Microsoft. Microsoft has traditionally waited for innovation to happen in the arena of software (e.g. Word Processor, Spreadsheet, Database, Internet Browser, etc.), then they will release their (usually) inferior version which copies others. But since many of us own Microsoft Windows, we will often purchase Microsoft products under the false assumption that it is better than others. However, after several years and many upgrades, Microsoft products become very good products. If Diamond is going down this road, will they commit the resources to continue the evolution of the product?

Questions to ask Diamond before trying out the Diamond POS system. (FYI - I don't know the answers to these questions, so the answer may or may not be in the favor of Diamond.)

1. Is the POS system programmed by the same people who programmed the website?
2. Will there be a dedicated team of programmers which will support (part or full time) and upgrade the Diamond POS system on a regular basis? If this answer is "yes", then why wasn't this done with POD, POW, and the Diamond website?
3. How often can we expect updates, corrections, and enhancements?
4. How long has it been in Beta testing?
5. Where is it being Beta tested?
6. When did development begin as it seemed that Diamond was just in the beginning stages at the Baltimore Retailer Summit 2006. One of the programmers was asking for some basic input just a month ago on the CBIA forum.
7. Why weren't the file formats and protocols for the DPOS made available to the comic book retailer community so that retailers who aren't interested in the Diamond POS but used another system or wanted to develop their own POS forced to wait until Diamond finished their POS? (This question assumes that Diamond isn't using the POW file, which I don't believe they are.)
8. Have the files gone through a normalization process this time? Previews on DOS, Previews on Windows, and the weekly invoice file have elements which are considered poor database design.
9. What happened to Previews on Windows 2.0 which was announced at the Diamond Retailer Summit 2005?

This blog is in no way intended to be a gripe towards Diamond. Instead it is intended to help the comic book retailers be informed. I happily would solicit feedback (both positive and negative) towards my comments. If you know of other Pros or Cons, by all means let the retailers know.

Disclaimer - I would be considered knowledgeable in the area of pull lists, but I'm not very knowledgeable in the area of POS usage. Therefore if I've stuck my foot in my mouth at some point above, please correct me gently.

As I see it,

James Deckert