{"id":42322,"date":"2025-04-07T16:38:15","date_gmt":"2025-04-07T14:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.licensingitalia.it\/?p=42322"},"modified":"2025-04-07T16:39:01","modified_gmt":"2025-04-07T14:39:01","slug":"mondadori-store-between-publishing-cross-media-strategies-and-retail-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.licensingitalia.it\/en\/mondadori-store-between-publishing-cross-media-strategies-and-retail-innovation\/","title":{"rendered":"Mondadori Store between Publishing, Cross-Media Strategies, and Retail Innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Daniele Mariani <\/strong>shared with us the latest trends in the publishing sector and how Mondadori Retail<\/strong> is riding the wave, particularly with the Just Comics <\/strong>project launched in stores in 2020.<\/p>\n

\"DanieleWhat are the latest trends in the publishing sector, and how is Mondadori tapping into them?
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Over the past four years, the most interesting trends<\/strong> have been related to the world of young readers<\/strong> \u2014 which is great news because young people are coming into bookstores and often get into reading thanks to these trends. Let\u2019s start with comics<\/strong>, which exploded in 2020 and 2021 and still maintain revenues nearly three times higher than in 2019<\/strong>. Mondadori Retail launched Just Comics<\/strong>, a project that now plays a key role in our business strategy. Romance <\/strong>saw a huge boom between 2023 and 2024, following the rise of Fantasy<\/strong>, which dominated in 2022 and 2023. The two genres are increasingly blending, giving rise to Romantasy<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 romance stories set in fantasy worlds. Romance has tripled its market revenue from 2019 to 2024, and Mondadori Retail holds a significant market share. It’s definitely one of our leading categories. These trends have emerged thanks to TikTok<\/strong> and the movement led by book influencers<\/strong> known as BookTok<\/strong>. Another trend for an adult audience, though still smaller than the romance boom, is also gaining momentum \u2014 it’s focused on themes of spiritual, mental, and physical well-being<\/strong>, often blending together in a very organic way.<\/p>\n

The Just Comics project, launched in Mondadori stores in 2020, has achieved impressive results. Can you tell us how it has evolved?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just Comics<\/em> is constantly evolving \u2014 we follow our customers\u2019 evolution. Over the past two years, the comic book audience has noticeably evolved. As the market stabilizes, the remaining customers are those who were already passionate about comics before the 2020-2021 boom, along with those who have recently developed an interest. These customers are more demanding, so we aim to raise the bar in specific stores with more specialized and engaging sections.<\/p>\n

\n

“We create unique promotional initiatives and events that put manga and comics at the forefront in our bookstores. Just Comics has been introduced in all our company-owned stores and many franchises.”<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

What role does the visual identity of Just Comics play in engaging the target audience, and what initiatives have been launched to create a community around the project by leveraging the experiential factor?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve always aimed to create actual comic book stores within our bookstores, especially where we have larger spaces, rather than just simple comic sections. The visual identity of Just Comics<\/em><\/a> plays a very important role because it gives the sector recognition and uniqueness, enhancing the customer experience along with the depth and quality of our assortment, the specialized knowledge of our staff, events, and dedicated promotional campaigns.<\/p>\n

Manga and comic readers are a unique audience, often driven by unexpected trends. Reflecting on the types of titles that have achieved the greatest success, could you give us an overview of the results from the big franchises that are well-known to the general public?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Manga represents almost 70% of comic book sales in Italy<\/strong>. While the world of Japanese comics is vast, the market is dominated by the most established and popular franchises. The top-selling ones in 2024 are still One Piece<\/em> <\/strong>(850,000 copies in Italy) and Dragon Ball<\/em> <\/strong><\/a>(650,000 copies), followed by Jujutsu Kaisen<\/em>, Demon Slayer<\/em><\/strong>, and My Hero Academia<\/em><\/strong>. In the past 2\u20133 years, new series have performed well, but their numbers still trail behind the top franchises. There are great expectations for Kagurabachi<\/em><\/strong>, a new series from Star Comics<\/strong>. Zerocalcare<\/em> <\/strong>continues to dominate comic book sales in Italy. The superhero<\/strong> genre, after a difficult period caused by the halt in large film productions during the COVID pandemic, is now poised to bounce back with major announcements for upcoming DC<\/strong> and Marvel<\/strong> films in 2025 and 2026.<\/p>\n

Regarding media and cross-media\/transmedia storytelling, how do films, TV series, and video games related to the narrative universe serve as a lever for publishing products?<\/strong><\/p>\n

For Gen Z, crossmediality is basically the norm. Specifically, anime<\/strong> and video games<\/strong> almost always act as sales driver for manga<\/strong> series from which they are adapted. The key ingredient for this to work is the consistency of the story between the movie or game and the original manga series. The same applies to superhero movies and their related comics. A curious exception? Pok\u00e9mon<\/em> \u2014 while the anime and the card game are among the most famous and followed in the world, they haven’t significantly boosted manga sales.<\/p>\n

Looking at the most successful titles, how does storytelling shift across different media?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the world of Japanese comics<\/strong>, storytelling always starts with the manga<\/strong>, which is then adapted into anime<\/strong>. However, cinematic productions \u2014 whether in theaters or on major streaming platforms \u2014 often give an immediate sales boost to the manga, even when it\u2019s a well-established franchise. In 2023, for example, the release of the One Piece<\/em> <\/strong>live-action series on Netflix<\/strong> resulted in an instant and significant increase in manga sales.<\/p>\n

In the American superhero world, new movie releases are essential for keeping the publishing sector alive \u2014 especially in Italy, where it has a long tradition. As mentioned earlier, COVID slowed comic book sales due to the halt in film production, but there are high expectations for 2025 and 2026.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Looking ahead, how do you see the future of physical retail vs digital? What role does e-commerce play in your strategy? Does the physical store still have a key role?<\/strong><\/p>\n

For Mondadori Retail<\/strong>, the physical side of the business remains predominant, with over 530 bookstores <\/strong>nationwide. At the same time, we are revamping our e-commerce platform to better align it with our omnichannel strategy<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Daniele Mariani shared with us the latest trends in the publishing sector and how Mondadori Retail is riding the wave, particularly with the Just Comics project launched in stores in 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":42048,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1350],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMondadori Store between Publishing, Cross-Media Strategies, and Retail Innovation - Licensing Italia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Daniele Mariani shared with us the latest trends in the publishing sector and how Mondadori Retail is riding the wave.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.licensingitalia.it\/en\/mondadori-store-between-publishing-cross-media-strategies-and-retail-innovation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mondadori Store between Publishing, Cross-Media Strategies, and Retail Innovation - 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