Would there be much of a market in India for JRPGs/Anime/Manga etc.?

[heidi2521]

Due to the general lack of means to get them in India I'm considering starting a business dedicated to the import and sale Anime, Manga, JRPGs and other merch. I wonder if any of you would be interested in buying such products, or know anyone who would be interested in doing so.

What titles would you recommend starting the business with?

I'm personally considering

JRPG:
Ni No Kuni
Lost Odessey
Valkyria Chronicles
Disagea
Shin Megami Tensei

Anime & Manga:
Blue Exorsist
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Berserk
Dragon Ball
Naruto
Akira
Planetes

I'll try and include figurines, posters and other merch if possible

 

[Extreme Gamer]

If any of you are concerned about this guy's legitimacy, then I assure you that he's legit.

@OP: You will need a much bigger inventory than that to be viable.

 

[heidi2521]

@OP: You will need a much bigger inventory than that to be viable.

I know. I Just plan to keep this as standing inventory which i'll ship out in 2-3 days. I'll procure most of the items at the moment of order, so that i am never left with too much stock.

I chose these, as at worst case, i'll have to use them myself.

 

[CommanderShawnzer]

@OP : don't waste your money.
people are used to getting Animes for free here.so they won't buy your stuff

 

[Nerevarine]

^exactly

 

[heidi2521]

@CommanderShawnzer What about unpirateable goods like PS3 games, Figurines, Cosplay etc?

Movies and music are pirated to death here yet we see significant sales.

I'm certain anime fans would be willing to buy one or two for the sake of a collection?

Manga must have enough of a following for sites like Flipkart and Infibeam to sell the quantities they do.

 

[Extreme Gamer]

@CommanderShawnzer What about unpirateable goods like PS3 games, Figurines, Cosplay etc?

Movies and music are pirated to death here yet we see significant sales.

I'm certain anime fans would be willing to buy one or two for the sake of a collection?

Manga must have enough of a following for sites like Flipkart and Infibeam to sell the quantities they do.

When people show their collections here, they're usually pirated versions inside voluminous HDDs. That said, books, PS3 games and merch are not really piratable, but the market isn't that big.
To get to your target audience you will have to spend a LOT and get yourself advertised.

 

[whitestar_999]

first of all you can not officially sell anime/manga here anyway because that would require a marketing license which only companies can obtain & popular anime series like naruto,bleach etc are already licensed by animax in India & same is the case with manga(anything on flipkart/infibeam is licensed).in case of anime/manga it is pirating only if you download a series which is licensed in your country which are very few in countries like India so on an average at least 70-80% of anime collection of any usual anime downloader is legit in India.

 

[gagan_kumar]

first of all you can not officially sell anime/manga here anyway because that would require a marketing license which only companies can obtain & popular anime series like naruto,bleach etc are already licensed by animax in India & same is the case with manga(anything on flipkart/infibeam is licensed).in case of anime/manga it is pirating only if you download a series which is licensed in your country which are very few in countries like India so on an average at least 70-80% of anime collection of any usual anime downloader is legit in India.

lol didn't knew that.... so the animes that are not licensed in india are not pirated....??

 

[whitestar_999]

lol didn't knew that.... so the animes that are not licensed in india are not pirated....??

yes.this is the reason why there are so many anime torrent/sharing sites based in USA without any fear because as long as they don't distribute licensed series in USA there is nothing to fear.

 

[heidi2521]

first of all you can not officially sell anime/manga here anyway because that would require a marketing license which only companies can obtain & popular anime series like naruto,bleach etc are already licensed by animax in India & same is the case with manga(anything on flipkart/infibeam is licensed).

I believe you need a license to produce and publicly broadcast the media, you don't need one to sell it. I really doubt that Flipkart and Infibeam need licenses to sell products they got from their distributors.

The only licences i'll need will be from the govt. to register the company, to get import licenses etc.

in countries like India so on an average at least 70-80% of anime collection of any usual anime downloader is legit in India

 

[gagan_kumar]

yes.this is the reason why there are so many anime torrent/sharing sites based in USA without any fear because as long as they don't distribute licensed series in USA there is nothing to fear.

seriously guys the distributors are making a bunch of fools out of themselves...
1st if they provide licenses we'll have more English dub version than sub
2nd even if they provide license anime sharing will not stop but they can generate a huge revenue out of those guys who r out there to buy that stuff....

 

[whitestar_999]

seriously guys the distributors are making a bunch of fools out of themselves...
1st if they provide licenses we'll have more English dub version than sub
2nd even if they provide license anime sharing will not stop but they can generate a huge revenue out of those guys who r out there to buy that stuff....

the thing is it is hard to find good japanese english translators(just see some terrible dubs) not to mention marketing expenses in a country like USA(where bigger is better) so business-wise it only makes sense to license popular series which can be aired on US TV channels with a good viewership like naruto,bleach,one piece etc.there are people who will buy stuff but even then it will not be enough to cover all the expenses so japanese companies mainly focus on their home market to get their revenue.