Zaldiva Inc., a multichannel retailer of comic books and collectibles, has hired Stephen Ballard, a veteran of both the commercial real estate and electronics industries, as executive vice president to facilitate Zaldiva’s recently launched strategy of acquiring small retailers and building up their online presence.
Ballard, with 14 years of combined executive management experience in commercial real estate and in the electronics industry, joins Zaldiva at a time when it has its eye on acquiring many of the more than 4,000 independent dealers of comic books and collectibles in the U.S. and setting them up to sell online if they don’t already.
Fort Lauderdale, FL-based Zaldiva says it has already identified five dealers for planned acquisition, but has yet to name them. The company sells online at Zaldiva.com and through listings on eBay Inc.’s eBay.com.
"We see the comic and collectibles industry being in a very similar situation to the video rental business of days gone by," says Zaldiva CEO Nicole Leigh. "Along came Blockbuster and the whole landscape changed. These smaller comic retailers, the mom-and-pop stores, don't have the infrastructure to compete in the marketplace. We've built a solid foundation with our online Zaldiva.com store and have backed it up with eBay online auctions."
"Steve's experience in the electronics manufacturing industry provides us with the structure and efficiency that we need to take the business to the next level," Leigh adds. "Steve brings us the expertise we need to allow us to be faster and more efficient so we can generate more revenue within the existing cost structure. He will be integral to our efforts to duplicate the concept which we need for a successful roll-up strategy."
"When we talk about rolling up or acquiring other retailers, we are looking at comic book companies with large subscriber bases, meaning recurring monthly revenues,” Leigh says. “Margins in this business are typically 50% plus, and with our back-end and online infrastructure we believe we can maximize their revenues and profitability."
Zaldiva also recently announced a joint venture with InvestComics of West Palm Beach, FL, which operates InvestComics.com as an informational resource for comic book investors with links to online retailers. “The joint venture will use each company’s web presence to increase market share and brand awareness in the comic and collectibles industry," Leigh says.
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