Anime Cupcake Factories (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying & Love the Industry)

I get questions every day via e-mail or see them posted on Facebook, Twitter, or here on the Blog regarding the prices for Anime series. How are they determined? Why are they so low/high (well, mostly high)? Who decides?

If you are not familiar with Sal Khan's excellent library of educational videos, you should check them out. Here are three of Khan's classic videos that he uses as a primer for his later discussion of the economics of inflation, deflation, and capacity utilization.

These three videos use 'cupcakes' to describe the fascinating process of the various market forces that exert both upward and downward pressure on the prices of things. These videos perfectly apply to the R1 Anime business as well, so if you've ever wondered what really drives the prices of things in markets like ours (or just about any other business), take 30 minutes out of your summer vacation and watch these:







I'm still waiting for that Robotic fulfillment center... -_^