Bryan Salerno got started in the collectibles industry when his father gifted him a 1989 Score Football set after he got braces on as a child. This set drove his passion for sorting and collecting with his father, and is what led to the three stores and one online marketplace they own today, known as Jersey's Cards & Comics.
Bryan and his father began their career selling cards with a table at a flea market, a decision they made based on the large volume of inventory they had back at home. This table led to two tables, soon after a stall, and then in 1994 Bryan’s father retired from the U.S. Air Force to open their first store. Along the way, Bryan’s brother, a comics fanatic, joined the business and they became Jersey’s Cards and Comics. The purpose behind their stores is simple: foster a community and create a space where customers can hang out and build their collection.
Bryan’s father was always extremely conscious of the customer experience, focused on what it’s like to be on the other side of the counter. In some instances, they even found themselves choosing the customer over profit because that’s what made their business stand out from the rest. As each of their stores grew, the stores started developing their own personalities: one is now focused on TCGs and in-person play, another specializes in tabletop minis, and the third store is an extensive gaming and collectible minimart in a small town. But what all three have in common is that they provide a central place for community members to socialize and collect things that make them happy.
Jersey’s Cards and Comics grew from one store to three from 1994 to 2007, but when The Great Recession hit following the opening of their third store, they had to adjust and reconsider their strategy. Instead of opening a fourth store, they joined online marketplaces like eBay, Amazon, and eventually, TCGplayer.
When Jersey’s Cards and Comics joined TCGplayer in 2017 Bryan quickly realized that the opportunity allowed him to expand his customer base in addition to introducing more trading card games to his local customers. Not only that, but TCGplayer also provided insight like top selling cards and new product information to make the best decisions for his business.
Delighting in-store customers with digital inventory at their fingertips
Jersey’s Cards and Comics discovered that digitizing their inventory was more than just an opportunity to sell online, but that it also enhanced their in-store customer experience, which at the end of the day was their goal all along. By using the TCGplayer In-Store Kiosk, their customers can browse and purchase products with ease. The Kiosk combines TCGplayer data and digital inventory to create an in-store experience based on efficiency and accessibility.
“The layout and the speed at which players can move through items is so much easier on a virtual space even though the cards are right behind the counter,” Bryan says. “What a great way to take something that is out there on the internet but also make it accessible to our own player base without having it in binders.” Not only does it enhance the buyer experience, but Bryan noted the vast improvement in customer service since the addition of the In-Store Kiosk –– with employees no longer needing to oversee customers searching through binders, this boosted productivity and allowed for more dedicated support in other areas.
Jersey's Cards and Comics maximizes time with image recognition and automation
With three brick and mortar stores and numerous online marketplaces, Jersey’s Cards and Comics has an enormous amount of inventory. Like many sellers, they found that there was not enough time in the day to manually sort through their millions of cards and so they began looking for other methods. They came across the perfect solution: a Roca Sorter, which sifts, sorts, and organizes their inventory using image recognition and automation.
“In terms of time savings, I would say it would be the equivalent of us having at least one more, maybe two more full time employees,” Bryan says. “The best part is I didn’t use the tool to eliminate anyone – it allowed me to take people who were useful and have them do something else aside from sorting cards all day long.”
Over three years, based on 1,000 cards being fully sorted every two hours during a 40 hour work week, Bryan saves about $49,000.
Perfecting consistency with accurate and quantifiable card conditions
When it came to card conditioning, Bryan states that there has always been some subjectivity and discrepancies leading to inconsistencies in card condition labels vs. customer expectations. By adopting the new TCGplayer Conditioning Guide, they’ve been able to mitigate condition discrepancies and provide customers with the exact products they ordered.
The guide is based on a set of clearly defined standards that also allows stores to easily train employees on the process. “The points system allows for the cards to be graded the same regardless of who’s there. I still think there’s a little bit of subjectivity, but this does a really good job of lowering that down so the same grade can be reached no matter who’s doing it,” says Bryan.
Jersey’s Cards and Comics sales have increased by an average of 65%
Bryan reflects that prior to the 2020 trading card game boom, there was a possibility that his business wasn’t going to make it. “I don’t think we could have benefitted as much and really given our chance to push forward without TCGplayer,” Bryan says. “Direct alone saved us a bunch of time. To be able to gather a whole bunch of things and be able to send them to one place as opposed to having to break every single one down and mail them has been really great. The savings is incredible. And then you add on top of that Store Your Products and Sort –– Sort is like a labor force of experts.”
For Jersey’s Cards and Comics, Direct by TCGplayer is an invaluable program by saving money and time with a labor force of experts. Direct by TCGplayer provides sellers like Jersey’s Cards and Comics with an authentication and fulfillment service that handles every aspect of a seller’s online order, including fulfillment, verification, shipping and customer service.
Since joining Direct by TCGplayer five years ago, Jersey’s Cards and Comics sales have increased by an average of 65%.