Retailers steeling themselves to fight Amazon when the online giant launches Down Under might want to look to Spider-Man, Wonder Woman and Luke Skywalker for inspiration.
Free Comic Book Day on the first Saturday of May each year is comic, movie and manga fans' chance to celebrate their love of storytelling, dressing as their heroes and - as the name suggests - free stuff.
But it also offers a colourful lesson in how initiatives such as discount-friendly membership schemes, community events and intense social media activity have helped retailers survive in a sector that Amazon might otherwise be expected to dominate.
"We're more of a community than just a normal retailer ... it's not just buying something: it's the experience of coming to a comic book store and getting to talk to expert nerds," said Siobhan Coombs, marketing manager at Sydney's Kings Comics.
"We have people who are loyal to us but we need to give people more of a reason to come to us rather than Amazon."
Free Comic Book Day - which, true to its name, includes the handing out of free comics - is the busiest and most lucrative day of the year for comic shops and bookstores worldwide.
Kings welcomed 3,000 customers through its doors during last year's event.
The central Sydney store - which started 31 years ago as a mail order business and is still privately owned - carefully tends to its community on Facebook and Instagram through a weekly podcast of reviews and recommendations, and with events such as its Queens of Kings meetings for women readers.
"A lot of people live elsewhere around the country and we want to get them to understand the experience of coming into a comic book store, even when they can't," Ms Coombs said.
"We try to do a lot of fun things that aren't just pushing product all the time."
Given Amazon's origin as an online bookseller, bookstores have had longer than most to adjust to the threat.
The Seattle-based behemoth's impending launch in Australia means other retailers must now react, with analysts identifying Harvey Norman and JB Hi-Fi among those particularly exposed.
A recent survey of small and medium local enterprises by cloud accounting provider MYOB found 43 per cent believed they would lose customers through the arrival of additional overseas businesses, while 57 per cent said it will force them innovate.
"It is heartening to see they're thinking proactively about this," MYOB chief executive Tim Reed said.
"However ... there is still a ways to go to settle concerns around customer and revenue impact, especially given the wider global environment they're now playing in."
Not every retailer will be able to attract customers with a replica 1989 Batmobile, free comics, or book signings by industry superstar artists, as Kings can.
But Commonwealth Bank national manager for retail Jerry Macey said there is still plenty local businesses can do.
"Retail is quite a vibrant and changeable industry, so engage with that and make sure you move with the market as much as you can," Mr Macey said.
