Comments from meetings – Club Shop

We continue the feedback and ideas raised from supporters at the recent Supporters’ meetings.

Club Shop

• Selling tickets in Shop has been useful to improving sales
• Stock levels need to increase
• Larger sizes, more items for children to spend pocket money eg pin badges
• Incentive to get footfall – book coaches, goldbond, ticket sales
• Could the location of the shop be moved eg where Hornets office was as more central a location
• Could research be carried out regarding how other successful / unsuccessful club shops are ran – merchandise / pricing
• Increase of advertising the shop (and the programme) in the stadium and locally ie adverts of new sales / merchandise
• Club shop still displaying 20% off Errea on front door where four weeks after 50% off sale was announced
• Improvement needed of online shop – not updated enough and needs to be checked more often
• Can retro kits be stocked? Fans need to be involved in this process
• items / Collectables for away fans
• “Back to school” / Christmas / Seasonal things need to be better advertised
• Photo / autograph opportunity with players – designated player on a rota basis. Sale of pen and autograph book
• We need fans to be involved in ideas – focus groups on kit designs, merchandisem pricing, consistent approach moving forward
• Can pricing be affordable? O’Neills kit at Wycombe currently £75 – this wouldn’t work for Dale
• Ensure there is communication with Club Shop and the Programme
• Use money from O’Neills to update the shop?
• Can there be merchandise that is more subtle eg smaller badges and less footbally
• Mini stall in Fanzone to sell items or elsewhere in the ground
• Can we link with local brewery or sweet manufacturer to have Dale beer / sweets
• IT in the Club Shop needs to coincide with the rest of the Club
• Which Director / Staff member is overseeing the Club Shop / retail and what support do they need, and what will they accept. What processes can be implemented to help eg retail committee
• “I have been pretty happy with the service the club shop provides overall.
• I think a good range of items are sold. The special memorabilia items, such as the Hendo record goalscorer mug and the Dale 2-2 Spurs mug, are very good buys which I am happy with.
• Never had a problem with in-store buying.
• With online shopping, I have had a couple of occasions where my parcels have got lost in the post. I appreciate this isn’t the clubs fault. On one occasion (a few seasons back), the size of training top I bought had sold out so I couldn’t be re-sent what had been lost. In the second case, a programme was resent to me.”
• “As an exile, I rarely get to visit the shop and rely mostly on the online shop.
• The actual shop is small, certainly when compared to clubs like Colchester, but significantly better than the hole in the wall we used to have! With space at a premium, I always feel that having baskets on the floor of sale items clutters the place.
• I noticed at the recent Exiles day, there were items on sale that were in the shop at the previous Exiles Day! I feel that there is a lot of stock that goes to waste, ultimately costing the club money.
• This season, I have noticed the players wearing tops/jackets that I would have spent money on, that have not been available to supporters.
• I have also noticed that not all items in the shop are available to supporters online – this could be to do with capacity within the staff, but it results in lost sales.
• I think having high quality leisurewear that is independently produced would be appealing as it is not associated to the kit manufacturer and has greater longevity.”
• “Hopefully, you got my information via the online form about the club shop. I was trying to say that having independent leisurewear has greater longevity, therefore people are more likely to want to buy it as it’s always ‘current’ (i.e. not associated with a particular season/manufacturer). I have been dealing with a company called Fourex for my son’s rugby club (they own a few kit manufacturers- Ellgren, EV2 and Matchwinner). They told me they have introduced a “print on demand” range of clothing direct via club online shops. That way there is no wasted stock. They currently do this at Chesterfield – https://matchwinner.co.uk/product-category/licensed-products/chesterfield-fc/chesterfield-fc-blackout-collection/
• I know Matchwinner make the kit at Chesterfield, but this stuff looks unbranded, so if they change manufacturer, it makes no difference.”
• “I am not sure if this fully fits this category, but I want to comment on the importance of the matchday programme. For me, buying and reading the matchday programme is a vitally important part of the matchday experience. When the Football League said it was no longer compulsory, I emailed a question for the fans forum as to whether the club would continue to produce one (after the pandemic) and the answer was a resounding yes.
• With our impending relegation, I am once again fearing for the future of TVOS as a cost-cutting measure. I do not know what the conference regulations are on matchday programmes but I once again feel I need to re-iterate the importance of maintaining one.
• For the broader, club shop issue, I would say to continue making the special memorabilia items (like the examples, in my last question), which supporters can be to remember special moments.”
• Interface with the new kit supplier to get kit to junior teams and build a communication channel with those teams
• Liase with other Clubs (or plagarise). Look at other ideas
• The Club Shop – Survey the Fans and ask what they want
• Can the 3rd kit be designed as a nighttime kit?
• Could we increase merchandise aimed at children to encourage them to attend?
• Can we build communication with other sports teams using kit procurements as an introductury tool?
• Could Junior Sports Teams be encouraged to get their kit through us through our O’Neill connectons, with the incentive of free season tickets for each kit purchased? We’d be appealing to people who have already confirmed as having an interest in sport, and there could be some money that could be made through the O’Neills deal in the process
• I’ve never understood why we don’t have a presence in the Town Centre, even if it’s just a pop up shop at Christmas. Spotland is fine if you’re already going to the game but otherwise it’s a bit of a trek. Is it a cost thing?