OK we have all said our piece in other threads so here goes

You are in charge of the club shop with a very limited budget

What is your marketing strategy

What goods will you sell


How will you sell them


How will you engage the regular fans and the occasional ones.

No I don't work for the club , I'm not Adam Jude, just a fan

I'd close the physical shop and go entirely on-line.

I'd have a presence inside the ground on match days with a limited number of items sold at a discount from the web-price for cash

I would imagine the problem is having to order minimum quantities of merchandise against low demand. I'd take a guess and say the club have had their fingers burned before by having to order more than they need and then having to sell the stock at a loss just to get rid of it.

Maybe the club should consider selling to order, display the items for pre order on the club website and if enough fans commit to buying then the club places an order with the supplier. If they don't get enough sales tell the fans that demand was too low and it's not cost effective for the club.

It's not ideal I know but were not a Manchester United and only have a fan base of 2-3K at the moment.

I'd seriously consider cutting my losses and run!

I would first of all ask the fans what they would want and build from there.
i wouldnt go for the on- line route only as all our fans do not have access to a computer. Hard one really but if you pay me 35k i am sure i could soon come up with ideas

Problem: less than 20% of Salfordians have access to the internet.

Start selling autographed items, I'd pay good money for a signed shirt, mounted in a nice frame or a ball in a glass case that sort of thing.

I wish they'd get a well known kit manufacturer too, I'm sure they'd shift more stuff if they had Adidas or Nike etc.

Surely untrue ? See [urlhttp://www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/nugget.asp?ID=8&Pos=1&ColRank=1&Rank=160[/url - Is Salford really so badly off, don't believe it!

It can be done if working with suppliers who have a 'licence' to sell it as Nike stuff - we have such a deal at Leigh Genesis.

Leigh RL have had to close our club store and, although we sell online via O'Neills, the way forward has been shown by sorting a deal with a local sports shop to start selling a certain amount of merchandise.

Id go to forever reds and say

"Right what do the fans want", i wouldnt go all firmed up with Tarry and co behind me id go and say "im a fan, your a fan what do we want and what would we buy"

id get my answers and id go to my supplier of stuff and say can i have the minium i can order.
Id get my prototypes and id go back to forever reds to test them, see which one they like best.

After they have chosen id go tarry and co say this is what the fans want this is what it will cost they will make a decition.
If it all goes smoothly the club would then make a announcement that with the help of forever reds as its the voice of the fans we have got a new range of stuff on sale in the shop come and have a look.

Id stick a Tv In the shop with DvD of old games, perhaps interviews with players.

Matchdays inside the ground id do the same, id get it so you can pay with your card in the ground which is a must
Id put a bar or little box like we have now next to the shed against the media room so fans dont have to walk to far for a drink.

Id fix the online shop and sell the kits with a discount online
Season tickets will be available for xmas

replica shirts and t-shirts (Players heads etc), DVDs of matches
rain coats, brolleys, sizes up to 3XL

With hard work, dedication, and listening to the fans as to what they want vis a vis merchandise and such from a club shop, there is absolutely no reason why we can't have something like this [urlhttp://fc-utd.co.uk/shop/[/url

It's true. Work in that particular field, heard the Council stat and read it too (can't find it online — typical!). The only way Salford will see exponential growth in internet access, in my opinion, is in the same way that Africa's is rapidly rising: via mobile phones. So not only do you have to get an online shop, it has to be compatible with small screens and flash-less java-less devices. Not hard to do.

There is at least 8 people accessing the internet from my house alone and only 3 of them live there.

I think the main problem is cost in salford there are alot of people that work in salford that have tight budgets and buying a season ticket is all they can budget for. that is not to say everyone is in that boat. I think they have to look at what they are selling and if possible look what they can make money on by redueceing prices that would be the main area i would look at. The problem with doing that is the fine margins for profit but a limited budget its very hard. Internet would be a good marketing ploy to use to bring more options for the shop. Also to cut the costs i would look at reduseing how many replica shirts weneed in a season because you only get a person buying one is it worth trying to sell to many diffrent brands at an high cost. These are the areas i would look at but i aint an expert when it comes to marketing just an opinion

i hope your charging them for using internet

Be interested to see those stats - I still find it rather incredible <20% - nah!!

BUT even if true, are those in that category (i.e. without internet access, presumably because of economics) in the potential market for buying Salford kit anyway?

I'm sure the way forward has to be on-line and partnering with some organisation that can manage the order fulfillment, returns, stock etc etc that all have to be spot on to ensure good service and return cstomers.

Looking to the future (and maybe in the current location) I'd develop the shop as a fan zone.

Have an area where you can purchase drinks, sit and talk RL and Salford.

You could have a terminal where the on line shop can be looked at, we already have an IT centre on site so a drop in centre there would be good.

Have photos of the favourite players on sale for a small amount I am sure there is a good local man who can take pictures. These can be sold for extra money if signed and more again if framed, small ones could be available for pocket money.

Birthday cards available to buy, again with computers a favourite player should be able to be produced with little outlay (depending on image rights)

T shirts as on the other thread.

From what youve written on here so far to date Id say the only thing youre an expert in is whingeing. Youre bl00dy brilliant at that.

It's true, believe me.



Well you're probably right here and as the demographic of this forum's members suggests, we have many supporters who live outside the Salford boundaries and much further afield. Indeed, especially given our intended catchment area, Salford could do with an online shop. It's just not going to be the goose that lays the golden egg.

There's no real excuse for not stocking products that are not time-sensitive, such as baby grows, bibs etc, because the design should stay the same. A Salford City Reds bib today should look exactly the same as a Salford City Reds bib ten years from now.

If speculating on the potential sales of a time-limited product (i.e. replica shirts, polos etc) is a problem, and the margins are too small to get this figure too wrong, then one way to go is to have it available in small quantities that will [idefinitely[/i sell, then make them available thereafter on a pre-order basis. This would inevitably mean the product wouldn't be available to you for a few weeks, but at least you would be able to purchase it. However, this wouldn't stop people moaning; it'd probably cause more whinging.

[ishould[/i being the operative word...

Firmed up?



Anyway... As TC has pointed out, the FC model is probably the best idea for a club of our size to get things going in the right direction again. No need to have anything fancy in there, just a basic shop filled with the basic standard items (shirts, scarves, pin badges etc.) and then other items based on fans' suggestions. Supporters want baby stuff? Get it in the shop. Supporters want t-shirts with different players on? Get them in the shop. Have an online shop to compliment it and job's a good 'un.

There are places out there that will let you do a minimum order of 50 items, maybe less, if the club knew how to look in the right place. I know someone who runs a company supplying merchandise to non-league football clubs and the minimum orders are usually between 50 and 200. It's not poor stuff quality stuff, either.

Then you've got tshirtsunited.co.uk - they print t-shirts to order, rather than holding stock. You still get them within a few days. How hard can it be for a club like Salford to get something up and running when both a non-league football club (with only two members of paid staff supported by a load of volunteers, by the way...) and an online company set up by a few United fans who didn't really know what they were doing can run something so successfully.

There's things that the club currently think are pointless that would sell more than they realise. Baby stuff being one, pin badges another. A new badge design every so often would sell. If people knew about it, as well.

Get stuff in that people want and market the hell out of it. It works.

Quite easy. Applique Apparel on Tib Street, for example, can bill your account every 30 days — so in essence, you can sell a design and get it made up before that period of time. Obviously this model makes the t-shirts more expensive because you don't benefit from economies of scale; but even with a decent profit margin on top, you could easily crack them out at £15 a pop. Reasonable?

More kids items. These should be non time sensetive and therefore it would take away the excuse of minimum orders. as it would not matter if they were not all sold this season as they could be carried over. The shop should ALWAYS be fully stocked with all of the items in offer. I have recently bought items that they are selling off cheap in the on ground shop becasue they haven't sold. These firstly didn't need to be "sold off" as they wouldn't date and the reason they haven't sold is that they were not on display in the shop. They were kids items (although they bury my kids as they don't do the smaller sizes) and I have asked on a number of occasions about kids things and have been told they don't have them. The reason I was given was that there is no demand, which is strange because I know of several others who have asked the same question and I am sure there are more. I think this would constitute demand.

On the whole the shop needs to be much more professionally run. I am currently looking for work. Giz a job. I'll do it.

I don't think this is rocket science.