"Secondly have you ever heard the phrase speculate to accumulate"

You used to run RBS and Northern Rock
and I want my £5.

Look at our average home attendance and see if this is sufficient for a realistic strategy based on the above comments. I realise more can be done but there is another phrase:
"Cut your clothes according to your cloth."

A better shop - agree but only that.

There ain't half been some written on here recently. Why does everything have to be so extreme?

They did used to sell baby clothes in the shop. Now I haven't asked anybody but my guess is they didn't call a merchandising meeting and say "we're making massive profits on this baby stuff with people queuing round the corner for it so let's not bother selling it anymore".

If they only sell a few a year (and can therefore only order a few) it would be really expensive to have them made and so hard (if not impossible) to make a profit. You have to have something in the bank to speculate with for red13pjb's MBA level business analysis to work

I find it frustrating that everything I buy for my son from the shop is too big for him (and he's a big 3 year old) but I don't for one minute think that the club should be slagged off for making what amounts to a sensible business decision, we're not in a position to lose money in the shop

At last!!!!! someone talking sense.
Its down to ordering minimum orders from suppliers & we are not like Hull's, Bradfords or Wigans fans(for e.g.) who have good/great followings & no man u's in their area's to distract from their merchandise, so where the above clubs can probably shift a minimum order of bibs/babygro's etc in a matter of months, we can't & we are not in the financial position to have stock just lying around.

I always thought we missed a trick with the t shirts.

Did the shop still have the machine to add names and numbers?

If so why don't they order plain tees then add have a limited number of designs that can go on any shirt/

Same with Bibs etc, transfers can be designed easily in this computer age.

Its not done though the computer its a big iron pressing thing.

As regards the shop i just wish you could "rent" DVD's of matches for a small price, perhaps have a "season ticket" thing where you sign up and you pay say £50 to join and perhaps £5 per DVD with a £10 deposit, lose or damange the DVD you lose the £10.

Lose 3 dvd's you are banned

You use the computer to make the transfer Rob, then use a big iron to "transfer it " You have seen them on the front at Blackpool

Regarding baby stuff. As I put above, there's probably little money in it, but it keeps customers happy and starts the brainwashing process early. There is [url=http://clothing.cafepress.co.uk/infant-bibsthis sort of thing[/url whereby you set up designs and they just get produced to order, the unit cost is more, the stock's not instantly available, but there's no upfront costs. The same could be applied to other merchandise - as I said, it's not a big money spinner, but it can provide some variety to keep the punters happy without the risk of bulk ordering.

The shop did stock baby gear, Bibs and babygrows and towelling robes! Trust me they were in stock! Whether these items saw the light of day is another thing. The shop has now become woeful but im afraid its down to the supporters, People talk about supply and demand and when the shop has supplied the customers just did not put their hand in their pocket..which ultimitly led to staff in shop being made surplus or hours being cut because there wasnt enough intrest, We had t-shirts, Salford branded ones, Malcolm alker, Luke robinson, red and white polos, Im a little devil t-shirts, Salford rugby hoodies, Pens, Mugs, Retro shirts, dvd's, Shirt printing, Framed pictures, Devil bears, Salford watches, books, car mats, mouse mats etc....
Since 2 years ago its gone downhill i mean when was the last time the online shop actually worked? but i think its an attitude thing ...When the stadium arrives heads will roll...by the way what is Adam Jude doing? because the marketing this year has been non existent in terms of seeing the match being advertised around salford!

(The following is not a dig at you by the way, in fact I don’t know who to blame but again it's not you!

)

On the flip side the quality of the goods is generally very poor, those retro shirts were, well, crap.

The other gear,
Mouse mats – Seriously, they are never going to be big sellers.
Pens/Mugs – They are really stock merchandise you'd find in every club shop at all over the country and we should expect nothing else
The Alker / Robinson shirts were a decent idea but that was it, just those two, see [url=http://www.rugbyleaguelegends.com/here[/url for what can be done, we could have gone further either with current players or past players!
Devil Bears
Those watches were cheap and nasty.
Car mats you had to be quick or you missed them, they sold did they get reordered? No!

I think we lets the kids down really badly, they are the fans of the future and if they can't have something to do with Salford they'll just get their parents to go into any sports shop and buy the a Utd/City/Liverpool/Chelsea shirt and we could lose them before we've even started. When a kid walks in a shop with it's parent they generally want to be bought something, go in our shop and what will they get???

We've been let down for years in this department and that's why people don't buy things, it's not something that's the fans are to blame for over the past couple of years, it's an area (Amongst many) that seriously needs to be looked at as I believe we're losing out on a lot of money by stocking either virtually nothing or cheap merchandise.

I've been all over this country watching the boys and most clubs even those in the lower leagues can put us to shame.

Sorry for being negative, I do try to avoid it especially on the eve of a match (the last match at that) but this is just one thing in a very, very long list of things that have really got not only on my nerves but a lot of people I speak with.

Do you know what everything you said is absolutley spot on! Its funny because whilst this stuff was on the shelves it was a proper shocker to be working in the shop especially with a certain Trish Goldsmith and no wonder the quality was crap when that was the only stuff we were allowed to order, speaking from the heart and a fan of 15 years i knew what the fans wanted but just wasnt allowed to put much into and i was young and learnig what merchandise sales was all about i really do hope that when this stadium starts being built the club has a complete redesign from top to bottom , As for salford as an employer they were crap! its a case of if you dont fit in or more so if your an actual fan then you get shat on from a great hight which is a shame because i loved that job working for MY club..Ask Chris who used to run the shop he knows exactly what happens, I was even offered a job at Warrington and Quins as a friend of mine worked for Genesis who were a merchandise company but i decided i wanted to be around for when the stadium was built. Sounds hilarious but when i left it was through the back door on my dinner break because Trish goldsmith decided that because i was resigning i was to go there and then , no goodbye, or thank you nothing! And that is just how they do things unfortunatley......BUT 2 years later im happier because i wouldnt want to work for people who dont give a stuff about there staff.

P.s The above wasn't a dummy spit or vendetta just the honest truth and to offer different perspective

I thought Trish had left the club about a year ago???

Trish did but DF left two years ago, but I can see what you are getting at, perhaps we need to give imput from FR and support to get the things in what people want.

And he said he left two years ago, what's your point?

In terms of selling merchandise, surely it makes more sense to stock a greater range of products for kids than adults?
A number of fans (me included) don't wear replica shirts despite the fact they're free with our season tickets; is there anything sadder than an adult decked out head to toe in replica sports gear? Kids don't have these pretensions.

} I left the season we were relegated, Couldnt afford to be cut part time although i dont think i would of still had a job after the relegation anyhow .

My point is after reading DM's comments the main gripe appeared to be towards Trish Goldsmith who was obviously DM's boss. DM made a comment about not wanting to work again for people like that . .but with Trish leaving a year ago if DM for example was to return he/she wouldn't be working under Trish so things would surely be different under a different boss.

Unfortunatly Trish didnt allow the staff to have a say in much she was the decision maker and would make you feel about 3 inch's small..A lot of people will vouch for that , i have no personal gripes with Trish but she did things that got under peoples skin as an employer nothing personal. Im sure i wouldnt be welcome back into the fold unless there was new managment from the top to the bottom..
Im sure things happen for a reason , and at the end of the day it was an experience and i got to see my heros on the field as real people which was great. But now im happy to be back on the terrace.. And the best thing to happen to the club was Carolyn Derbyshire! bring her back and we will be back in buisness

Re above - Carolyn Derbyshire did have some good ideas. However Chris really did get the shop rocking - get him back.
He cannot still be playing golf in Queen's Park, Heywood.

Good idea but i doubt it if chris would even walk back into that job

Very good friend and now Ex work colleague of mine, I moved on to another College she stayed doing a wonderful job in Harpurhey where she is the Sheriff.

Some of the posts on this subject are not doing the poster's or the club any good whatsoever and I wonder just what the club has to do to try and keep everybody happy at the same time.

Yes the club should have a well stocked shop full of all the nice things that the fans want but many fans do not want to pay for the goodies they want them free of charge.

The club should have an on-line store but in the past the sales haven't been strong enough to keep it going.

The club needs a good marketing person we got one(in my opinion)with Trish Goldsmith but she was too pushy for some people but not enough for some others.

We replace Trish with another marketing person who by all accounts is working very hard in the community, but nobody knows what he is involved with although Robbie Paul at the Forever Reds meeting lavished praise on Adam Jude's role at the club.

The club needs a larger marketing budget than at present but where does the money come from?There must be a limit on what the directors can make available certainly in the current climate.

The club does need to make enquiries in to what its supporters expect from the club shop/offices etc, as Bigpev states, but all the supporters need to support the club in a more direct way than is happening at present.

How can this be done?

Get a season ticket.
Join the lottery.
If you haven't got any shares then get some.
Join Forever Reds if you haven't already done so.
Buy goods from the club shop.
Bring a friend/friends to matches.
Buy a Golden gamble ticket.

I'm off now to make sure that no Rhino fan's pinch my seat, I will buy a Golden Gamble ticket, and support Stuart Littler's testimonial raffle and if we win anything can happen.

Spot on. Too many hangers on involved at the club.