Merchandise : Wed Apr 27, 2011 7:57 am  

I was delighted to take my 4 year old Daughter to the game on Monday and she enjoyed it very much. Prior to the game I promised her a gift from the club shop. Having enterted the ground the club shop consisted of a table with the goods on.

The selection of goods on offer was very poor. Cheap polo shirts, no badges etc. She ended up wanting a Cougar teddy which now calls Freddy! The cost was £10 which I didn't mind paying and was told it cost the club £8 to buy them.

I am a keen follower of rugby league and regularly buy gear from RL sites and e-bay. From my experience on e-bay there is always people wanting RL goods whether new or used!. I believe the fans want replica goods and teamwear. The polo shirts the players wear look smart as do the tracksuit tops. Has the club every considered opening these up for fans to buy as I for one would buy one tomorrow, but really don't want a cheap fruit of the loom polo with cheap Cougar badge on. I am told the club don't have any shorts for sale, why not? My point is, are we doing as much as we could to maximize the sale of merchandise. Look at the football clubs, merchandise is a massive income generator. Other clubs can do it. If you look at many SL sites, you can buy replica gear (shirts, shorts, socks etc.) and training gear.

I applaud the club for it's efforts of late, but the one thing the current board don't appear to possess that Messers O'Neill and Smith did is maybe foresight. Back then we speculated to accumulate and how nearly we came. I appreciate the club may well be working to small margins but I think we could be missing a cheap win here.

Re: Merchandise : Wed Apr 27, 2011 9:42 am  

I also think those polo shirts the players wear look pretty smart.

Is there anyone at the club who has proper retail experience?

Surely everything that the players wear should be available in the club shop be it kit, training gear etc. It's got to be worthwhile to the club for the sake of ordering a few extra.

Re: Merchandise : Wed Apr 27, 2011 11:36 am  

Additionally, the players gear has sponsors logo's etc on. What a potential good selling point for the club. Not only will the players wear the gear with Companies logo's on, but fans too. The sponsors could have their Company logo's seen far and wide.

Re: Merchandise : Mon May 30, 2011 10:17 am  

Just found the link below from the Cougars website. I have to say I quite like this selection and it can be personalised too. Personally, I would still like to club to offer for sale teamewear, i.e. the polo shirts/tracksuits the players wear but maybe there's a reason why not. This is definately a start though. Lets see how many personalised t-shirts we can see down at Cougar park! http://www.lsprints.co.uk/keighley-coug ... c-65-c.asp

Just found the link below from the Cougars website. I have to say I quite like this selection and it can be personalised too. Personally, I would still like to club to offer for sale teamewear, i.e. the polo shirts/tracksuits the players wear but maybe there's a reason why not. This is definately a start though. Lets see how many personalised t-shirts we can see down at Cougar park! http://www.lsprints.co.uk/keighley-coug ... c-65-c.asp

Re: Merchandise : Mon May 30, 2011 11:01 am  

Very good

Re: Merchandise : Mon May 30, 2011 4:03 pm  

This is one area ,the club really are on a rock and a hard place.

If they buy loads of stuff, to suit all needs and don't sell it all. They are then making a loss.

If they only buy some poor quality stuff. Then people wont buy it.

Re: Merchandise : Mon May 30, 2011 6:37 pm  

guess who wrote:

This is one area ,the club really are on a rock and a hard place.

If they buy loads of stuff, to suit all needs and don't sell it all. They are then making a loss.

If they only buy some poor quality stuff. Then people wont buy it.

It's a bit of a quandary. As you it put people won't buy poor quality and it tarnishes the brand as well.

Likewise folk are less likely to buy if they can't have it there and then. The lead times for this season's shirts was excessive.

I think it would help if the club could find a supplier that could produce with a short lead time so that they could have enough merchandise to sell there and then but not have to hold an excessive amount of stock at the same time.

Re: Merchandise : Tue May 31, 2011 9:53 am  

But why should the Club have to buy the merchandise in the first place?

Surely, with LS Prints being a Keighley company and the Cougars having already licenced them to produce mercandise with the Cougar brand then there must be a two-way relationship already in existence.

It is always difficult to buy merchandise from the internet when you have no idea about its quality and have to rely on images so, to kick-start sales, why doesn't the Club approach LS Prints and ask them for a basic supply of all of the items on a 'sale or return' basis so that they can be seen and bought by supporters on match days.

A link to LS Prints' Cougars page could also be established on the Cougars' website so that the Cougars would receive commission for any purchases made via the link .

Re: Merchandise : Tue May 31, 2011 10:10 am  

Sale or return is always a difficult one when you have a product with a unique design and a finite shelf life like club merchandise.

A firm will be unwilling to take back stock that has the cougar logo on because it would be almost impossible to resell at a profit.

Re: Merchandise : Tue May 31, 2011 12:30 pm  

I fully inderstand that 'Stealth' but, if LS have stock that's simply sitting on their shelves then surely it would be better for them to try to shift it on match days?

They surely don't do 'one-off' production runs do they?