[Archived] Club Shop ?

[American]

Hasn't our marketing income dropped dramatically since the SWI takeover, from the last accounts? Would love to know which part of it went down, as some are suggesting the club shop portion has risen dramatically.

[Claytons Left Boot]

If we get slated now for being small and crap, just wait till we get back into Europe and have a bumper tie with a big club; when they do the exchange of club pennants in the centre circle, we'll be handing over a ten-bob pair of track bottoms, without our logo of course.

Very good! Sums it up perfectly.

Hell, we just want some basics. Sod the pencil sharpeners, rubbers and lamp shades (although some of our younger supporters would welcome these). In addition to Rovers kits, just things like good quality polo shirts, sweat shirts, scarves, bob hats and mini kits.

[trueblue]

Makes you wonder just what Rovers marketing staff actually do doesn't it... I mean, no merchandise to flog, and nowhere to flog it from !!!

[RevidgeBlue]

Surely its not just about money. When you pay the club for a car mini kit or a sticker or anything associated with the rovers you are actually paying the club to advertise their product. When I see a car with a mini kit or a sticker anywhere nationwide I look to see who they support, at the moment the rovers do not exist. The old saying "you have to speculate to accumulate" could not be truer as in this case. The club are trying to extend the fanbase further afield what better way than having your own customers pay for the privilege to do so.

Completely agree, you're preaching to the converted here.

[RevidgeBlue]

I'm afraid that kind of thinking - which seems to have occurred to the other 91 league clubs who aren't rushing to divest from the idea of branded merchandise just because they can sell their retail space to Poundstretcher - eludes our 'there entirely on merit' Marketing Manager, Mr Williams Jnr.

I may be wrong but I think the SWI deal was negotiated at the time by Ken Beamish.

Wouldn't have thought it was anything to do with Simon Williams.

[USABlue]

I may be wrong but I think the SWI deal was negotiated at the time by Ken Beamish.

That would explain why the deal is "over the top" on length and "wide of the mark" on customer satisfaction.

[bubblerrovers]

Nothing.

As SWI pay us more than we ever made on direct merchandise.

What a narrow minded response you must work in rovers marketing dept, how long has the club shop been a waste of space?? could it be that merchandise could boom like football itself, but what does it matter to us, Crappy little stickers mini kits etc are advertising the club, we need as much help as possible to get more fans,

Would you be happy if it started selling Man utd shirts just so we could make an extra few thousand pounds???

[stuwilky]

What a narrow minded response you must work in rovers marketing dept, how long has the club shop been a waste of space?? could it be that merchandise could boom like football itself, but what does it matter to us, Crappy little stickers mini kits etc are advertising the club, we need as much help as possible to get more fans,

Would you be happy if it started selling Man utd shirts just so we could make an extra few thousand pounds???

Not at all, I was responding to the issue on how much it has cost us not any of the other factors you mention.

The very fact that SWI have not stuck to their deal was not what I was getting at.

Not narrow minded at all, just not yet another comprehensive reply covering the same old ground.

[Exiled in Toronto]

That would explain why the deal is "over the top" on length and "wide of the mark" on customer satisfaction.

Beam-o!

[JAL]

Reading through the posts it seems pretty obvious that it is going to have to be a supporter who carries on the merchandising of Rovers products.

If Finn and Williams live outside of town along with the trustees then to me they arent too bothered if they dont mind paying 10k plus per week for some w@nker but not promote their own brand then what ever comes back to bite them so be it.

[1864roverite]

The only marketing BRFC gets is its replica shirts and kits and training kits.

The shop is full of Umbro tat, Lonsdale crap, YSL seconds and a whole load of rubbish. There were a few scarves and hats on sale but that is about it.

Very little sign of Rovers gear such as polo/t-shirts. Limited amount of Rovers kit about. No videos or DVD's.

Whilst I was there today there may have been about 4 people in the store. 2 lads bought 2 pair of tat trainers that were on sale for £15.87 and a women bought 2 t-shirts for a fiver.

Other than that, you could buy the daily telegraph but I didnt bother as all I need to read is online

[Jan]

Hasn't our marketing income dropped dramatically since the SWI takeover, from the last accounts? Would love to know which part of it went down, as some are suggesting the club shop portion has risen dramatically.

Maybe income has fallen, but costs have probably fallen to zero. Therefore profit on merchandising will have risen many times over.

[Exiled in Toronto]

Maybe income has fallen, but costs have probably fallen to zero. Therefore profit on merchandising will have risen many times over.

Whoop-de-doo. Outsourcing to a provider of next-to-no product range and surly service probably is more profitable in the short term than running a professional service.

I don't know how much my series of Rovers scarves - wool, nylon and the marvelous satin - my enamel badges, car stickers and the like helped cement my loyalty when we were a two-bob operation, but I do know that supporting Rovers was a richer, more fulfilling experience because of them.

Little wonder they manage to lose 10% of their season ticket holders every year

[RevidgeBlue]

Reading through the posts it seems pretty obvious that it is going to have to be a supporter who carries on the merchandising of Rovers products.

If Finn and Williams live outside of town along with the trustees then to me they arent too bothered if they dont mind paying 10k plus per week for some w@nker but not promote their own brand then what ever comes back to bite them so be it.

1) Can you not read, or are you hard of understanding - SWI initially agreed to pay Rovers something like eleven or twelve million over ten or eleven years years for the right to run Rovers retail arm, i.e. run the shop and sell products bearing the Rovers logo. They are hardly going to take kindly to another individual attempting to do it without prior agreement. Regardless of their own level of commitment to that particular area.

2) What's your second point meant to mean?

[JAL]

1) Can you not read, or are you hard of understanding - SWI initially agreed to pay Rovers something like eleven or twelve million over ten or eleven years years for the right to run Rovers retail arm, i.e. run the shop and sell products bearing the Rovers logo. They are hardly going to take kindly to another individual attempting to do it without prior agreement. Regardless of their own level of commitment to that particular area.

2) What's your second point meant to mean?

Reading the posts 'Revidgeblue' for me people are saying they want something that isnt readily available and what i'm suggesting is that the way things have been set up between BRFC and SWI, then i'm suggesting its going to be upto someone else outside of that agreement to deliver what people are wanting.

If the club can waste money on a player who isnt really up to standard but it also fails to spend any money on merchandise, which one can be construed as incompetence, is it one, or the other or both, the bottom line is people are looking for a bit more BRFC mercandise than what they are getting at the moment.

[cletus]

Anyone interested in opening up a 'supporters shop'?

There`s one or two shops up for sale/rent in the Ewood area.

Simple stuff like blue & white scarves & hats, car stickers, retro-shirts, t-shirts (like the Samba-time! & Tugay - Turkish delight) pin badges, flags, fanzines, balloons, old programs, collectibles/memorabilia etc....

You know the sort of stuff, general 'tat' a kid can buy his dad for his birthday or fathers day.

It doesn`t have to have the Club Badge on it to be Rovers related.

I say, if the club won`t cater for the demand, someone else should

[Tris]

Whoop-de-doo. Outsourcing to a provider of next-to-no product range and surly service probably is more profitable in the short term than running a professional service.

I don't know how much my series of Rovers scarves - wool, nylon and the marvelous satin - my enamel badges, car stickers and the like helped cement my loyalty when we were a two-bob operation, but I do know that supporting Rovers was a richer, more fulfilling experience because of them.

Little wonder they manage to lose 10% of their season ticket holders every year

Well done for enjoying the rich and fulfilling experience - it must have been great. Toronto is clearly lots better though, so keep smiling.

Meanwhile back in Blackburn, there is a Premier League football club punching well above it's weight. Supported week in week out by thousands more bodies than last season.

For every single exile like you who can slag off JW TF and the board from afar on this messageboard (I make your number a dozen) - there are 200 hardy souls going through the turnstiles who weren't doing so last season.

To see top level football which wasn't even dreamed of at Rovers in your misty eyed "two-bob operation" days.

Nobody likes the club shop as it is - least of all those of us who visit it on a regular basis. But a sense of perspective is required - and the amount of cash which this particular deal brings in to Rovers is worth infinitely more than displaying a few scarves, badges and car minikits. 95% of the target market already owns one or all of the above in any case from previous seasons.

EIT - you display an open hostility to John Williams and Tom Finn and the Rovers board in the vast majority of your posts, whatever the subject might be. You have done so for years. I rarely rise to the bait, but as I have done now I have to say that I don't have a modicum of respect for anything you post.

It's so predictable it's like reading Rover6 posting about the Academy. Why don't you get off the high horse and actually take time to appreciate what the Rovers are today, in comparison to your "two-bob operation" era - and give the people who got us here and are keeping us here some credit for a change?

[Exiled in Toronto]

It's so predictable it's like reading Rover6 posting about the Academy.

As opposed to your balanced and unpredictably endless praise for the regime, even when Souness was playing crap centre halves on the left wing?

Jack Walker got us here and his Trust fund kept us here, not an executive team who administer Sky money flowing in at one end and out into players pockets at the other.

I'm surprised you are so dismissive of t'good old days, or weren't you there to enjoy them...?

[Hughesy]

Iv thought about this before - or even an online shop - the thing is, would they allow the copyrights to a privatley run shop/ website?

I think its important to sell more merchandise as it helps to get the product of Blackburn Rovers marketed accross the country!

Anyone interested in opening up a 'supporters shop'?

There`s one or two shops up for sale/rent in the Ewood area.

Simple stuff like blue & white scarves & hats, car stickers, retro-shirts, t-shirts (like the Samba-time! & Tugay - Turkish delight) pin badges, flags, fanzines, balloons, old programs, collectibles/memorabilia etc....

You know the sort of stuff, general 'tat' a kid can buy his dad for his birthday or fathers day.

It doesn`t have to have the Club Badge on it to be Rovers related.

I say, if the club won`t cater for the demand, someone else should

[stuwilky]

Iv thought about this before - or even an online shop - the thing is, would they allow the copyrights to a privatley run shop/ website?

No.

With a capital N.

And probably a capital O.

And probably some kind of adjective preceeding it.

Then you have player image rights, and all kinds of other issues and you wonder "is it worth the aggro"

[CAPT KAYOS]

punching well above it's weight.

Will people stop saying this - I hate it

We are where we are because we deserve to be.

To be fair Tris, I think its the sign and times of Football that we all know - what I feel people like EIT and JAL are trying to stress, is in regaining the the affinity that fans feel towards the club by virtue of such memorabelia etc and the spreading of the name that is Blackburn Rovers.

In the old days (here we go again) it used to be club replicas/mementos etc now its all about brand merchandising and the like which imo creates the fabricated (false) feeling stereotyped (Burberry) sort of outlook and loses the personal touch of it being your club.

Most people realise the income stream (as it was agreed) was a major decision for the set-up of the relationship, but as my mate said at the time ' the club sold their own soul by doing so' when at the same time they where trying to get people in the door.

All of it just adds to the 'manufactured football regime' we see and again adds to the fact its just all about money, when simple things akin to this could make a difference especially now for a team like Rovers.

Its a fine balance, and I think most people do appreciate what the club are trying to do its just another reality fact of why people are being put of the game and the negative feelings that seem to be flying about.

[bob fleming]

Will people stop saying this - I hate it

Bloody hell! It was bound to happen eventually I suppose but I agree with you!!

I just want to buy a mini kit for the car, that's all I ask, and I'm clearly asking too much. I don't have time to get someone to manufacture them and flog them on, although we keep talking about arranging something after home games. They'd sell like hot cakes. That's the good thing about BRFC - the kit is unique. It doesn't have to have a club badge on it - nor a poxy sponsor. They'd last a good number of years as well. What a great present for Mothers Day I hear you cry!

Call me old fashioned ("You're old fashioned!!") but I just want to buy some decent Rovers stuff - and get's the kids interested by buying them Rovers releated nonsense from time to time. You know stuff like, a Rovers pencil case, Rovers ruck sack, a Marceo Rigters Desk Tidy, a Morten Gamst Pedersen comedy wig or a Benni McCarthy cuddly sloth. They're missing out.

Still the club are moving ahead in terms of getting out of the deal - as they told us in August. And those of you who say "well we make more money this way" - well of course you're right - we might as well play all our home games in Dubai as well while we're at it.

[elwaxo]

a Marceo Rigters Desk Tidy, a Morten Gamst Pedersen comedy wig or a Benni McCarthy cuddly sloth. They're missing out.

Quality idea.....I'm behind it 100%!

[AggyBlue]

I just want to buy a mini kit for the car, that's all I ask, and I'm clearly asking too much.

All we need is for someone to design a template that we can all print off. Easy. Now who's good with computer graphics?

[American Rover12]

Chesh, I've saved you the bother...

Something like this?