Club Shop and Merchandising.



your 100% correct, the club off field is a joke, some non league clubs are ran better , you cant talk to anyone at the ticket office, if you don't actually live close to Sunderland and have any ticket issues or questions then your f""ked, the SAFCstore website is a joke as you stated in your letter , I feel the choice is very limited and some of the quality is beyond awful (infant and baby kits).
 
The club merch offering / promotions are terrible. Even the shop still being by the stadium makes no sense. If it’s in the town it has a natural footfall Monday to Sunday, but just match days… if you do massively go out of your way to get to the club shop you’ll find it has the bare bones of stock anyway. It’s pretty grim and doesn’t match the outlook a club the size of SAFC and its fanbase should have.
 
The club merch offering / promotions are terrible. Even the shop still being by the stadium makes no sense. If it’s in the town it has a natural footfall Monday to Sunday, but just match days… if you do massively go out of your way to get to the club shop you’ll find it has the bare bones of stock anyway. It’s pretty grim and doesn’t match the outlook a club the size of SAFC and its fanbase should have.

i'd disagree with that like, simply because of the irreversible trend towards the death of high street retail. in another 10 years there'll be practically no shops left that can operate online.

the stadium for me is the right place for the club shop due to the vast amounts of free parking on non match days, it just needs opening up properly. in hindsight, it should have been incorporated into the Black Cat house... it should be marketed as the SAFC Mega Store or whatever and have stacks and stacks of merchandise all year round.

its so tucked away at the moment that on a normal match day i'd say 99% of fans don't walk past it or see it.

it should be merged with the ticket office somehow, in front of the stadium for all to see and lit up like times square
 
The club merch offering / promotions are terrible. Even the shop still being by the stadium makes no sense. If it’s in the town it has a natural footfall Monday to Sunday, but just match days… if you do massively go out of your way to get to the club shop you’ll find it has the bare bones of stock anyway. It’s pretty grim and doesn’t match the outlook a club the size of SAFC and its fanbase should have.
The fact the club shop is still at the Stadium has never made sense, it would be far better off, inside the bridges, i have always thought that, along with a few others around the region, however i suppose they could come back and say well if everything is online then we don't need shops etc, however as we have seen plenty of things can happen to prevent people getting deliverys on time, however saying that even during christmas time, not having it located in the city in the shopping district, when people are doing present shopping for christmas, has never made sense, you would think the club would make a fortune,
 
i'd disagree with that like, simply because of the irreversible trend towards the death of high street retail. in another 10 years there'll be practically no shops left that can operate online.

the stadium for me is the right place for the club shop due to the vast amounts of free parking on non match days, it just needs opening up properly. in hindsight, it should have been incorporated into the Black Cat house... it should be marketed as the SAFC Mega Store or whatever and have stacks and stacks of merchandise all year round.

its so tucked away at the moment that on a normal match day i'd say 99% of fans don't walk past it or see it.

it should be merged with the ticket office somehow, in front of the stadium for all to see and lit up like times square
Absolutely no point if the stock isn't up to scratch
 
I believe the stock answer is they are concentrating on the important on field stuff.

Not that in any way shape or form should be used for the absolute mess that is the Club Shop and off the field things
not just the club shop, but its also the other units we had around the region, at one point, the bridges had a unit, i remember it very well as i used to get stuff in it, around christmas, lots people in it at the time.
 
i'd disagree with that like, simply because of the irreversible trend towards the death of high street retail. in another 10 years there'll be practically no shops left that can operate online.

the stadium for me is the right place for the club shop due to the vast amounts of free parking on non match days, it just needs opening up properly. in hindsight, it should have been incorporated into the Black Cat house... it should be marketed as the SAFC Mega Store or whatever and have stacks and stacks of merchandise all year round.

its so tucked away at the moment that on a normal match day i'd say 99% of fans don't walk past it or see it.

it should be merged with the ticket office somehow, in front of the stadium for all to see and lit up like times square
It'll just mean the cost to lease will decrease if the demand is not there though surely. They'll still need to have premises to store their stock, so it could still make business sense having a shop.

I agree about the shop, it's hidden away. It would have made sense having it where the ticket office is as you say.
 
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The fact the club shop is still at the Stadium has never made sense, it would be far better off, inside the bridges, i have always thought that, along with a few others around the region, however i suppose they could come back and say well if everything is online then we don't need shops etc, however as we have seen plenty of things can happen to prevent people getting deliverys on time, however saying that even during christmas time, not having it located in the city in the shopping district, when people are doing present shopping for christmas, has never made sense, you would think the club would make a fortune,
Unless you're from Sunderland though you'd never go to The Bridges. The problem is stock and quality not more shops on the high street.
 
The fact there is very little of anything outside of Sunderland and the club shop that promotes the club is also something that needs looking at.

I've said for a while every penny commercially is vital to our self sustainable goal and every avenue should be explored and exploited
what gets me is why can't they allow other sport shops to sell sunderland kit, like they do with other clubs, it doesn't make sense to me.
Unless you're from Sunderland though you'd never go to The Bridges. The problem is stock and quality not more shops on the high street.
I am not even talking about more shops on the high street just one, would do the job, it is baffling to me that around the hoildays the club can't get a unit in the bridges and sell out of it, or other shops in and around the region, you would think they would make a fortune, with shoppers looking for christmas gifts.
 
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The fact there is very little of anything outside of Sunderland and the club shop that promotes the club is also something that needs looking at.

I've said for a while every penny commercially is vital to our self sustainable goal and every avenue should be explored and exploited

Thats a very good point. The club pretty much has a monopoly on everything now as rather than having a classic kit deal they basically get the kit made for them and them only.

In the past you could walk into most sports shops and buy the shirts there - the club had already made money by licensing the kit manufacturer. We even used to sell the home and away kit online on RTG (okay, it was dropshipped from a sports shop and they sometimes had trouble getting the quantities they wanted from the manufacturer, but the option was there).

It is not just the price, but also the current lack of availability that is clearly forcing people towards the dodgy Thailand/Vietnam/China rip-off merchants if the posts on here are anything to go by - and that way the club makes nothing.
The fact the club shop is still at the Stadium has never made sense, it would be far better off, inside the bridges, i have always thought that, along with a few others around the region, however i suppose they could come back and say well if everything is online then we don't need shops etc, however as we have seen plenty of things can happen to prevent people getting deliverys on time, however saying that even during christmas time, not having it located in the city in the shopping district, when people are doing present shopping for christmas, has never made sense, you would think the club would make a fortune,

I think a Stadium shop makes sense - there are no leasing costs as the club owns the site. Whenever I have been there midweek there has been easy parking and a steady stream of people, and obviously on matchdays it is rammed.

I do feel the club should be doing their own mail order stuff rather than outsourcing it and obviously the staff could be doing that during the week when things are quieter. The merging with the ticket office makes a lot of sense too, then you don't need 2 lots of staff in 2 buildings that get busy at different times.

Whether or not there should be an additional shop in the town centre is a different thing in my opinion.
 
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