It’s bonkers really that one of the only revenue streams the club does have that could generate some funds and no owner has ever seemed particularly fussed about improving it.
Yup, consistently overlooked. I deal with a lot of music related merchandise in my day job and the markup is pretty substantial on all garments - about £15 for your standard T-shirt and £25+ on your average hoodie or zipped top. Sometimes it’s even more depending on quality of materials and profile of the artist, but those are your average margins on mid-range, fairly standard cottons. Where football clubs have an advantage over many is the built in fanaticism and loyalty they enjoy from their fan base. Most people if given the option would buy most items from their club if possible, so investing in a decent quality range of clothing that includes much, much greater casual options is potentially a huge opportunity.
Where a lot of people (most in all honesty) go wrong is in sticking huge logos and initials on everything. It’s garish and overpowering, and often looks tacky. It also really minimises the practicality of the garments in terms of when and where people can wear them. Less really can be more when it comes to branding. Not everything has to be an unmissable billboard for the name or logo of the club, and subtle nods can prove exceedingly powerful. For just one example, make good quality work shirts and simply have the crest on the inside neck print - something people can wear to the office, or out on the weekend, and which they know represents their club but doesn’t necessarily scream it at everyone who looks at them. There is a time and a place for things that scream the name Oxford United and advertise the branding and logos, but you’re losing out on an enormous market if you insist on making absolutely everything about outward visibility. Technology comes and goes and the entertainment industry has gone through hell this century as a result, but one thing that doesn’t change is the need for physical clothing on our backs. That’s why record labels have long since created 360 deals, where as well as purchasing the rights to release and distribute someone’s music they also own part of the merchandising rights. People might illegally download an album or use a streaming service to consume a song or album, which results in peanuts as far as royalties paid go, but they aren’t downloading or streaming clothing - it’s one of the few things in life that simply isn’t going to stop being actively purchased. Unless the entire world decides to convert to nudism, obviously.
There is a strong six figure net profit waiting to be made on general, everyday clothing, and that’s before you look at improving existing items and ranges. The U.K. is also the leading global market in terms of e-commerce revenue - online shopping is growing faster here than any other country in the world. As such they could really, really benefit from an improved online sales portal, as the existing store is perfectly functional but is a little basic. Platforms like Shopify are revolutionising e-commerce storefronts both in terms of design and purchase methods, and offer a range of payment integrations to boot, most notably Apple Pay and even Amazon Pay, so that people can use their Amazon payment details to checkout quicker or simply checkout using the cards stored in their Apple wallets, which is often activated simply by a quick fingerprint scan. Most online stores now experience a minimum of 80% mobile traffic rather than desktops, meaning payment integration is everything. If your only payment method involves people typing out all their card details by hand - or rather by thumb - you are losing a phenomenal amount of sales each year, particularly to people under the age of 30 who are more likely to buy based on convenience and impulse rather than practicality and thoughtfulness. You’re also committing commercial suicide by forcing customers to login to, or to create an account, just to make a purchase. If you want to pick up data and contact information for remarketing purposes then you include that either right at the end of the purchase process or during the exit phase. By not offering an express or guest user checkout you are again pissing sales down the drain. The fewer clicks and fewer hurdles you can create for the customer, the higher your conversion rate.
Basically, yes, there is enormous untapped potential in both the items available for purchase and the methods used to sell them. Even a basic, fairly competent at best merchandising range will generate you at least double what match day programmes now produce in terms of net profit. If we have someone whose main job it is to put a programme together once a fortnight for nine months out of the year, it’s a bit of a shocker not to have one person dedicated to merchandising and genuine product development. Especially with that globally recognised name of ours to lean on.