shop and ticket office to go

[caleyboy]

That portacabin was a joke and an eyesore anyway. I wonder how may Prem and 1st Div clubs have a club shop open other than match days? They could move the portacbin to the home car park and open it on match days.

[Kirishima]

I phoned up to buy a top once on a thu afternoon. I was living in Glasgow. The next morning someone buzzed my flat, who could this be? Wasnt it the postie with my top!...great staff.

I can understand this move, however it does bring the ageold argument back - how do the big guns defend themselves. Why should they keep their jobs? The department manager to staff ratio must be 2:1 now...commercial manager, general manager...

[Scotty]

Is the online shop and the handling of merchandise for orders etc now done completely independent of the club? Previously when I got stuff from the online shop it was dealt with by the club - would get receipt etc from the club shop. When I got my new away shirt the address for returns etc was through Born For Sports at their address down south.

no idea, but guarantee you that they are taking a significant cut of the proceeds - and therefore profits - for providing the online service.

There's obviously not the demand for merchandise or the club shop would still be open , whats so difficult to understand ? We tried selling merchandise from a prime city centre location and it failed miserably .

If the club shop was not making cash perhaps if the club had been a touch more imaginative in the range of stock available it would have been more viable, remember its not that long ago when Savage was Chairman he was looking to get rid of the portakabin and build a proper shop

Whilst I appreciate the point about low sales in the town centre, I would respectfully suggest that there has never been what I would consider a "real" effort to merchandise our stock in the Town Centre. All of the tie-ups with retails stores have been half-hearted. I would also agree with Stevico in terms of the range of goods available.

We're to small a club to justify the gamble of stocking a shop with merchandise that only one or two posters here might want .

I think you might be surprised at the demand if it was done right, or at least, "differently". See below

Really just another short -sighted move to save a couple of pennies in the biscuit tin. Merchandise when marketed correctly could be a real money spinner regardless of what League your playing in.

I would agree and can talk from experience of the online shops I setup for them, and my own experience with the ones that came after.

The two shops I setup were "semi-automated". by that, I mean the order process was automated, you went on, selected the item, size, colour etc and entered your delivery and payment details (on a secure screen) and all the information was automatically sent to the club. The payment process then happened manually. The club would add an appropriate delivery charge and run it through visa or whatever and send it out to you. It worked pretty well. The reason for the manual process was that the club did not at that time have a merchant account setup to allow online credit/debit card processing.

The more recent incarnations of the shop, first PTV and now the other one are fully automated in terms of ordering and payment processing but it still requires manual intervention for dispatch obviously. The HUGE downside to this as far as I am concerned is the automatic delivery charges that are added. Unlike the first couple of shops, they take no account of the actual cost of postage or the order value.

I dont remember the accurate sales levels from the shops I set up for the club as all the data was turned over to them and the operational databases were then deleted/destroyed, but from memory, I believe there was something in the region of 1500 online orders in a little under 3 years, so thats about 10-15 online orders a week at a time when we were still a relatively small club. Most of these orders came from outside Inverness and I know for a fact that the low (or appropriate) delivery cost was a big part of that.

I actually went to the PTV supplied shop a couple of years ago in an effort to buy a calendar and a few other bits and bobs. I cant remember the price of the calendar, but I do remember it was going to cost a flat rate fee of ?15 to post it to Canada. As I had bought my new shirt and some other stuff on a visit home a few months earlier I cancelled the sale and never thought about it again. If charges were re-thought so that they were appropriate for the goods ordered (ensuring that actual postage costs were covered of course) then perhaps more people would order more stuff online. I know I would !!!

I would also like to see the club have their shop as part of their site and featured in the programme. If it is part of the site, you can do your own promotions and display your own ads or features on various pages of your site. When it is all done by a third party separate to your own site, its not so easy !

[Joe DiMaggio]

Is it any suprise the 'merchandise' in the town failed, did anyone actually see what it consisted of!

I went into the zoo shop once to have a look and there were a few tops up on a rail with a couple of scarves a ruler and a cup underneath them and that was it. Not really going to tempt me back to have a look or buy anything again!

[ammac]

The club shop is the public face of the football club for most of the fans and in my opinion the only part of the off field activities which the club does well.

It is the girls that sell us the fans the tickets for games, home and away. The football shirts etc we wear on our back. Nobody can tell me that the club shop does not pay for itself. It is a portacabin with two full time staff and from what I have seen at just the cup games so far this season the sale of the new away top should cover their cost until Christmas.

I may be getting old but I can remember the service the club gave us as fans at the reception desk before the club shop. Being polite the service was very poor. A common response when trying to buy merchandise or a ticket was the person dealing with that is not in today or in a meeting which is totally acceptable.

For years the supporters called for a dedicated club shop and MissICT is right we need a campaign to ?save our club shop?.

[Kylef]

I think the fact the have ****-poor merchandise is a big factor in this, and something they HAVE to work on.

Id like to say im one of the biggest caley fans ever merchandise-wise, i love to get my hands on anything decent caley thistle. Ive even started buying the old strips that i dont have! I think we have shown so far there is a bit of a market for training tops, think we had about 20+ looking to buy one, then theres goalie tops, small size tops - and thats just the demand off here.

Someone needs to grab the bull by the horns and sort it out, cos its really is quite embarrassing. I go in every matchday that im up, which is getting all the more often, and i look to see what i can get my hands on next. Ive got the books, the scarves, all the new kits inc. socks and shorts for my 5 a sides, the keyrings, pennants, everything. This wouldnt stop me buying even the goalie tops and training tops becuase i love everything about being a caley thistle supporter.

If there were alot of others like me, not even near the same extent, then surely with better merchandise, there would be more sales, and it would justify having a shop?

I only hope it comes back sooner than later - but alot better! Need to sort this portakabin malarky out, get something better than a metal shed! And id just like to say again how sorry i feel for the ladies....unbelievably nice! 3 of the reasons why i was proud to be a caley thistle supporter those ladies!

[Alex MacLeod]

From a ticket point of view I dont think, unless we get a home cup draw against OF, we are ever going to need to sell tickets pre-match. We will never fill the stadium and cash sales will suffice.

I believe marchandise will be available from reception same as it was pre-SPL. I also am sorry for the girls who'll be affected by this but I can see the reasoning behind it. Its not just the cost of wages that has to be considered. There's the cost of stock, insurance of staff and stock, business rates and some other costs that will be saved by this move. If it means a players wages to close the shop then we have to accept that. We all want to go back up so we have to support the decisions being made.

[12th Man]

Sorry to hear that the club shop/ ticket staff are going. I thought they were great ambassadors for the club, for the majority of us fans they are the only faces that you could directly link to ICT.

Does the shop have to pay its way? will sales drop if it is moved back into the stadium.

I don't know what value you place on fans promoting the club with their purchases but its certainly not as black and white as just looking at a balance sheet.

I would rather see a certain overpaid Brewster signing go on a subsidised transfer to Livvy till the new year than lose the club shop staff.

[us2]

Frankly this is shocking. It may not have been the busiest club shop in the country, (and I have used a few) but the ladies that worked in it were always very helpful and what a shame that they just seem to be not very important in the scheme of things at the club. Not everyone can be a chief, you need lots of indians as well. There seem to be alot of people that think they are very important and the little back ground workers should not be forgotten. Whats next no programmes on match days no music, no announcer no nessie and get your own pies? Should we bring our own seats and stewards? What about nail scissors to cut the grass

Ok maybe I have taken it too far but really!!!!!

[TinRoofMan]

Is it any suprise the 'merchandise' in the town failed, did anyone actually see what it consisted of!

I went into the zoo shop once to have a look and there were a few tops up on a rail with a couple of scarves a ruler and a cup underneath them and that was it. Not really going to tempt me back to have a look or buy anything again!

I think a big part of the reason people did not use the Zoo shop, was that they didn't get the 10% discount that you get at the club shop for being a season ticket holder/supporters club member...

This should have been sorted out & I am quite confident that they would have sold more!

The Commercial Manager should find somewhere in the town centre that would stock Caley products.

JJB at the retail park have varied Celtic, Rangers & a few english team shirts & stuff.... Do Caley expect too much from the retailers?

[12th Man]

Is it any suprise the 'merchandise' in the town failed, did anyone actually see what it consisted of!

I went into the zoo shop once to have a look and there were a few tops up on a rail with a couple of scarves a ruler and a cup underneath them and that was it. Not really going to tempt me back to have a look or buy anything again!

I think a big part of the reason people did not use the Zoo shop, was that they didn't get the 10% discount that you get at the club shop for being a season ticket holder/supporters club member...

This should have been sorted out & I am quite confident that they would have sold more!

The Commercial Manager should find somewhere in the town centre that would stock Caley products.

JJB at the retail park have varied Celtic, Rangers & a few english team shirts & stuff.... Do Caley expect too much from the retailers?

Maybe its the retailers that expect too much from ICT ,ie volume of turnover per square foot in their shop,maybe a business (owned by an ICT fan) that would like to add ICT to their range that suits both parties with a sale or return agreement for the basic stock.

[quizzer]

I believe the club shop has apparently made signficant profit over the close season. I think it is a ridiculous decision, at least wait and see how the football team is going a few months into the season, ie is there any chance of us getting promoted, before closing it. Now the staff are/about to be redundant, that's them gone, there is no way they'll be coming back as all being well they'll be happily settled into their own new jobs if/when we get re-promoted. Instead there'll be new people - probably young so they can be paid even less - on the minimum wage employed simply as sales assistants. I absolutely agree that the women in the shop are not just there to sell us stuff, they are fantastic ambassadors and I for one have had service way beyond the call of duty, and I know many others i the same boat.

Incidentally, the club are currently not taking bookings for christmas parties, traditionally a good source of revenue - as they are unsure if they'll have anyone available to run them due to redundancies. Tw@ts.

[Renegade]

Yet another unfathomable decision by ICT. The club are always going on about how we're getting back in the SPL and all that, well wouldn't need money to do that? I could understand them them bringing it down to be open three days a week or something, but to get rid of it completely is stupid. ICT are always trying to portray themselves a "modern" club and always going on about going "straight back up" but do they believe that'll happen? I'm not sure they do, and this proves that some parts of ICT's thinking are still stuck in 1994.

[Sorted]

I have know idea whether this is a sound commercial decision or not as I (unlike many who have posted appear to) do not have the benefit of having viewed the financial profile for this part of the operation. Lack of information means I have no right to comment from this perspective.

I also love the archive section and would suggest that many who are now condeming the club for their actions are the same posters who ridiculed the club, on many occasions, for the club shop set up. Yet another example of the kind of abuse for the sake of abuse posting which takes place regularly.

All that said, I really feel for the fantastic staff who have worked extremely hard in difficult conditions for our benefit. The decision taken, rightly or wrongly, by the club will have a significant effect on their lives. I hope that the club realises the great asset they have in people terms and keeps the girls involved. Thanks for all your help, always with a smile.

[Kylef]

Do we maybe think this is to do with Livingstone a tad?

I remember reading in the highland news that George Fraser had no sympathy with Livingstone the way they were, because we followed them through the leagues and had a bit rivalry with them in the cups and so on, but where they splashed the cash, Caley always managed to balance the books.

Also, i could have sworn i saw one of the shop wifeys at the game yesterday.

[Dmacca]

This has probably been covered, but its true to say that the humble portacabin and the ladies who run it are very much part of the appeal of ICT for me, and I would say anyone who really does feel part of the fabric of their club, we have and still do have to a certain extent quirky things like this at Bristol Rovers, a tiny little shop in the main stand and the young pirates sweety shop in a portacabin, an open end with a tent structure to sit under etc. We were known as Rag Bag Rovers for along time in the 80,s & 90's but you know what, this forged a good strong family type club.

This appeals to me, at a time when there seems to be less interaction between football clubs & their fans, and this has happenend to a certain extent at Bristol Rovers.

It was always nice to pop into the ICT shop with the kids, be greeted with a warm welcome, quite often have the players around, who would not think twice to have a chat or sign an autograph, great ambassadors for ICT and you know what they say the first impression is the one that lasts with you.

It will be ashame if this closure does indeed go ahead, and I would like to thank the ladies there for nothing ever being to much trouble, even going so far as to send pictures down to Bristol for us when the required signature had been applied, good on you.

Your cabin will im sure prove to be a great loss to the club.

[CaleyD]

I'm a little frustrated with all "sides" here (for want of a better description.

On the one hand, I think some might be jumping the gun a bit here. I don't believe it's the clubs intention to get rid of the shop, only to scale back it's manning and operation to a sensible and sustainable level which is in-keeping with the clubs position and finances.

On the other hand, I do share many of the concerns, especially those expressed by Scotty in regard to quality of service, and I am a little disappointed that...yet again...we seem to be letting frontline staff who are liked and respected by the fans leave. Our 5 years in the SPL have done little to retain the fan/club bond, and it would have been a helluva lot worse if not for some of these people.

There's also another thing which is annoys and continues to annoy me, and that's the fact that throughout this, and all the cuts that have been needed since relegation, the majority of fans have had the "What are the club doing about it" attitude. These are the times when the fans need to be stepping up and also asking "What can we do about it".

We have to lose this attitude where we expect everything handed to us on a plate and as I pointed out a couple of weeks back, if we can get fans in doing bits and pieces then it all helps in freeing up funds to allow the club to sustain the bigger things. We couldn't even get enough people together for a couple of days to do a bit of painting....so when we start pointing the finger and shouting, let's not forget to turn that finger in our own direction every now and then and realise that we are as much a part of the problem as we can be the solution.

[stevico1]

I'm a little frustrated with all "sides" here (for want of a better description.

On the one hand, I think some might be jumping the gun a bit here. I don't believe it's the clubs intention to get rid of the shop, only to scale back it's manning and operation to a sensible and sustainable level which is in-keeping with the clubs position and finances.

On the other hand, I do share many of the concerns, especially those expressed by Scotty in regard to quality of service, and I am a little disappointed that...yet again...we seem to be letting frontline staff who are liked and respected by the fans leave. Our 5 years in the SPL have done little to retain the fan/club bond, and it would have been a helluva lot worse if not for some of these people.

There's also another thing which is annoys and continues to annoy me, and that's the fact that throughout this, and all the cuts that have been needed since relegation, the majority of fans have had the "What are the club doing about it" attitude. These are the times when the fans need to be stepping up and also asking "What can we do about it".

We have to lose this attitude where we expect everything handed to us on a plate and as I pointed out a couple of weeks back, if we can get fans in doing bits and pieces then it all helps in freeing up funds to allow the club to sustain the bigger things. We couldn't even get enough people together for a couple of days to do a bit of painting....so when we start pointing the finger and shouting, let's not forget to turn that finger in our own direction every now and then and realise that we are as much a part of the problem as we can be the solution.

Don

I see where you are coming from but perhaps there are people that have volunteered to do things for the club in the past and have had it thrown back in there face, so the first time volunteers are asked for it can't be expected that everyone to throw themselves into it with relish. I believe that the club have alienated themselves for the fans to a degree and its going to take some time to win that back.

[Glen Mhor]

Well, I'm very sorry indeed to hear this news from the TCS. The ladies in the shop have always been very friendly and helpful to me when I've bought match tickets. Such a pity and a very short-sighted commercial decision. Where are we going to buy our scarves and tops now ? If the ladies in the shop by any chance read this post I can only wish them all the very best for the future and hope they get new jobs soon.

:( :( :( :(

[CaleyD]

There's nobody experienced that more than me, Steve.

You're right that it's been so long since the fans have been allowed to do their bit that not only are they reluctant, but we also have a generation who just aren't used to being asked to do their bit and expect everything handed to them on a plate, and maybe my wee rant isn't the best approach, but I don't think we have time for the slow persuasive method.

At the end of the day, this is OUR (the fans) club, and as grateful as I am for the work of certain people over the years they will never stop me having my say or attempting to do my bit because when they get bored or move on I want to make sure we don't end up in the same position as Livingston, Gretna or any of the other clubs that have gone into Administration....or worse.

Sustainability is about more than having enough cash in the bank, it's about having a community and fanbase that are willing to do whatever needs to be done to help the club.....and that has to be regardless of what the money men try to say or do. We can't let any disagreement we have with them or the way they do things get in the way of US doing the best for the club as that kind of attitude, in the long run, only serves to be self-defeating.

I don't want to get into an argument with other fans about it either, as that helps nobody. As I said, it's just something I find very frustrating.

[stevico1]

There's nobody experienced that more than me, Steve.

You're right that it's been so long since the fans have been allowed to do their bit that not only are they reluctant, but we also have a generation who just aren't used to being asked to do their bit and expect everything handed to them on a plate, and maybe my wee rant isn't the best approach, but I don't think we have time for the slow persuasive method.

At the end of the day, this is OUR (the fans) club, and as grateful as I am for the work of certain people over the years they will never stop me having my say or attempting to do my bit because when they get bored or move on I want to make sure we don't end up in the same position as Livingston, Gretna or any of the other clubs that have gone into Administration....or worse.

Sustainability is about more than having enough cash in the bank, it's about having a community and fanbase that are willing to do whatever needs to be done to help the club.....and that has to be regardless of what the money men try to say or do. We can't let any disagreement we have with them or the way they do things get in the way of US doing the best for the club as that kind of attitude, in the long run, only serves to be self-defeating.

I don't want to get into an argument with other fans about it either, as that helps nobody. As I said, it's just something I find very frustrating.

Don't disagree with any of that Don, its a shame it has come to this but you are right there is only one way forward.

[Lmclmm]

the club shop cant go as everyone who comes up to visit the stadium of other teams always goes in and have a look and have nothing bad to say bot us. all of the caley fans goes into the shop to get all their clothes and equipment that has got to do with caley. they tell the shop in the eastgate that they wernt wanting the caley shop there and prefered it to be down at the stadium and thats what they ahve done. the shop cant go and us the fans have to do something about it. who agrees with me

[BonnybridgeICT]

In the context of this thread, I'd like to do my bit for the club by buying merchandise each season. Given my location, I don't get to many home games each season so I felt that by buying replica kit etc from stadium shop or online I was doing something to help the club whilst getting something in return. Fact is, the only way I was able to get the kind of clothing etc that I was after last season was by making some over-priced purchases off an ex club official. I wasn't asking for anything out of the ordinary - polo shirts, training tops. Of course apparently i'm one of only two supporters who are interested in such merchandise....

We're to small a club to justify the gamble of stocking a shop with merchandise that only one or two posters here might want .

:(

I joked on one thread a while back that we were headed in the direction of merchandise being sold via someone wandering round trackside with a wee tray tied round their neck at halftime shouting to folk to come down to the front if they wanted anything (i'd seen this laughable sight happening at a game at Morton in the 80s). Sadly, I'm now thinking of changing my user name to NostradamusICT. :(

Edited August 10, 2009 by BonnybridgeICT

[DALNEIGHCALEY]

Its really pretty simple , the club have seen how much merchandise they have been selling when we were an SPL side and decided that now we are an SFL side we wont sell as much and as such have made the decision to not operate a full time shop as it wouldn't be profit making .

[L_G]

Do we maybe think this is to do with Livingstone a tad?

I remember reading in the highland news that George Fraser had no sympathy with Livingstone the way they were, because we followed them through the leagues and had a bit rivalry with them in the cups and so on, but where they splashed the cash, Caley always managed to balance the books.

Also, i could have sworn i saw one of the shop wifeys at the game yesterday.

The shop 'Wifeys' are all ICT fans and therefore attend many away games. Not sure it's relevant. They will obviously be really disappointed that the shop is closing and they are losing their jobs, but I suspect they will carry on supporting the team. In fact once they get over this decision and find alternative employment, they will enjoy match days without having to work.

Oh and I'm not sure that they will appreciate being WIFEYS. lol