Offsetting the retail problem

EOS

EOS

Well-Known Member
Official Ticketer
With today's setback with merchandise, it got me thinking about what other commercial opportunities there are for the club. This is aimed at fans who can afford and want to give more to the club.

At the moment, we have Lotto, the half-time draw and bricks raising funds for the youth academy. Pools profit goes towards stadium upkeep. This leaves ticket sales and hospitality (plus smaller things like catering and programmes) as the main income from fans for other club expenditure, the largest of course being the first team. Is there scope to do more?

Attendances have been consistently excellent in recent years, so what can be done to take more on matchdays? The fanzone was a smart idea but even after GCC was exposed, it remains to be seen whether a license will be granted.

Some PL clubs have a "membership" scheme, where anyone wanting to buy match tickets has to pay the fee (about £30). It could be used as some sort of priority access for the most popular games (season ticket holders do well in this respect). However, we are not exactly in the same position as Man Utd, who have plenty of tourist fans willing to pay that no bother.

The club's media output has improved and we should be trying to use fans' dislike of the MSM to our advantage by having more decent content to increase RangersTV subscriptions. I appreciate that copying fan media (H&H etc) is difficult as official output has to be clean. Based on what I've read on other threads/twitter, improving the quality of match broadcasts should be a priority.

Some might feel that we give enough already and it's up to the club to do a better job with it. It's also fair to say that getting everyone to do everything would go a long way, but the club have their part to play as well. I don't use the catering at Ibrox and won't til it improves.

Any serious suggestions?
 
Superrangers said:
Beating Celtc to the title and qualifying for the CL is a must to redress any financial disadvantage.
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Yes, but I'm thinking about what fans can do to help break the cycle. As long as they have the biggest budget then we're going to struggle to win the title.
 
Sadly it looks like the £75-150 we all gave Elite (guesswork) will be burning a hole in our pockets again next season. Rangers need smart ways to make us want to part with it.
 
Matchday experiences.

The Cleveland Indians used to (maybe still do) have a thing called Batting Practice Extra.
You could watch practice from behind the batting cages, players would make themselves available for pictures and autographs.
I think I paid somewhere around $100 for this, no reason Rangers can't do something similar.
Watch the warm up from the touchline, a few photos and autographs.
Maybe a wee kick about with a player or two who aren't in the matchday squad?

We can call it Rangers: From The Pitchside :))
 
Superrangers said:
Beating Celtc to the title and qualifying for the CL is a must to redress any financial disadvantage.
Click to expand...
That's actually way easier said than done...even discounting the title part.

We'd be unseeded in 3/4 qualifying rounds making it even more difficult than Celtc.

Take this year as an example.

1st round seeded
2nd round to playoff - unseeded - potentials opponents* - Copenhagen, Zagreb, Cluj, Ajax, APOEL, Red Star, Qarabag.

*not seeded every round

If anything additional funding away from the retail is more important now than it's ever been. If we win the league we'd need to invest in the squad to obtain the huge cash prize of the CL.
 
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ChiefWahoo said:
Last point you made, catering.
Nothing but junk food, warm fizzy juice and you can't even pay contactless.

Better quality, more varied choice and speed of payment.
Even if I wanted the food, I'm not willing to miss ten minutes of the game for it.
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the catering is contracted out
Whether you buy a pie or not is immaterial
 
I'd like the club to stay away from things such as mandatory memberships to buy tickets etc as a way of raising extra funds. Have a look at the why don't you subscribe to RTV thread and you'll see there are plenty of folk who are maybe stretching themselves to follow. Something like this would just be a kick in the teeth to these loyal fans.

Id personally direct resources at upgrading the match day experience with better catering outlets, activities etc to draw more punters in. The fan zone would be huge in this respect.

I don't know how viable products such as meet and greets, signed photos/birthday cards etc would be but they certainly wouldn't cost the club much and I imagine there would be room for a tidy profit.
 
I've said it several times over recent years. A membership type scheme for distant overseas bears (like myself in Australia) would be brilliant.

An annual fee where you get RangersTV, the new strip, discounts when ordering at Gersstoreonline, Rangers lotto and if you are able to make a game at some stage a reserved seat etc

Just rambling with ideas, but it's money that I, and I'm assuming a lot of other bears in my position, would be happy to be involved in
 
bullen an la said:
T
the catering is contracted out
Whether you buy a pie or not is immaterial
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That contract ends after this season.
I doubt it's feasible to bring in house, but raising the standards and taking a profit share on the next deal is surely not too much to expect.
 
how about merchandise with a 'temporary' logo/badge that is sold through unofficial sources that Fat Mike cant compete with and 100% goes to the club
 
Open up a club membership scheme at 60-180 quid per person for the season (equivalent of 1-3 jerseys) with option to spread over 10 months to help folk pay it up if needs be. Why can't it be this simple. 100% profits straight into the club. Potential to make millions from this.
 
DeeGer10 said:
That's actually way easier said than done...even discounting the title part.

We'd be unseeded in 3/4 qualifying rounds making it even more difficult than Celtc.

Take this year as an example.

1st round seeded
2nd round unseeded - Potential opponents Maccabi Tel Aviv, Rosenborg.
3rd round unseeded - Potential opponents Red Star Belgrade, PAOK, Qarabag, Maribor
4th round unseed - Potential opponents BATE Borisov, APOEL, Young Boys, Slavia Prague.

If anything additional funding away from the retail is more important now than it's ever been. If we win the league we'd need to invest in the squad to obtain the huge cash prize of the CL.
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Red Star, Young Boys and potentially Slavia Prague would be the only sides I would fear from that list.
 
Monthly raffles with top prizes at say £10 a ticket,also others on a game to game it would be a slow starter but once the marketing team push the winners to tell about their prize of say a holiday plus two seats in the Directors Box it would build up to a good earner.

I’m sure many Companies would be delighted to put up prizes and say every tenth one is a car it would work 300 fans all taking a ticket at £10 =£30k with not a lot of overheads once it’s set up

That’s 750k a year and I’m sure more than 300 would take place especially for the big monthly draw
 
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DeeGer10 said:
That's actually way easier said than done...even discounting the title part.

We'd be unseeded in 3/4 qualifying rounds making it even more difficult than Celtc.

Take this year as an example.

1st round seeded
2nd round unseeded - Potential opponents Maccabi Tel Aviv, Rosenborg.
3rd round unseeded - Potential opponents Red Star Belgrade, PAOK, Qarabag, Maribor
4th round unseed - Potential opponents BATE Borisov, APOEL, Young Boys, Slavia Prague.

If anything additional funding away from the retail is more important now than it's ever been. If we win the league we'd need to invest in the squad to obtain the huge cash prize of the CL.
Click to expand...

Those are the unseeded teams. We'd actually be able to face teams like Ajax, Zagreb and København if we had to qualify with our current coefficient.
 
Rambo said:
Those are the unseeded teams. We'd actually be able to face teams like Ajax, Zagreb and København if we had to qualify with our current coefficient.
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Yeah sorry you’re right I got completely sidetracked when typing that post and came back to it. I meant to add Celtic potential opponents then ours.
Apologies @Superrangers its even more difficult.
 
We need to get some traction/momentum behind regular protests again.

Even a co-ordinated / joined up protest with Newcastle fans.

But most importantly, get behind the team for every game. Winning matches (and subsequent titles) brings in potential big money for us and also stops it going to the mhanks.

Our support is our biggest weapon!
 
The Predator said:
Open up a club membership scheme at 60-180 quid per person for the season (equivalent of 1-3 jerseys) with option to spread over 10 months to help folk pay it up if needs be. Why can't it be this simple. 100% profits straight into the club. Potential to make millions from this.
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As part of this the club GIVE a free shirt so it doesn’t count as a sale
 
The Predator said:
Open up a club membership scheme at 60-180 quid per person for the season (equivalent of 1-3 jerseys) with option to spread over 10 months to help folk pay it up if needs be. Why can't it be this simple. 100% profits straight into the club. Potential to make millions from this.
Click to expand...
As part of this the club GIVE a free shirt so it doesn’t count as a sale
 
ChiefWahoo said:
Last point you made, catering.
Nothing but junk food, warm fizzy juice and you can't even pay contactless.

Better quality, more varied choice and speed of payment.
Even if I wanted the food, I'm not willing to miss ten minutes of the game for it.
Click to expand...
I don’t know the make up of the contract. But say we only get a flat fee from elior, then the club don’t really care if they sell one pie or 1000.

If that’s the case they are right to be looking st other things.
 
mkgers said:
I don't know how viable products such as meet and greets, signed photos/birthday cards etc would be but they certainly wouldn't cost the club much and I imagine there would be room for a tidy profit.
Click to expand...

Yes, good idea.

That's something that the Club could make a lot of money from easily, without having much additional layout at all.
 
The Predator said:
Open up a club membership scheme at 60-180 quid per person for the season (equivalent of 1-3 jerseys) with option to spread over 10 months to help folk pay it up if needs be. Why can't it be this simple. 100% profits straight into the club. Potential to make millions from this.
Click to expand...
Not feasible for families.
 
ChiefWahoo said:
Matchday experiences.

The Cleveland Indians used to (maybe still do) have a thing called Batting Practice Extra.
You could watch practice from behind the batting cages, players would make themselves available for pictures and autographs.
I think I paid somewhere around $100 for this, no reason Rangers can't do something similar.
Watch the warm up from the touchline, a few photos and autographs.
Maybe a wee kick about with a player or two who aren't in the matchday squad?

We can call it Rangers: From The Pitchside :))
Click to expand...
That's a great idea. Open up the Hummel for open viewing sessions and youth games could be a decent money spinner. Have merchandise their to sell as well.
 
Papasmurf said:
I don’t know the make up of the contract. But say we only get a flat fee from elior, then the club don’t really care if they sell one pie or 1000.

If that’s the case they are right to be looking st other things.
Click to expand...
Elior make more money, Rangers are in a stronger position when contracts are due for renewal.
The catering may well be outsourced, but surely Rangers need to have some input regards the standard provided.
 
Beer tent with a Rangers lager and Rangers IPA....better food stalls with Rangers getting a share of the profits....raffle....more small scale hospitality suites around Ibrox (we have empty office space)...
 
ChiefWahoo said:
Elior make more money, Rangers are in a stronger position when contracts are due for renewal.
The catering may well be outsourced, but surely Rangers need to have some input regards the standard provided.
Click to expand...
You’d like to think so. But, let’s face it, some of our contracts aren’t great
 
Papasmurf said:
You’d like to think so. But, let’s face it, some of our contracts aren’t great
Click to expand...
Going by the recent thread on here, this contract is up at the end of the season.

I'd like to think it's something that's being looked at.
 
ChiefWahoo said:
Last point you made, catering.
Nothing but junk food, warm fizzy juice and you can't even pay contactless.

Better quality, more varied choice and speed of payment.
Even if I wanted the food, I'm not willing to miss ten minutes of the game for it.
Click to expand...

The crap food outlets has been brought up several times at AGMs and the problem (again) is contracts, if my memory serves me correct we’re tied to next year?
 
Bring back the Wee Blue Book. Cost to publish circa £1.50 ea, sell at £5.00 giving profit of £3.50 per book. £35,000 profit per 10,000 sold!!!
 
we should target the matchday mobiles, text your vote for M.O.M one fan picked from all those who picked the winner could meet the player to receive prize before next home game, charge 50p a text.
could also have a downloadable matchday programme
 
we should look to develop an APP could contain matchday info, team news, fixtures but also sell rising stars and lotto
 
Kit: what about a brand new company, not connected to Rangers but with Rangers minded owners, selling their own Rangers kit, and donating all profits to Rangers. Something similar happened during fatty's reign I remember, but this would have to be on a huge scale. Furthermore make Rangers TV the best in the world, thus increasing subscriptions.
 
ShotaShuffle said:
Contactless is a fucking must in this day and age/

Any customer focused business is haemorrhaging money not adopting it.

Cash will be obsolete soon. And I know plenty people who simply dont carry cash.

Thats before you even get to the quality of food and service
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I’m one of them.

It should be a basic in today’s society.
 
instructor said:
Kit: what about a brand new company, not connected to Rangers but with Rangers minded owners, selling their own Rangers kit, and donating all profits to Rangers. Something similar happened during fatty's reign I remember, but this would have to be on a huge scale. Furthermore make Rangers TV the best in the world, thus increasing subscriptions.
Click to expand...
They wouldn’t be able to use logos, name, colour or design or they’d be up in court as well.
 
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