Football clubs sign up company
Rapid Retail, the stadia and events retail unit specialist, is proving to be one of the most successful signings of the new football season.
While football clubs have been spending millions on new players, they have also been busy recruiting Rapid Retail. The Cheltenham-based company, only established last year, designs, constructs, supplies and fits high quality shops and kiosks, which are used to sell merchandise and programmes. The firm has secured new deals with Premiership and Championship clubs in England and is set to announce further contracts. In the last couple of months Rapid Retail has generated business to the value of nearly half a million pounds.
Premier League teams Aston Villa, Manchester City and West Ham have all signed up the company and Rapid Retail units are already in place at Crystal Palace in the Coca Cola Championship and Hearts in the Scottish Premier League. An agreement with Doncaster in League One will lead to the delivery of seven shops and kiosks next month.
Rapid Retail’s growing links with Manchester City reflect the exciting developments at the club, which was bought by the former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra just before the start of the season. He installed Sven Goran Erikksson as manager who has led his team to Manchester City’s best ever start in the Premier League. As interest in the club grows, Rapid Retail is supplying one larger shop at the Eastlands stadium. The previous one is going to be used as a special shop selling only merchandise for junior fans. Manchester City also has 10 Rapid Retail programme kiosks, four of which offer club merchandise. Next summer, when the team undertakes an overseas tour, a Rapid Retail shop will accompany it the footballers.
The club’s Head of Retail Duncan Martin said: “We have an excellent relationship with Rapid Retail. Manchester City’s profile has never been higher and we need a retailing partner who can help us go forward. It is important that our supporters enjoy the whole experience of match day, and that includes shopping. Rapid Retail has ensured that is the case.”
Rapid Retail’s business is not just confined to football or the UK. It is sending 13 programme kiosks to the Stade de France in Paris for the next month’s Rugby World Cup. Organisers of the Cowes sailing week on the Isle of Wight took one unit for the duration of the event. Two shops were supplied to the Brit Oval, helping generate significant business during Surrey County Cricket Club’s Twenty 20 matches and England’s Test Match against India, with the design and supply of on-site merchandise sale units. Other exciting deals are in the pipeline with enquiries worldwide.
Rapid Retail is the brainchild of Nick Daffern, who has worked in events marketing for more than 20 years. During that time he saw facilities for fans at stadia improve in most areas apart from the quality of the shops and kiosks where they were expected to spend their money.
Nick said: “The Premier League rightly considers itself the best football league in the world. Supporters want to buy their replica shirts and programmes but, until Rapid Retail came along, many clubs’ approach to retailing was a bit old fashioned with expensive shirts sold from trestle tables and programmes flogged as if they were 40p evening newspapers. Our aim is to make the whole experience of attending a match enjoyable and comfortable, but obviously we have no influence over the result!”
Rapid Retail is able to offer its clients shops and kiosks which are branded with the client’s colours and logos. At Aston Villa, for example, shops are painted in the club’s famous claret and sky blue colours. Manchester City’s units are sky blue and the Brit Oval shops feature images of cricketers - there is even a giant cricket ball on the roof.
“Any retailer knows that one of the main ways of attracting customers is to have an eye-catching shop window. This, in effect, is what we are doing,” said Nick.
With the new football season underway he is confident Rapid Retail will continue to prove to be an astute signing. The same might not be true for all the multi-million pound buys performing on the pitch.
