Surrey Cricket Festival
Rapid Retails versatile shops were part of the exodus from the Brit Oval to Guildford for Surreys week-long cricket festival.
Rapid Retail, which designs, fabricates, fits and supplies high quality retail units, had unveiled its new shops at the Brit Oval in time of Surreys home Twenty 20 matches.
They were then moved to Guildford for the start of the matches against Worcestershire in the Liverpool Victoria County Championship and Durham in the Nat West Pro 40.
The eye-catching shops are the brain-child of Cheltenham-based businessman Nick Daffern. He said: One of the benefits of our shops is that they are easy to transport, but look a permanent fixture once they are put up. Festival weeks tend to be a headache for cricket administrators. We are delighted Rapid Retail has been able to provide the solution to one problem.
The Rapid Retail idea developed after Nick, who has spent more than 20 years working in events marketing, witnessed at first hand the less than ideal way in which merchandise was being sold at venues around the world.
He said: People pay a lot of money for tickets and rightly expect a complete experience that includes a good seat, somewhere decent to buy food and drink, and a shop where you can properly see what to buy, that replicates a proper high street store. Even now too many venues try to sell replica shirts, souvenirs and programmes from the back of a truck, on a trestle table or in a tent. It does not make sense from a retailing point of view or from a potential customers.
Rapid Retail specially designs its shops to reinforce the brand of the venue. For Surrey, for example, the outlets are decorated with the Brit Oval logo and images of cricketers. There is even a giant cricket ball on top. Rapid Retail shops are also found at Manchester Citys ground, painted in the clubs famous blue. Rapid Retail has already featured at the new Wembley and is in advanced talks with some of the best-known names in British sport.
As well as design and supply Rapid Retail also takes responsibility for recruiting and training staff and managing the shop on behalf of the venue. In addition to its shops, the firm provides kiosks from which to sell programmes and a marketing retail design service which allows some of the worlds top retailers to make maximum impact at one-off events or in a series of roadshows. The defining factors for Rapid Retail products are their innovative design and strong branding.
The Brit Ovals Head of Retail Drew Mullin believes the presence of Rapid Retails shops played a significant part in increasing sales of programmes of programmes and merchandise by more than 10 per cent compared to 2006.
Nick Daffern said: "I am delighted how our relationship with Surrey has begun. Our aim is to provide a suitable place for merchandise to be properly displayed as well as somewhere decent for supporters to shop."
