Cheltenham company tries to help rugby clubs tackle fans scrum for merchandise

Rapid Retail, the Cheltenham-based provider of portable shop units and kiosks, is carving out a name for itself among some of the UK’s leading professional rugby clubs, by delivering bespoke, branded and highly flexible ways to increase club revenue. Rapid recently installed ‘The Gloucester Crew’ stand at the Kingsholm stadium, where the unit is decorated with the logos of the Army, RAF and Gloucester Rugby. At Gloucester’s recent opening Heineken Cup match against Biarritz the ‘Crew’ unit, manned by soldiers and aircrew, supported by representatives from Gloucester Rugby, was visited by hundreds of the club’s junior and younger supporters who were able to meet England and Gloucester players and get information regarding not only the RAF and the Army but also about other club-related community activities. Meanwhile, just down the road at nearby rivals Worcester Warriors, Rapid have recently installed three programme and ticketing kiosks, whilst in Surrey they have just delivered a portable bar unit to London Welsh RFC. Rapid’s units work by allowing clubs to capture impulse purchase opportunities on match days. In times of spiralling energy costs and the threat of economic slowdown the task for all sports clubs and entertainment venues is to increase their ability to maximise revenue from merchandise sales and other official club paraphernalia, whilst doing so at lowest possible additional cost. It appears that when it comes to sporting events, no matter what the size of club, nor the sport itself, around 40% of match-day attendance arrives within 30 mins of ‘kick-off’, with many people in a state of heightened excitement and keen to take away a memento of the occasion. As such, it’s critical that facilities exist, in the right location, to cater for fans’ needs quickly and with a minimum of fuss, otherwise sales can be lost. Often the fans’ experience is one of long queues and cramped conditions, particularly in club shops, where staff are run off their feet trying to cope with the peak demand a few minutes before and after the game, or during the inevitably limited half-time period Rapid’s units are specifically designed to help ease pressure on the busy club shop and bars and improve the experience for visitors by reducing time spent queuing. This provides fans with better access to club merchandise, and gives the club an affordable way to access flexible and adaptable retail floor space helping them to generate increased retail footfall and maximise impulse purchase opportunities. The company has enjoyed significant success supplying bespoke units to several leading sports stadia and venues in the UK and Europe, including significant deals to supply a variety of units to football clubs on both sides of the City of Manchester, the Stade de France in Paris, the Brit Oval cricket ground, kiosks for motor racing venue Prescott Hill and earlier this year, a specially designed bar at Gloucester Rugby. Old Trafford is one of the largest and busiest football stadiums in Europe, with seating for over 76,000. As well as the shirt printing unit, Rapid Retail will provide three fully fitted walk-in shops selling club merchandise. Clearly it’s easier for the big clubs who can afford to use such ‘marketing’ techniques to maximise sales, but do smaller clubs have the same opportunity? Rapid is not simply focused on the big budget players.

Rapid’s management team is working hard with a number of smaller clubs across several sports, where budgets are more modest and where the central aim is as it is with bigger rivals, to drive revenue maximisation by increasing sales of club merchandise on match-days Nick Daffern, Rapid Retail’s managing director, said: “It’s great to see Gloucester Rugby’s involvement with young supporters and with their local community in general. We had already supplied other units to the Club, including a specially created bar at the ground and were delighted when the Club asked us to get involved and to provide the ‘Crew’ unit. “I really do believe that when you visit prestigious venues like Kingsholm, Six-Ways or Old Trafford, or any major sporting event, you expect the complete experience. If you want to buy a drink or a programme, a souvenir or merchandise, you should be able to do so without having to queue for ages or squeeze into an already full shop. “We are seeing more and more sporting clubs starting to capitalise on the advantages of using portable retail space. It is a flexible and low-cost way to drive up revenues through maximising opportunities to buy and also improves the overall experience for spectators by minimising their queue time“.