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Internet incentives


Ian

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Last week I had a work cancellation and so I nipped down to the ticket office to sort out a query I had before going home to renew on line. Whilst I was there I spent £50 on stuff in the shop....nothing I needed or planned on buying....as complete an impulse buy as you are likely to get.

Which brings me on to the question......why would you incentivise people not to visit the ground and leave themselves open to this kind of spend.......why would you incentivise someone not to give you the money there and then and hope that nothing happened to make them change their minds on their way to a computer.

I think it's great that we can now buy tickets and season tickets on line......but why is it dearer to go in the shop /ticket office and buy one........seems a very strange marketing position for a retail outfit to incentivise people to stay away!

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Last week I had a work cancellation and so I nipped down to the ticket office to sort out a query I had before going home to renew on line. Whilst I was there I spent £50 on stuff in the shop....nothing I needed or planned on buying....as complete an impulse buy as you are likely to get.

Which brings me on to the question......why would you incentivise people not to visit the ground and leave themselves open to this kind of spend.......why would you incentivise someone not to give you the money there and then and hope that nothing happened to make them change their minds on their way to a computer.

I think it's great that we can now buy tickets and season tickets on line......but why is it dearer to go in the shop /ticket office and buy one........seems a very strange marketing position for a retail outfit to incentivise people to stay away!

The answer is that it reduces staff costs if people buy online but you make a very good point - perhaps the online price could be applied for ticket purchases in the store as long as another purchase is made at the same time?

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Guest owls_4_life

Interesting point. If you decide to buy something online you type in a search, chose it, pay for it done. If you go to the shop you see other nice things and can end up spending so much more. But the advantage of shopping online is that people who work in shop opening hours (most people) can still get their stuff without having to go at the weekend or on a day off. Also it's quicker and easier and means you don't have to take car out etc.

But it does seem strange that it is cheaper online when they would make more money if people went to the shop.

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when i worked on split shifts i went down to Hillsborough (sum 25+ miles away) to buy a new away kit a few seasons back and had two hours to do it in rush hour traffic. Got there to find out they had moved the date back. I dont go to the shop now unless its matchday. Nearly didnt make it back for work too. :angry:

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Last week I had a work cancellation and so I nipped down to the ticket office to sort out a query I had before going home to renew on line. Whilst I was there I spent £50 on stuff in the shop....nothing I needed or planned on buying....as complete an impulse buy as you are likely to get.

Which brings me on to the question......why would you incentivise people not to visit the ground and leave themselves open to this kind of spend.......why would you incentivise someone not to give you the money there and then and hope that nothing happened to make them change their minds on their way to a computer.

I think it's great that we can now buy tickets and season tickets on line......but why is it dearer to go in the shop /ticket office and buy one........seems a very strange marketing position for a retail outfit to incentivise people to stay away!

You shop like my missus :biggrin:

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there is no incentive whatsoever to visit the shop, it's cheaper and easier on-line

however, after the game yesterday my missus, on impulse, wanted to get a hat for our new born grandchild, whilst browsing in there we bought other stuff but was very impressed with lots of items available

point is, you have some very good things on sale in the shop, it's like a big sweetie shop full of goodies, fans need to be encouraged to visit so they can sample the goods first hand

we are definitely missing a trick

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Guest mrbluesky

when i worked on splif shifts i went down to Hillsborough (sum 25+ miles away) to buy a new away kit a few seasons back and had two hours to do it in rush hour traffic. Got there to find out they had moved the date back. I dont go to the shop now unless its matchday. Nearly didnt make it back for work too. :angry:

no wonder you got it wrong dude,chill baby :cool:

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I suppose because there are less overheads for the actual transaction. It's not just SWFC though, most highstreet shops use the same tactic. Online prices are cheaper than in-store purchases.

But our store overheads are fixed. The less items sold in-store, the higher the store costs (amount of profit eaten away by fixed costs) are per item until it is no longer viable to have a store at all.

I like the on-line ticket sales idea. I hate the idea that 'walk in' trade is penalised by higher costs.

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Last week I had a work cancellation and so I nipped down to the ticket office to sort out a query I had before going home to renew on line. Whilst I was there I spent £50 on stuff in the shop....nothing I needed or planned on buying....as complete an impulse buy as you are likely to get.

Which brings me on to the question......why would you incentivise people not to visit the ground and leave themselves open to this kind of spend.......why would you incentivise someone not to give you the money there and then and hope that nothing happened to make them change their minds on their way to a computer.

I think it's great that we can now buy tickets and season tickets on line......but why is it dearer to go in the shop /ticket office and buy one........seems a very strange marketing position for a retail outfit to incentivise people to stay away!

I agree 100%. Never thought about it, but it does seem a strange way to do business, by encouraging people NOT to come into the shop.

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Guest hayhurst

For me the impulse buying argument works on-line as well, for tickets and merchandise. Especially for the casual fan.

Also I wonder what the figures are for drunk on-line renewals after 1am.

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I think that on-site football shops are in a slightly different situation to the likes of HMV - you don't regularly go to Meadowhall JUST to go into HMV and watch the staff for 90 mins then go home empty-handed! Whereas, people will turn up to the ground early pre-match and maybe pop into the store and have a nose around - possibly make a purchase if something catches their eye.

When shopping online, you sometimes get free postage if you buy over £X and I've often bought extra stuff to save on postage that I might not have. I also prefer armchair shopping as I'm an idle 2-hat!

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Obviously the pros and cons of both online and offline retail have been fully considered, hence the decisions the club has made in moving as much as possible online.

Remember, the aim is not to fully replace the in-store offering, but to compliment it and offer value and choice. There are a number of cost benefits to administering Season Tickets and ticketing online, hence why it is cheaper - but you will always be able to buy in-store too.

Add-on sales and impulse buys work online as well as offline too - indeed the added convenience makes the online offering more appealing in a lot of cases, not to mention the ability to buy 24/7.

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We should take this a step further and have people who buy tickets online having to watch the match online. I see several advantages to this. First, less overheads in terms of stewards and stuff on matchday. Second, less fans to boo the players. Third, less queues in the stadium.

In all seriousness I don't have a problem with the online side of things as long as it's not at the expense of traditional methods.

Being able to buy online in the current way (apart from a few teething problems) has made it much easier for me to get to games from Preston than it was before.

I think it's only sensible that tickets should be incentivised online, but I would like to see a wider range of products available to buy with a SWFC theme. My personal opinion is that there is a lot of crap on sale in the megastore, with the exception of a few mugs and the odd bit of clothing.

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