Boro Mini Kits Stock

fmttmadmin said:
Am giving you the answers I was given when posing the question to the club officials which is what I have been asked to do.
I would ask you to be more civil in your replies to me.
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It’s not a personal attack on you Rob, I apologise if it came across as that. There is legitimate frustration that the club are telling you that everything is proceeding according to plan and things are great, but when any of us walk in the club shop it’s a very different story.

As I say, no kids home or away shirt available barring one size in the away shirt.

None of the kids away training shirts available barring one size.

None of the kids home training tracksuit tops available.

None of the kids away tracksuits available barring one size.

Even went to get one of the kids waterproof jackets, away sold out and the home one only available in smallest size.

I went in looking to spend about £150 and walked out with nothing.

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Yet again an example of the club not looking after the supporters. It's not acceptable for kits to be sold out in August/September with no further stock arranged. In the past it may have been the case that they ordered far too much stock. It's evident now that they are ordering far too little. Maybe somewhere in between is what they should be looking at as from what I can see there are a lot of people wanting to spend their money and the club are missing out.
 
Head in the sand approach to customers.

It sounds like it’s run as an after thought like a school tuck shop. Jo-Ann’s response sounds like she is looking at the profit margin % rather than the money as if that’s of more benefit to the club!
 
fmttmadmin said:
I have brought this up and they totally dispute it. They reckon in the past they carried too much stock and now through careful stock control they have no waste. No end of season sale sell off and are selling record amounts. I have personally brought this up several this season at fans request. But have been told stock levels are following plans. And they say very successfully.
Shop turning over £2m a year now.
Last season was a massive problem.largely caused by Brexit.
What I will try and do is get a Q and A with Jo-Ann the manager and see if we can put the questions to her.
She answered questions at Boro Supporters 2020 last month and gave lots of facts and figures to support her assertions.
She also says they she will always return faulty goods.
But says that less than 1% of shirts this season have needed to be returned. So, this is a long way from the perception on social media and is an amazingly low total.
It was really encouraging that Errea invited fans, collectors and fan designers to a special zoom to their factory design shop last week to listen to feedback about favourite shirts, quality, quantity etc and fan choice in future designs.
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So we're wrong and there's loads of kits available? We're clearly not wrong and the club are gaslighting with their suggestion we are.

Rob, when you next bring it up use the screenshots you've been provided with to push them - they're lying.
 
Primus84 said:
So we're wrong and there's loads of kits available? We're clearly not wrong and the club are gaslighting with their suggestion we are.

Rob, when you next bring it up use the screenshots you've been provided with to push them - they're lying.
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OK. I will see if I can ask Jo-Ann some questions. See if we can get some answers for you.
 
I've said it repeatedly because it's been my biggest bugbear for several years but the commercial side of the club is amateur and it's run like a task on the Apprentice.

gravy173 said:
Head in the sand approach to customers.

It sounds like it’s run as an after thought like a school tuck shop. Jo-Ann’s response sounds like she is looking at the profit margin % rather than the money as if that’s of more benefit to the club!
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100%. They've heard Alan Sugar talk about margin and that's all far as they've got with their model. Somebody needs to teach them about volume.

This is all on Gibson. His parochial attitude has caused this. He's been in charge for 30+ years during a massive boom in English football and he hasn't grown the fanbase at all. I've never met a Boro fan that wasn't born on Teesside (or at least their parents were). Things like not being able to buy anything online, no regards whatsoever for anyone that doesn't live within spitting distance of the Riverside etc.

His complete lack of willingness to expand has meant he is relying on a smaller number of fans every year to fill the coffers which means he's having to exploit them by overcharging them for poor value tat.
 
We got two kids home tops both clicked and pulled to hell but no kit in stock so you can't take their tops off them and get a refund as they care about the tops not the quality.

I'll double check this but am sure my wife has received a message saying she can't get some socks posted.

Said socks are to go with away tops the grandparents have bought. But no shorts in the same size available!

It's stupid that there is no stock in at Christmas.

And it's also criminal in my opinion that they think it's a triumph that there's nowt to put on sale at the end of the season. There will be many people bought sale stuff as they can't afford full price.

Besides, I'd rather have the chance to buy kit all season and let people get a bargain with a bit of excess stock than be unable to buy a top after the third week in September.
 
Nano said:
I've said it repeatedly because it's been my biggest bugbear for several years but the commercial side of the club is amateur and it's run like a task on the Apprentice.


100%. They've heard Alan Sugar talk about margin and that's all far as they've got with their model. Somebody needs to teach them about volume.

This is all on Gibson. His parochial attitude has caused this. He's been in charge for 30+ years during a massive boom in English football and he hasn't grown the fanbase at all. I've never met a Boro fan that wasn't born on Teesside (or at least their parents were). Things like not being able to buy anything online, no regards whatsoever for anyone that doesn't live within spitting distance of the Riverside etc.

His complete lack of willingness to expand has meant he is relying on a smaller number of fans every year to fill the coffers which means he's having to exploit them by overcharging them for poor value tat.
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In all honesty growing the Boro fan base away from Middlesbrough sounds like the effort spent will not be worth the value realised 🙂
 
YouAreMyBoro said:
We got two kids home tops both clicked and pulled to hell but no kit in stock so you can't take their tops off them and get a refund as they care about the tops not the quality.

I'll double check this but am sure my wife has received a message saying she can't get some socks posted.

Said socks are to go with away tops the grandparents have bought. But no shorts in the same size available!

It's stupid that there is no stock in at Christmas.

And it's also criminal in my opinion that they think it's a triumph that there's nowt to put on sale at the end of the season. There will be many people bought sale stuff as they can't afford full price.

Besides, I'd rather have the chance to buy kit all season and let people get a bargain with a bit of excess stock than be unable to buy a top after the third week in September.
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This 100%. If I take my lad’s top off him which was clicked and pulled to hell (after one wear) back to the club shop and they *again* tell me they’ll give me a refund, but I can’t have another shirt as they don’t have any left he’s upset that he doesn’t have one to wear and regardless when he does eventually get one it’s the same material so the same thing happens again, what’s the point in taking it back? But to them I haven’t actually got a refund or exchange so I’m one of the 99% they’re claiming are satisfied customers.

@Nano mentioned supporters out the area, it’s hard enough being in the area. Walking in the club shop “Dad can I have the away top”, “got none your size”, “the home top”, “got none your size”, “the away tracksuit”, “got none your size”, “the home jacket”, “got none your size”, “the away training top”, “got none your size”, “the home training top”, “got none your size”, “the home waterproof jacket”, “got none your size”, “the away waterproof jacket”, “got none your size”. Honestly it's embarrassingly poor, I would never do it but I can imagine parents who aren’t that fussed on which team it is just taking their kids down to Sports Direct and buying them a City or Liverpool kit. Kids want to to wear the gear they see their heroes wearing, it’s November and MFC are unable to provide any of it. I’d understand if it was February or March, but they’re approaching their second busiest trading period with next to no stock in their most popular items. Yet they’re claiming victory. It’s absolutely mental.
 
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This is the worst it's ever been. Never had any problems ordering kids kits anytime during the season. Mam and dad used to bob down the club shop in December, buy whatever size they needed for Xmas, job sorted.

Last couple of years - no chance. Gave the grandkids money to get a top last year, none came back in stock. So my kids bought Stockport County ones 🤷🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️

Sadly it's just another aspect of the club really not listening/giving a sh*t about the fans. Fans complain, the opposite happens. Boro just totally out of touch with what happens outside their bubble.

But hey, if they don't want my money I'll spend it elsewhere. No great problem for me.
 
Club seems to just be ran by dinosaurs at every level who have been at the club forever and don't know anything different. "Bubble" is a good description I read earlier in the thread. The fact there is no merch for kids this Christmas is criminal. The fact parents/grand parents may end up walking up to Sports Direct and getting a Man City strip or probably in a couple of years a Newcastle one, is just sad and a bit depressing.
 
Very similar experience to some of those mentioned. Our little one is 5 and for the last 2 years have been unable to get her the boro kits she wanted. That’s in September and October, and basically told they had no idea when stock would be replenished. So off we pop down to sports direct and she picks her own kits for football training, it’s ridiculous.
 
I was lucky enough to get my son a home mini kit early in the season. However something I noticed, which might be splitting hairs a bit. But the socks that come with it are the exact same as last seasons !!! And not the actual ones from this season with a blue trim on. Again it's not the end of the world, but just feels so half ar$**
 
Seems their business plan/model is based ultimately on "wastage".

So if the demand is for 10k kits and they order 8k all targets have been met, no kit to add to the tat sale, everyone happy 👍

Apart from the customers, but bollox to them. To MFC they aren't important, a ghastly inconvenience - be much easier if they didn't have to cater for them.

Off the pitch, Boro are run like a small scale market stall not a top half Championship club.
 
"market stall" is a good description as that's what the club shop feels like with the quality of the clothing - with the exception of that the prices are significantly higher.
 
h_m_boro said:
Seems their business plan/model is based ultimately on "wastage".

So if the demand is for 10k kits and they order 8k all targets have been met, no kit to add to the tat sale, everyone happy 👍

Apart from the customers, but bollox to them. To MFC they aren't important, a ghastly inconvenience - be much easier if they didn't have to cater for them.

Off the pitch, Boro are run like a small scale market stall not a top half
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Seems you have made your mind already without me asking for an interview. Maybe no point in me asking.
 
fmttmadmin said:
Seems you have made your mind already without me asking for an interview. Maybe no point in me asking.
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Huh?

Was this meant at me?

Facts are facts. For the last two seasons demand has far exceeded supply and there are many, many fans being left disappointed as they can't get numerous items of kit/training kit/other merchandise. And bottom line, basic business, Boro are losing thousands.

If Next or M&S bought in 200 Xmas jumpers, sold them in October then just shrugged when customers made the valid observation that the stock control/ordering was woefully inadequate......for two years off the bounce, reckon the people making the decisions will still be in a job? "Yeah, we sold out of our woefully limited stock but it was okay the customers went elsewhere. Nowt to put in the sales though, jobs a good 'un"

For the club to turn around to you - and as I previously stated, I'm in no way having a go at you but the club - and proclaim that there was no wastage (because the stock was far too small) is a pretty hollow statement. Tory-esque, a fob off.

Ask the questions, will be interested in the response, but kind of expect the answer to be as what was said previously 🤷🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️
 
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fmttmadmin said:
Seems you have made your mind already without me asking for an interview. Maybe no point in me asking.
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Rob, the evidence is clear - if an interview is just them spinning it again then it's pointless - they need to properly engage and reflect on what their customers (or people who'd love to be their customers if they had any stock) are saying.
 
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