Borob0y0707
Active member
Truth hurts, to have that much out of stock before christmas is a massive failure, no other way to put it.
Middlesbrough Supporters Forum - Monday
- Thread starter fmttmadmin
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futureboy
Well-known member
I can't think of any other business where you'd get away with never having your most popular, flagship product in stock. It's absolutely bizarre that anyone at the club can think this is even remotely close to being acceptable. Shirts should be fully stocked and available to buy all year round, in all sizes. That shouldn't even need saying.
If I ran the shop, and at any point of the year, replica shirts were out of stock, even for a couple of days, I would consider myself to have failed. It would be like McDonald's not having any fries.
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Safe Standing has been a regular agenda item for several years. We didn't announce the pilot scheme because surely it is only fair to let those affected know first and then to let the club make a proper announcement about something of real significance.
Has been a great success - the trial is continuing. They have also extended the capacity of the Fan Zone and also other concourse outlets. All of which have reduced queueing times. But it is an ongoing process. And I believe there will soon be another meeting between fans and the catering manager to look in more detail for each individual stand. Because every concourse has different demands etc.
Colgates_shaving_foam
Well-known member
The club have said before, many times I think that their primary aim is not to have any leftover stock.
It seems that they would prefer to order and sell 100 shirts and have zero wastage than order 1050 shirts, sell 1000 shirts and have 50 left over.
It's not how I'd do it but it does explain the lack of stock and ultimately I do not know the figures.
h_m_boro
Well-known member
They claim to be right on the ball with regards to ordering the correct numbers, having zero wastage, all the fans are happy.
When challenged, and presented with cold hard facts that hundreds of fans are unable to get shirts at the start of the season or Xmas, they get narked and ars*y with the responses.
This happens continually, and - FFS - at some point SOMEONE at the club has to say, "hang on a minute, we're not getting this right are we?"- but the opposite is happening.
So, in a lot of fans eyes they are coming across as not really giving a sh*t. Same again next season?
Next season I certainly won't even try to buy a shirt from the clubshop - other more reliable means available
When challenged, and presented with cold hard facts that hundreds of fans are unable to get shirts at the start of the season or Xmas, they get narked and ars*y with the responses.
This happens continually, and - FFS - at some point SOMEONE at the club has to say, "hang on a minute, we're not getting this right are we?"- but the opposite is happening.
So, in a lot of fans eyes they are coming across as not really giving a sh*t. Same again next season?
Next season I certainly won't even try to buy a shirt from the clubshop - other more reliable means available
newyddion
Well-known member
There has to come a point where it is realised that there are issues.. the fans are identifying those issues.. the fans are offering solutions to those issues and the club is is failing to acknowledge or rectify the issues.
This include some fundamental core areas of running a football club and directly effect the fans basic needs and requirements.
Tickets, Shirts, concourse provisions.. fans do want to support the club and fans do want to spend money on the club.
THIS is being used to paper over fundamental issues year on year.
So what is going wrong?
Does the club not have the capacity to act on the very basic requests of fans?
or is the message getting lost in translation or lost in the post or dog ate my homework?
This include some fundamental core areas of running a football club and directly effect the fans basic needs and requirements.
Tickets, Shirts, concourse provisions.. fans do want to support the club and fans do want to spend money on the club.
THIS is being used to paper over fundamental issues year on year.
So what is going wrong?
Does the club not have the capacity to act on the very basic requests of fans?
or is the message getting lost in translation or lost in the post or dog ate my homework?
Reading between the lines - it is quite obvious that they have been let down by ERREA isn't it. The club have certainly sought to deliberately reduced surplus stock but they did not intend to receive orders that were wrongly printed etc. And wanted everyone to have a shirt for Christmas.They claim to be right on the ball with regards to ordering the correct numbers, having zero wastage, all the fans are happy.
The
When challenged, and presented with cold hard facts that hundreds of fans are unable to get shirts at the start of the season or Xmas, they get narked and ars*y with the responses.
This happens continually, and - FFS - at some point SOMEONE at the club has to say, "hang on a minute, we're not getting this right are we?"- but the opposite is happening.
So, in a lot of fans eyes they are coming across as not really giving a sh*t. Same again next season?
Next season I certainly won't even try to buy a shirt from the clubshop - other more reliable means available
It is such a shame really because the 3 shirt designs are so good and the away shirt in particular has totally out stripped demand. Working with Errea the club gets a lot of say in design but it appears just don't get the supply. Working with adidas you might get far more shirts but you may well get what you are given - eg a dodgy diagonal band. Is there a half way house out there?
Can I stress this is my personal view - nothing official whatsoever about this post.
Humpty
Well-known member
I still don't know why we binned off Hummell. They were brilliant. I'm assuming we went with Errea purely because the club could save money.
Primus84
Well-known member
Funny how others using Errea haven't got these problems Rob...
h_m_boro
Well-known member
We don't know what the issues are. The club report everything is fine, no issues, what problems? The start of the season, kits were fine just - as usual - not enough ordered. 2 months to then restock??
The faulty batch, definitely not the club's fault....but if they didn't adopt a "when we run out we'll order some more stuff" model then they wouldn't have been put in that position. They could quietly have been returned/resupplied, but as so many fans wanted the new tops they were - again - made to look like amateurs.
If you look on the Sheffield Utd or QPR online club shops they have one or two sizes out of stock. So why are Errea performing for them and not us?
It does look like blaming Errea for all the problems has become a bit hollow.
newyddion
Well-known member
Reading between the lines it's actually the CLUB that has let the fans down again.
The club wanted to limit stock to the bare minimum and they certainly have done that! It also sounds like they may have introduced a third party into the equation for the vinyl transfers.. which has further complicated the situation.
What makes it more frustrating is that after seeing the problems we had stock levels I did suggest a few things via MSF that we're neither passed on or acted upon.
1. The Earlier Shirt release - ridiculous they weren't available for father's day.
2. The Sponsorless Shirts - the ongoing argument.. just make them available ffs*
3. Online Ordering - even a TJFA club can order their shirts through the club website.
4. Stock Shirts - we could easily cope with putting a few stock shirts into the mix.. to lessen the delivery burden and increase the profits.
5. Xmas release of a third shirt.
Away - Errea Ti-Slash
3rd Errea Diamantis - 'Blackout'
We could have even done the home kit from stock with the Errea Brandon shirt. Kick in the 86 badge or the solitery lion and we'd have been good to go.
*not with a knock and a tap on the counter for those ITK either.. as it would be now.
Sorry Rob, but pinning most of this on Errea is nowhere near the whole story, nor the biggest issue.
The reason we had to re-order was that the club sold out of away shirts within 24 hours and well before the season even started, an absolutely laughable situation.
If the re-ordered stock had arrived with no reject issues, it would still mean fans waiting until mid-October for an away shirt...and the 3rd kit (whose re-order sold out in less than 30 minutes, absolute farce).
That is a totally pathetic and wholly avoidable situation and not one remotely replicated at similar clubs, yet when questioned, the shop/club proceed to tell us we don't fully understand the process, they are right and that they are the experts.
Let me tell you, there are more knowledgeable retail/customer service/supply chain individuals on this forum than some of those responsible for the shambles of our club shop.
It really is time for MFC retail (or whoever sets the parameters) to use their ears for once, listen to the nigh on unanimous negative feedback and make improvements.
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I know I've asked this many times before and I can see there have been some changes because it now says there will be a booking fee at the start of the process but during the process it still says £0.00 fees as this example below shows. The fees should be mentioned anywhere the price is mentioned as they are unavoidable:
Andythetouch
Well-known member
100% this!
Rofesleg
Well-known member
In what way? Do they make decisions based on things they read on here?
viv_andersons_nana
Well-known member
We’ve been over this but selling football shirts to supporters who are actively trying to buy them is an absolute piece of p*ss for a club the size of ours. How many shirts do we normally sell overall? How many do we normally sell in the first two weeks of release? How many do we sell if we’re doing well and we move towards Christmas? How many do we sell for Christmas? Let’s have a look at the data we have and try and order as close to the precise amount that we will need. We sell around 30,000 across all three shirts so let’s order, here’s a novel idea, 30,000 shirts?
The above a guess in terms of how many shirts we sell as I don’t have the figures, but the club does have the figures and the historical sales data to go off. If we sell 5,000 normally then order 5,000. If it’s more then order more. The key is that they have the information they need to make an informed decision.
To be honest, a club of our size playing second-tier football, there’s never really going to be unprecedented demand. Unless it’s a freak season like 98 and we’re at Wembley and winning promotion, when people who’d supported Man United started supporting Boro because it was cool. Even then, we got to Wembley and the club had embroidered versions of the home shirt on sale that very week. That was with Errea.
People will say I’m making it sound easy, etc, but I work in fashion and have worked a lot in retail and e-commerce. It’s somebody’s job to know how many things to order, what’s selling, what people want. We know what sells and we know what people want to buy.
From a football club, most people want a ticket and/or a shirt. They want kids’ shirts. To be sold out on day one and have none until the end of October is absolutely ridiculous. That’s without the printing issue taking it into December. It’s been going on for seasons now and there is absolutely zero accountability from anyone at the club, it’s always Errea or Adidas or Hummel or SeatGeek or whoever else. Other clubs don’t seem to have issues with kit. They seem quite keen to sell as many of theirs as they possibly can. How about the people running out football club take some responsibility for once?
The above a guess in terms of how many shirts we sell as I don’t have the figures, but the club does have the figures and the historical sales data to go off. If we sell 5,000 normally then order 5,000. If it’s more then order more. The key is that they have the information they need to make an informed decision.
To be honest, a club of our size playing second-tier football, there’s never really going to be unprecedented demand. Unless it’s a freak season like 98 and we’re at Wembley and winning promotion, when people who’d supported Man United started supporting Boro because it was cool. Even then, we got to Wembley and the club had embroidered versions of the home shirt on sale that very week. That was with Errea.
People will say I’m making it sound easy, etc, but I work in fashion and have worked a lot in retail and e-commerce. It’s somebody’s job to know how many things to order, what’s selling, what people want. We know what sells and we know what people want to buy.
From a football club, most people want a ticket and/or a shirt. They want kids’ shirts. To be sold out on day one and have none until the end of October is absolutely ridiculous. That’s without the printing issue taking it into December. It’s been going on for seasons now and there is absolutely zero accountability from anyone at the club, it’s always Errea or Adidas or Hummel or SeatGeek or whoever else. Other clubs don’t seem to have issues with kit. They seem quite keen to sell as many of theirs as they possibly can. How about the people running out football club take some responsibility for once?
joeydiaz
Well-known member
There needs to be a whole forum on the shirt debacle, we need a club statement which is honest and transparent and tells us where the problem lies. Rob's getting a lot of heat here due to a lack of communication from the club.
If its the clubs fault - own it, tell us how you are going to stop it from happening again. if its Errea's fault, explain how and pull the contract and move on to someone who CAN supply before any further money is spent on Chinese websites.
If its the clubs fault - own it, tell us how you are going to stop it from happening again. if its Errea's fault, explain how and pull the contract and move on to someone who CAN supply before any further money is spent on Chinese websites.
viv_andersons_nana
Well-known member
Yeah agree, it’s not aimed at Rob. Or what I’ve posted isn’t. And to be honest, Rob is the only way we ever hear anything from the club because if it was left up to them they’d tell you even less.