What's going on with our merchandising?

[forlanssister 3,102]

I just don't see any improvement over the JJB deal so far. We don't seem to have any more control over our merchandising than before. Maybe it's just taking time to setup the new infrastructure, but even if that's the case our return on merchandise for at least this season is suffering as a result.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if the Megastore performs better than usual, but can it be enough to cover the loss of the JJB money? I doubt it.

 

Have we got raw deal here and trumpeted it as a success. Time will tell I guess.

 

Only difference I've noticed is they now don't honour the Bondholders discount cards (10%) in the megastore whereas JJB did.....

[pete 2,499]

Just thought some may be interested in the history of the Dassler brothers of Puma and Adidas. Their head offices are only a few hundred yards apart I believe.

 

 

 

Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik

 

Christoph von Wilhelm Dassler was a worker in a shoe factory, while his wife Pauline ran a small laundry in the Bavarian town of Herzogenaurach, 20 km (12.4 mi) from the city of Nuremberg. After leaving school, their son, Rudolf "Rudi" Dassler, joined his father at the shoe factory. When he returned from fighting in World War I, Rudolf received a management position at a porcelain factory, and later in a leather wholesale business in Nuremberg.

 

 

Adolf "Adi" Dassler started to produce his own sports shoes in his mother's wash kitchen in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria after his return from World War I. In July 1924, his brother Rudolf returned to Herzogenaurach to join his younger brother's business, which became Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik (Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory) and prospered. The pair started the venture in their mother's laundry,[6]:5 but, at the time, electricity supplies in the town were unreliable, and the brothers sometimes had to use pedal power from a stationary bicycle to run their equipment.[7]

 

By the 1936 Summer Olympics, Adi Dassler drove from Bavaria on one of the world's first motorways to the Olympic village with a suitcase full of spikes and persuaded U.S. sprinter Jesse Owens to use them, the first sponsorship for an African American. Following Owens's haul of four gold medals, his success cemented the good reputation of Dassler shoes among the world's most famous sportsmen. Letters from around the world landed on the brothers' desks, and the trainers of other national teams were all interested in their shoes. Business boomed and the Dasslers were selling 200,000 pairs of shoes each year before World War II.[8]

World War II and company split

 

Both brothers joined the Nazi Party, but Rudolf was slightly closer to the party than Adolf. During the war, a growing rift between the pair reached a breaking point after an Allied bomb attack in 1943, when Adi and his wife climbed into a bomb shelter that Rudolf and his family were already in: "The dirty bastards are back again", Adi said, referring to the Allied war planes, but Rudolf was convinced his brother meant him and his family.[9] After Rudolf was later picked up by American soldiers and accused of being a member of the Waffen SS, he was convinced that his brother had turned him in.[7]

 

The Dassler factory, used for production of anti-tank weapons during the war, was nearly destroyed by US forces in April 1945, but was spared when Adi Dassler's wife, Käthe, convinced the GIs that the company and its employees were only interested in manufacturing sports shoes. American occupying forces subsequently became major buyers of the Dassler brothers' shoes.[10]

 

The brothers split up in 1947,[9] with Rudi forming a new firm that he called Ruda â?? from Rudolf Dassler, later rebranded Puma, and Adi forming a company formally registered as Adidas AG from Adi Dassler on 18 August 1949. Although it is popularly claimed that the name is an acronym for All Day I Dream About Sport, that phrase is a backronym; the name is actually a portmanteau formed from "Adi" (a nickname for Adolf) and "Das" (from "Dassler").[1]

Early years and rivalry with Puma

 

Puma and Adidas entered a fierce and bitter rivalry after the split. The town of Herzogenaurach was divided on the issue, leading to the nickname "the town of bent necks"â??people looked down to see which shoes strangers wore.[11] Even the town's two football clubs were divided: ASV Herzogenaurach club supported Adidas, while 1 FC Herzogenaurach endorsed Rudolf's footwear.[7] When handymen were called to Rudolf's home, they would deliberately wear Adidas shoes. Rudolf would tell them to go to the basement and pick out a pair of free Pumas.[7] The two brothers never reconciled, and although both are buried in the same cemetery, they are spaced apart as far as possible.[citation needed]

 

In 1948, the first football match after World War II, several members of the West German national football team wore Puma boots, including the scorer of West Germany's first post-war goal, Herbert Burdenski. Four years later, at the 1952 Summer Olympics, 1500 metres runner Josy Barthel of Luxembourg won Puma's first Olympic gold in Helsinki, Finland.

 

At the 1960 Summer Olympics Puma paid German sprinter Armin Hary to wear Pumas in the 100 metre sprint final. Hary had worn Adidas before and asked Adolf for payment, but Adidas rejected this request. The German won gold in Pumas, but then laced up Adidas for the medals ceremony, to the shock of the two Dassler brothers. Hary hoped to cash in from both, but Adi was so enraged he banned the Olympic champion.[8]

[simplythebest 0]

Considering JJB are in administration, getting out of that was necessary.

[GovanAllan 0]

Thanks Pete, see the things you learn on Gersnet its amazing.

[UCF2008 0]

Considering JJB are in administration, getting out of that was necessary.

 

Absolutely, but it's starting to look like that necessity may have forced us into cutting a new deal with Ashley as he prepared to take over JJB.

 

So far, I don't see any evidence that our control of merchandising has strengthened as a result other than more moonbeams.

 

Don't get me wrong, I understand that any radical change would take time to come to fruition.

 

On Thursday Green stated “As Brian Stockbridge has got tighter controls, we’ve got a team in place and Imran Ahmad has begun working on the commercial side, things have changed as Rangers have rebuilt.” ...Our 4 man board are still trying to delegate responsibilities. Looks like it's definitely going to take time.

[GovanAllan 0]

I'd be quite happy with either of them tbh.

 

Anything is better than Umbro.

[andy steel 0]

That might be OK for locals, but what about the other 499 million?

 

Line of the day!

[kuznetsov 0]

I'd be quite happy with either of them tbh.

 

Anything is better than Umbro.

 

imagine we went back to diadora?

[GovanAllan 0]

imagine we went back to diadora?

 

I was looking through the classic strips site the other day and had forgot all about Diadora.

[pete 2,499]

I was looking through the classic strips site the other day and had forgot all about Diadora.

 

Was that not the purple training suits?