Supporter's report of Castore meeting

[MacK1950 2,378]

6 minutes ago, RANGERRAB said:

Was Puma who were bidding against Castore IIRC. 

we rejected the 3rd largest sportswear manufacturer in the world to go with a company who’d never supplied any football club with merchandise let alone one the size of Rangers 

Well I suppose it saved pouring through accounts of all the "big firms" checking on clauses with Ashley.

[rbr 1,256]

4 hours ago, compo said:

Might have been better just to negotiate a deal in the clubs best interests with Adidas. 

Adidas like Nike tend not to take 2 teams if they are in the same city , very rarely happens , plus the money involved means this is actually a better structured deal for Rangers .

[Malangsob 1,264]

12 hours ago, ranger_syntax said:

Can you tell us what the market for Rangers strips has been like over the past few years?

About as well as the current and previous provider can...more than supply. Which is about the same answer...if we are all completely transparent on the topic...that you would receive from them. Why...because no one (and it's pretty fkn obvious) did ANNNNNNYYYY market research. 

Stupid is...as stupid does. 

[stewarty 2,027]

40 minutes ago, Malangsob said:

About as well as the current and previous provider can...more than supply. Which is about the same answer...if we are all completely transparent on the topic...that you would receive from them. Why...because no one (and it's pretty fkn obvious) did ANNNNNNYYYY market research. 

Stupid is...as stupid does. 

I heard on the H&H daily pod from Caroline Morrison who was in attendance last night, where the chat from castore is that we exceeded all benchmarks that came from discussions with the club.   Perhaps the reason is simply that our fans have gone crazy to buy kit and put money into the club at levels that almost nobody could have expected.  

She also mentioned that they had spoken to others too, I presume people in the industry.  
 

In short, it’s clear they did market research. 

 

Edited September 10, 2020 by stewarty

[Gonzo79 15,294]

It was fairly obvious that the new strips/merchandise would sell well, given the desire to support the club after what went on with fat Mike on the scene.

 

Castore weren't prepared, which is understandable in the circumstances (new comany, pandemic) but that isn't much of a comfort to supporters who have been let down.

 

[craig 5,199]

17 hours ago, Malangsob said:

How many times have you read that same line?

"We just had no idea how HUUUUGE you were...it's not like we could have done a market assessment or anything....huh huh huh...sorrrry...believe you, me...we got those Indonesian kids working round the clock"

 

Repentin like a drunk on Sunday.

One of these days Veronica, someone will  get it right.

 

Any market assessment of Rangers kit sales int he last half dozen years would have been absolutely pointless.  Everyone knew we were being financially abused by Mike Ashley and Sports Direct so boycott's were abound.

[craig 5,199]

9 hours ago, stewarty said:

Good customer service can make up for a number of sins, and it feels like a serious misjudgement not to have more staff in place at the outset.   However, some encouraging feedback that they're taking things seriously and starting to get on top of things but there is a lot of work to be done yet.   

The actions will speak far louder than the words.  

[craig 5,199]

8 hours ago, RANGERRAB said:

Was Puma who were bidding against Castore IIRC. 

we rejected the 3rd largest sportswear manufacturer in the world to go with a company who’d never supplied any football club with merchandise let alone one the size of Rangers 

Because financially the deal was likely to be superior with Castore.  I have little issue with that decision.  They did, however, under-estimate the demand

[craig 5,199]

55 minutes ago, Gonzo79 said:

It was fairly obvious that the new strips/merchandise would sell well, given the desire to support the club after what went on with fat Mike on the scene.

 

Castore weren't prepared, which is understandable in the circumstances (new comany, pandemic) but that isn't much of a comfort to supporters who have been let down.

 

I have no issue with them having obstacles to overcome.  I personally was like "disappointed to not get the top before I go back to Bermuda but it is what it is and is a sign that they are selling tons of these - all of which is GOOD for the club".  Where I DO, however, have an issue, is if they tell lies or mistruths.  Now, admittedly, I am just one person so my email may simply have slipped through the cracks.  But their customer service HAS to be better

[stewarty 2,027]

3 minutes ago, craig said:

I have no issue with them having obstacles to overcome.  I personally was like "disappointed to not get the top before I go back to Bermuda but it is what it is and is a sign that they are selling tons of these - all of which is GOOD for the club".  Where I DO, however, have an issue, is if they tell lies or mistruths.  Now, admittedly, I am just one person so my email may simply have slipped through the cracks.  But their customer service HAS to be better

Absolutely.  If they had been clearer about the challenges they were facing and didn’t appear to hide for a few weeks in the eye of the storm, I think that a lot of the goodwill that has been lost could have been avoided.