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Statement On Jd Sports


Tennant's Lager

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From SMiSA.net:

We have once again been contacted by St.Mirren fans exasperated at the ongoing lack of available stock in JD Sports stores this Christmas. The commercial deal between the Club and JD Sports is whatever it is and as supporters of the the Club we welcome any commercial partnership that brings revenue into St.Mirren however the ongoing issues in the supply of replica kit, in particular the lack of various sizes of children's strips is simply unacceptable.

This is becoming an annual problem and the service being supplied to St.Mirren fans is very disappointing more so than ever before. In the year of winning our first major trophy in a generation young Saints fans are missing out on a Saints Strip this Christmas. We have raised this with JD Sports and the Club in the past however after three seasons we are encountering the same issues with this supplier. We would encourage all Saints fans to call upon the Club to ensure this is either addressed or a supplier be sought that can match the expectations and demands, which are hardly unreasonable of the St.Mirren supporters.

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To be honest I can understand the predicament that any kit supplier would find themselves in when supplying a team like St Mirren. The club simply doesn't sell enough shirts to command larger orders. The majority of sales of club kit would be in the summer months when the kit is first launched. Once those strips sell out any retailer would be gambling higher production costs versus a limited demand and the prospect of having to have deep discounts to shift excess stock from the beginning of January onwards and when you have three kits on sale the risk is increased threefold.

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Listening to the chairman tonight I would assume that JD Sports will continue to be the official kit supplier as it is a great commercial sponsorship for St Mirren FC Ltd.

Financially it provides a revenue stream that is far removed from what a local supplier could offer.

Will be interesting to see whether Provans continue to run the club shop in the long term, as I'm sure that is a key area for them to operate on.

I've heard that some JD Sports staff have been suggesting customers go down to the club shop to try and get strips that they don't stock.

Mental.

Like many others I'd hate to see Provans leave again, but you can also understand that commercially the JD Sports deal is a no brainer for the BoD.

Have you any idea how much Saints get from JD or is it secret?

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To be honest I can understand the predicament that any kit supplier would find themselves in when supplying a team like St Mirren. The club simply doesn't sell enough shirts to command larger orders. The majority of sales of club kit would be in the summer months when the kit is first launched. Once those strips sell out any retailer would be gambling higher production costs versus a limited demand and the prospect of having to have deep discounts to shift excess stock from the beginning of January onwards and when you have three kits on sale the risk is increased threefold.

How so? How is it any more difficult than supplying kit for any of the clubs JD supply (Ross County for example?). We're now in our third year of the JD deal, and we seem set to complete six years with them. Look at the sales figures for St Mirren strips over the deal so far, and simply ask the factory in China to produce maybe 200 extra kits in all sizes. Keep a percentage of all sizes boxed up for the pre-Christmas period. This is not a new problem - it should be absolutely dead easy to sort out. Certainly after three years, if people cannot buy ALL sizes of St Mirren kit as a Christmas present, there's something not right.

Edit: Big club or small club, we are an established top flight professional football club, it should be a given that any kit supplier can meet demand at Christmas, or they are not doing their job.

Edited by pozbaird
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Wholeheartedly agree with pozbaird, it doesn't take a business genius to recognise that when there has been a lack of supply in previous years that making a modest increase in the numbers produced would be a reasonable business decision, the sale of 10 extra shirts would probably pay for the cost of producing sigificantly more.

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Wholeheartedly agree with pozbaird, it doesn't take a business genius to recognise that when there has been a lack of supply in previous years that making a modest increase in the numbers produced would be a reasonable business decision, the sale of 10 extra shirts would probably pay for the cost of producing sigificantly more.

I agree, and in my last post I used the figure of producing 200 extra in all sizes and keeping some back for Christmas merely as a guide. Not being privvy to three years of sales figures, I have no idea if all it might take is 50 extra, 100 extra, or 500 extra. The club and the people at JD should surely be able to figure it out. Even if they produce extra kids and youth sizes - the most likely group to want a full kit as a present? Surely any unsold kits could be put into a sale, or indeed shipped off to one of these charities that distribute football kits to kids in Africa and Greenock. wink.png

As a side issue, I once asked JDs representative why the then JD-supplied Blackpool FC had kits and training wear for sale in their Bloomfield Road stadium shop. The answer was 'it's a different deal we have with Blackpool'. That was it.

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Are they finding it easier to supply Ross County? I would imagine that they would be having similar problems there - and if they have plenty of Ross County strips to sell at the moment it would have been either because they've got their estimates wrong and produced too many kits, or it'll be because sales of the kit haven't been as good as they expected.

How could JD Sports reliably get clean sales data from any of their three years with St Mirren? In the first year they had a staggered launch of two kits - with the third, that silly 135th anniversary number - was launched in early winter. I remember reading the complaints on here about supply. Not enough socks was the initial complaint, then certain sizes sold out and from January onwards JD Sports were offering St Mirren kits in certain sizes for sale for a tenner on their website.

In the second year they've launched two strips at the same time - sales are boosted by the club offering a deal where those buying adult season tickets get a voucher which allows them to claim a free child strip from JD Sports. Sales are further boosted by St Mirren making it to and winning the League Cup FInal. The limited selection of tops that JD Sports would have been left with that would normally have had to be heavily discounted from January on were hastily embroidered with details of the cup final and sold at a premium instead.

In the third year they've launched three kits to a market where they must have had absolutely no idea what the effect on sales would be of the cup win.

As for the Christmas market how many people are there actually demanding new strips at the premium price? I've only seen maybe a maximum of 10 people complaining about it. Even if I'm being kind in suggesting that there are 50 kids out there who have put one of the three kits on their Christmas list is it really going to be viable to do a second run in each of the styles? It certainly isn't going to be viable for any business to hold back strips in stock from the big rush in August so they've got some in November and December, especially not when sales will drop off heavily immediately after Christmas.

The obvious solution would be an off the peg shirt from one of the major suppliers I guess but there doesn't appear to be any appetite for that amongst the fans.

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Guest somner9

I was at the last Ross County away game and popped into their club shop in the stadium, and low and behold they were selling club strips, from youngsters to adults.So why can't we do the same !!!!!!!!

i,m no buying a Staggies top for christmas

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The following is just my opinion.

When the deal was originally brokered by Mr Atkinson (REA) the club shop was as good as shut as the BoD did not buy up any old Provans stock.

There was no staff available for dedicated retail activities and as we know the shop itself has very little space to store and present stock.

I think it suited the BoD to allow all kit sales and stock to be "owned" by JD Sports. I think it still suits the BoD to have this agreement as they don't have to take any risks on having surplus stock - I would assume the Ross County deal is different in that they negotiate a certain number of strips to have in stock and it is their risk if they don't sell them.

My gut feeling is that Provan's may not continue next season as the merchandise arm as the kit sales provides a large portion of their revenue streams.

If anyone is looking for any Christmas presents I would urge them to get themselves down to the club shop as it has a superb range of items.

I don't know about that. When kits were manufactured by a third party like Hummel, there was a three-way involvement with the club choosing Hummel as their kit supplier, and AWP selling Hummel items from his premises. There was always a separate agreement in place between the club and AWP, allowing AWP to be the club's retail partner. I wouldn't be too sure that handling strip sales and other Hummel gear wasn't more trouble than it was worth at times to AWPs operation. Pure guess on my part. If I were AWP though, even if there wasn't a great cut of every strip sale coming my way, like JD to be fair, I'd want the footfall coming into my shop to buy the Hummel kit and they might buy other items.

Seems to me the entire club merchandising affairs of the last three years certainly approached the description 'clusterfcuk', actually achieving that description at a point not so long ago.

In regard to Pick's point - maybe Ross County have the same deal as Blackpool did. Is it any better or worse than the one we have? Ain't got a clue.

Edit: Does anyone know of another Scottish club in the top two divisions who don't have replica kit and training wear for sale at their club shop?

Edited by pozbaird
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I don't know about that. When kits were manufactured by a third party like Hummel, there was a three-way involvement with the club choosing Hummel as their kit supplier, and AWP selling Hummel items from his premises. There was always a separate agreement in place between the club and AWP, allowing AWP to be the club's retail partner. I wouldn't be too sure that handling strip sales and other Hummel gear wasn't more trouble than it was worth at times to AWPs operation. Pure guess on my part. If I were AWP though, even if there wasn't a great cut of every strip sale coming my way, like JD to be fair, I'd want the footfall coming into my shop to buy the Hummel kit and they might buy other items.

Seems to me the entire club merchandising affairs of the last three years certainly approached the description 'clusterfcuk', actually achieving that description at a point not so long ago.

In regard to Pick's point - maybe Ross County have the same deal as Blackpool did. Is it any better or worse than the one we have? Ain't got a clue.

Edit: Does anyone know of another Scottish club in the top two divisions who don't have replica kit and training wear for sale at their club shop?

Not a club side - but the National side don't have kit to sell from the shop at Hampden Park. The new strip is being sold only from JD Sports

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i can see where StuDick's coming from....

when you have a kit specifically designed for one team and not using a template, whilst the fans love the individuality, the manufacturer must be shitting it at having too much left over. whilst some might say, aye just send the extra's to africa, it's not really a business model is it?

i've worked closely with Total Teamwear Limited, the Joma distributer, this year on coming up with a range suitable and close to the fans needs.

One thing you can say about template gear is the stock will never run out and the manufacturer will never be left with stock they have to sell in a sale... the majority of it just sees a Thistle badge stitched on. The key is having a casual wear range that appeals to the fanbase.

Templates have been around since the beginning of time, infact the first commercial strips in the late 60s into the 70s were all templates, just look at Toffs website!

JD will know their figures, based not only on their historical St Mirren evidence, but UK trends, they'll have every sort of data to pull from... it's very easy to react on a football forum and think that because a topic has loads of posts, it's a major issue... its a pity that folk will miss out.... but really, how big an issue is it? the kits been on sale since the summer, how many folk actually get a football kit for their Christmas? it was always start of the season or my birthday, that i got mine... i can't remember anyone who got a football kit for christmas!

mind you, in saying that, i did get the GF the home Cabrini top, then the anniversary top the year after for her christmas, but i'm 100% certain i picked up both in the sale. so that would suggest the first and second season's were over produced on a lot of stock.

lesson learned. buy the kit at launch and hide it in the cupboard for 6 months that way you won't miss out...

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i can see where StuDick's coming from....

when you have a kit specifically designed for one team and not using a template, whilst the fans love the individuality, the manufacturer must be shitting it at having too much left over. whilst some might say, aye just send the extra's to africa, it's not really a business model is it?

i've worked closely with Total Teamwear Limited, the Joma distributer, this year on coming up with a range suitable and close to the fans needs.

One thing you can say about template gear is the stock will never run out and the manufacturer will never be left with stock they have to sell in a sale... the majority of it just sees a Thistle badge stitched on. The key is having a casual wear range that appeals to the fanbase.

Templates have been around since the beginning of time, infact the first commercial strips in the late 60s into the 70s were all templates, just look at Toffs website!

JD will know their figures, based not only on their historical St Mirren evidence, but UK trends, they'll have every sort of data to pull from... it's very easy to react on a football forum and think that because a topic has loads of posts, it's a major issue... its a pity that folk will miss out.... but really, how big an issue is it? the kits been on sale since the summer, how many folk actually get a football kit for their Christmas? it was always start of the season or my birthday, that i got mine... i can't remember anyone who got a football kit for christmas!

mind you, in saying that, i did get the GF the home Cabrini top, then the anniversary top the year after for her christmas, but i'm 100% certain i picked up both in the sale. so that would suggest the first and second season's were over produced on a lot of stock.

lesson learned. buy the kit at launch and hide it in the cupboard for 6 months that way you won't miss out...

You usually find as well that the off the peg stuff is of a much better quality too.

A number of years back we bought a yellow Hummel kit for kids team here from PSL. At the same time PSL were supplying St Mirren with Hummel kit too. We were delighted with the quality of our kit and the team in the age group below us liked the kit so much they too bought Hummel. A few months later my youngest son asked me if he could get a St Mirren strip so I contacted AWP and had it delivered to the Motherwell shop. My boy wore it once, washed it and the chevrons started to peel. Alan swapped it, he wore it again and again there was the same problem. I went back again and Alan gave me a refund. Just to deviate for a second I only have praise for the level of customer service provided by Alan Provan and his team at PSL and would recommend them to anyone. Anyway I asked him if there were a lot of problems with the St Mirren kit and asked him why it seemed to be so poor when our kit was so good and he explained that the off peg strips were manufactured in their hundreds of thousands at Hummels factory in Sweden, while the St Mirren stip was manufactured under licence by a company in Eastern Europe - Hungary IIRC - using the Hummel brand name. Our off the peg kit cost £27.00 per kit, including logo, badge, number etc, the St Mirren strip was £60+ without numbers.

To me template kit is a no brainer. It's better quality, better value for money, you have better stocks, it's easier and more flexible to repeat order, and the fact that you are dealing with a manufacturer using their mass produced catalogue of kit styles and colours it also opens the door to community buying groups and large volume discounts. At Wishaw Wycombe we now group our orders together and all the teams buy from one of two Umbro reps. We get great value for money, and we've got a really good quality home, away and training kit which has lasted two years without any problems what so ever. I believe the committee has started to look for a new deal for our 20th Anniversary this year and TTL and Joma were recommended to us ages ago.

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You usually find as well that the off the peg stuff is of a much better quality too.

A number of years back we bought a yellow Hummel kit for kids team here from PSL. At the same time PSL were supplying St Mirren with Hummel kit too. We were delighted with the quality of our kit and the team in the age group below us liked the kit so much they too bought Hummel. A few months later my youngest son asked me if he could get a St Mirren strip so I contacted AWP and had it delivered to the Motherwell shop. My boy wore it once, washed it and the chevrons started to peel. Alan swapped it, he wore it again and again there was the same problem. I went back again and Alan gave me a refund. Just to deviate for a second I only have praise for the level of customer service provided by Alan Provan and his team at PSL and would recommend them to anyone. Anyway I asked him if there were a lot of problems with the St Mirren kit and asked him why it seemed to be so poor when our kit was so good and he explained that the off peg strips were manufactured in their hundreds of thousands at Hummels factory in Sweden, while the St Mirren stip was manufactured under licence by a company in Eastern Europe - Hungary IIRC - using the Hummel brand name. Our off the peg kit cost £27.00 per kit, including logo, badge, number etc, the St Mirren strip was £60+ without numbers.

To me template kit is a no brainer. It's better quality, better value for money, you have better stocks, it's easier and more flexible to repeat order, and the fact that you are dealing with a manufacturer using their mass produced catalogue of kit styles and colours it also opens the door to community buying groups and large volume discounts. At Wishaw Wycombe we now group our orders together and all the teams buy from one of two Umbro reps. We get great value for money, and we've got a really good quality home, away and training kit which has lasted two years without any problems what so ever. I believe the committee has started to look for a new deal for our 20th Anniversary this year and TTL and Joma were recommended to us ages ago.

I can't fault the Joma stuff, straight from their factory.

Our puma deal was under licence to a company in Liverpool, same as every other puma team in Scotland.

The quality was poor, if you laid a pile of larges on top of each other, no two would be the same size. The casual range was straight out of Ffuits of the Loom.

After working with TTL for a season they are over the moon with the deal, and next seasons strip is going to be as close to a one of as we can get, usually templates last for 3-5 years, this season we have last seasons Valencia kit.

Next season we will get a brand new template never used before.

There was folk on our forum who complained about every aspect of our kit, just because they were at it. Folk saying the badges were falling off. I was up a TTL after a month and saw the returns book. One top hAd been returned.

I can only sympathise with the folk who can't get a kit this Christmas, but... It's been in sale for 6 months, and history shows it's this time of year that if they have anything left it's reduce to clear time.

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This whole JD sports debacle perturbs me somewhat, perturbs me indeed.

I have taken the liberty of e-mailing JD sports and demanding an explanation but alas no-one has replied, has replied not indeed!

Anyway I would urge all fellow forum user's to contact this shoddy and unworthy group of high street charlatans and register disgust be it via bookface, bebo or the tweeter app that I have on my phone but do not know how to use. This JayDee lot do not deserve the honour of having the name of JD sports on our stadium, do not deserve it at all, at all indeed! The thought of young fans of our beloved and wonderful club not receiving that St Mirren playing kit on Christmas day really does bother me.

I may pretend to be senile and go in and smear my own shit all over the display of overpriced sandshoes such is my disdain.

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Couldn't agree more- no children's tracksuits available since start of the season..have asked staff at Paisley store but they're none the wiser about it all either... Sad because it feels like the club are losing out on valuable income throughout the season...but esp at Christmas when you're likely to spend a bit more on St. Mirren merchandise.

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This whole JD sports debacle perturbs me somewhat, perturbs me indeed.

I have taken the liberty of e-mailing JD sports and demanding an explanation but alas no-one has replied, has replied not indeed!

Anyway I would urge all fellow forum user's to contact this shoddy and unworthy group of high street charlatans and register disgust be it via bookface, bebo or the tweeter app that I have on my phone but do not know how to use. This JayDee lot do not deserve the honour of having the name of JD sports on our stadium, do not deserve it at all, at all indeed! The thought of young fans of our beloved and wonderful club not receiving that St Mirren playing kit on Christmas day really does bother me.

I may pretend to be senile and go in and smear my own shit all over the display of overpriced sandshoes such is my disdain.

Tom if you need another old fart to come and keep you company let me know as I would gladly shit in the shoe department and plead guilty stating that I only did it for the Kids.

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Tom if you need another old fart to come and keep you company let me know as I would gladly shit in the shoe department and plead guilty stating that I only did it for the Kids.

What is more I shall spend the preceding evening eating lots of cabbage and drinking lots of out of date cabbage juice to make my shit really stink, I shall also consume some peanuts and carrots just to make sure it is entirely recognisable in the photographs that will undoubtedly appear in the press afterward. Maybe we could co-ordinate a shit bombing by targeting Paisley, Braehead and Silverburn simultaneously!!!!!

I remember getting my first St Mirren top (it was a real one, you couldn't really buy them then) and I remember the joy of getting it to this very day, after all these years I remember it. Just an amazing memory and even though I was way too wee to wear it I did at every opportunity. This year young St Mirren fans were denied that very opportunity by these bastards. I hate them for the sake of our young fans, hate them indeed.

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