Retail Merchandise Strategies of Professional Football Clubs in Scotland

Citation

Szymoszowskyj A, Winand M, Kolyperas D & Sparks L (2015) Retail Merchandise Strategies of Professional Football Clubs in Scotland. EURAM '15: 15th Annual Conference of the European Academy of Management, Warsaw, Poland, 16.06.2015-20.06.2015. http://2015.euramfullpaper.org/program/search.asp?qs=STIRLING%20UNIVERSITY

Abstract
As a consequence of the increasing awareness regarding the benefits of effective retail merchandise strategies, a growing body of literature now exists analysing how sport retailers exploit these opportunities. However, professional football clubs' retail merchandise strategy is unknown. This paper aims to fulfil this gap by analysing the retail merchandise strategies managed by professional football clubs within Scotland using desk-based research and a qualitative approach. Drawing on a series of semi-structured interviews the paper explores the rationale for the management of retail merchandise strategies. There are various retail merchandise strategies managed by the Scottish professional football clubs and utilising intermediaries is more effective in achieving the clubs objective of building brand equity. The paper contributes to managerial implications when applying various retail merchandise strategies by professional football clubs. Further research could investigate brand protection strategies and professional football clubs supply chain partners to analyse their adherence to CSR initiatives managed by professional football clubs.

Keywords
merchandise retailing; brand equity; football;