Online shop - shoddy!

[Bigman]

I'm sure I remember a few of us having a moan about the online club shop a while back when they were displaying goalie tops by chucking them on the floor, so apologies for starting a new topic but I couldn't find that one.

Firstly, the main player pics on following the link from the OS and clicking on the official merchandise button are of Benyon and Wroe, so not only do they not play for us any more but are in kit we don't wear any more (and thus don't sell in the online shop).

Secondly, we have FOUR!!! different coloured goalkeeping tops for sale at the same price. I'm assuming 2 are new for this season, which makes it cheeky to be selling old ones at the same price, but also makes me wonder why did we need to change either goalie top in such a minor way, let alone both?

Thirdly, while the majority of products have a nice white background pic to show them off there are still several that have been dropped on the floor and photographed there. Could these not have got the same treatment?

Fourthly (and I'm beginning to scrape the barrel) is it not a bit cheeky to charge £20 for a shirt we don't wear any more, embroidered with the details of a playoff final we lost? Short of some real collectors (or even rarer, loyal Buckle fans wanting to commemorate his final match) I can't see them being too popular.

Finally, when the OS article is bigging up a new range of jackets would it not make sense for the link provided to take you straight to these jackets? I'll admit I wasn't looking for them after I clicked on the link, but they certainly didn't jump out at me.

Sadly another example from our club when a bit of online professionalism is sadly lacking.

Moan over.

[AustrianAndyGull]

Agree Bigman, i live over 200 miles from Plainmoor so you would have thought the online shop wouldbe perfect for me having stuff delivered. Not a bit of it. Some products on there they don't do anymore or say the sizes they have in stock when they haven't got them in stock etc etc. I just prefer to ring the club and place my order that way or pop in when i visit Devon. The shop is a joke and must lose thousands of pounds potentially from fans like me who find it poor, offering little, unreliable and i just can't be arsed with it. WHY THE F**K have photos of Benyon and Wroe on there for Christs sake?!! Its not as if they left last week, its nearly a f****ng year!!!!!!!! It is just laziness, what would it take to update the page? I don't know i know nothing about computers but its gotta be worth it just to get some more money coming in. Credit where its due, a lot of things at the club have improved greatly but when a major source of income is given short shrift then i wonder why they even bother to improve anything if they cannot get something as basic AND vitally important as this right. I think there was a similar thread slagging off the OS and the shop even before Ling was appointed and yet its still the same old shite.

[Gulliball]

A choice of four colours is a good thing for those buying a goalkeeping top. Olejnik has worn all 4 this season, so they're not old shirts at all. I don't see why having a full range of products on offer is a bad thing either.

The same point re the play-off shirt. If we have them in stock, why not sell them? It's all extra money coming into the club.

You probably have some fair points on the other issues, but putting a fresh skin on a website is a bigger and more expensive issue than a lot of people realise. I'm sure someone else could give you a guide price, but another website I use paid over £400 for a new skin, so it's a big expense for no financial return (and a small inconvenience for fans). Say they were to put Eunan on the website now, he might be gone by January, so there's no safety anyway.

I do think the range of products (and quality) has improved a great deal since the current board took over, so they deserve some credit for the steps they've taken.

[royalgull]

just put a picture of Hells Bells on there modelling the shirt she won't leave but be quick the appeal is starting to wear off. She's going to be 'one for Troj' soon.

[ferrarilover]

I have quizzed the delightful Julia (

[Scott Brehaut]

I have quizzed the delightful Julia (

[ferrarilover]

Perhaps when we miss out on automatic promotion by a single point (one of the two we would have most certainly won had we stayed overnight) and we lose in the playoffs, we will realise just how much money that has cost us... :na:

Matt.

[AustrianAndyGull]

I have quizzed the delightful Julia (

[highweekgull]

The above us actually untrue - ever since the club sold the rights to the club shop the shop website has been in a state of limbo with no-one willing to take ownership and make it work

I totally agree that it is shocking!

[ferrarilover]

I'd love to know how you think what I've said is untrue. I'm getting a little bored with having to post things a million times before people finally accept what I say but just for you... I ASKED JULIA, THE MANAGER OF THE CLUB SHOP AND THE DAUGHTER OF THE OWNER! And she told me the above. If you have a better source of information (though I'd struggle to think of one), then please, offer a name, if not, avoid the word 'untrue'. :whip:

Matt.

[Southampton Gull]

To be fair Matt, she also told me that they weren't selling shirts with no sponsors name on and repeatedly denied it until I showed her the actual webpage on my phone. I believe you when you say she told you but she wouldn't be the first club employee to say something incorrect.

[cambgull]

I'd love to know how you think what I've said is untrue. I'm getting a little bored with having to post things a million times before people finally accept what I say but just for you... I ASKED JULIA, THE MANAGER OF THE CLUB SHOP AND THE DAUGHTER OF THE OWNER! And she told me the above. If you have a better source of information (though I'd struggle to think of one), then please, offer a name, if not, avoid the word 'untrue'. :whip:

Matt.

Don't post sh*t then...



Seriously though, the club shop is awful and there have been so many times in the past where I've had a spare few quid and fancied buying something but just been put off completely by how poor it looks. Don't get me wrong, it could look FAR worse than it does. I remember looking at it when there were pictures all over the place and there was no standard layout at all. Think you had to phone up as buying things over the net wasn't really done back then.

[Bigman]

I'm surprised that changing pics would be so costly, surely small businesses make changes like that to their websites all the time, maybe it's just a bad deal/provider we've got, but if this is the case obviously there are better things our cash strapped club can be spending funds on.

To address Gulliball's points:
1. I just think having 4 choices of top is a bit much - if there were that many outfield kits and all got worn at some point I think we'd feel hard done by as shirt buyers, surely one home and one away is plenty, and change one of those each season. Young goalkeepers out there wanting to emulate Bobby and wear the latest top he's in will have to shell out £80 (assuming they have both the home and away from last season already), and then still might not match him if they turn up at Plainmoor in green and Bobby's chosen orange for the day. It's a minor issue I'll admit, but I think we'd all be up in arms if there was an extra blue outfield kit that the team wore on random occassions and expected us all to buy.

2. I agree that we should try and sell the playoff shirts, and there probably will be buyers out there, but I think the price needs to be realistic to tempt people into such an unusual purchase. If they were a tenner I'd be tempted, but £20 is a bit steep for a novelty item, but obviously if they sell out at that price I'm dead wrong and should never be involved in marketing.

[ferrarilover]

There is just so much wrong in the sentiment of those 4 words, it's untrue.

I see what you're saying Dave, I'm sure people do make mistakes (our Camb is a perfect example =D )
but surely club shop Julia wouldn't be wrong, nothing that pretty can be wrong, can it?

Matt.

[cambgull]

Selling dead stock is a very good idea, but it needs to be advertised as historic, makes people think they're romanticising.

And Matt, my mum says I'm special and that's all that matters!