OutByEaster? Posted February 27, 2023 Moderator Share Posted February 27, 2023 A quick google suggests that the club shop at Villa Park might actually be being operated by a company called Lids. Lids Inc. are part of the Fanatics group of companies and do what they call bricks-and-mortar shops. I don't know if that is the separation that means you can't return online goods through the store - maybe I guess. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 8 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said: The club shop and issues around it have been raised at the FCG meetings on a few occasions. It's very difficult for us as a supporters group to influence anything because of the relationship with Fanatics, in fact, it's probably very difficult for the club to do anything. If you order off Fanatics website, then the club aren't involved - if you order a t-shirt with a picture of Marilyn Monroe on it from Next, then somewhere along the line, Marilyn Monroe's estate got a little money for the use of the image - but if the seam is coming apart, you wouldn't take it up with Marilyn. In so far as I understand it, the relationship between the club and Fanatics online shop isn't much different to that - if you read fans from other organisations that are licensed through Fanatics (the NFL, the NBA), you'll find exactly the same complaints about delivery, about service, about quality and about returns - Fanatics don't have a great reputation - they spend money on licensing, not quality would be my personal observation. The club shop is a bit more complicated, there are loads of grey areas for me on who is responsible for what. For example, it's not clear if the people who work in the club shop are employed by the club, or if they're employed by Fanatics. The product in terms of shirts is definitely a Fanatics product, but stuff like pint glasses, key rings and footballs is a mystery - I don't know if the club buys those or Fanatics do and I don't know how sales numbers affect what Villa receive. I know that the season ticket holder discount went when Fanatics arrived, because Fanatics don't have season ticket holders. And I suspect that your season ticket has as much to do with the Villa club shop as your Boots card. I suspect that Villa take a lump sum from Fanatics at the start of the contract (or an annual payment) that is then topped up every time certain sales numbers are reached and that they then leave Fanatics to get on with it. When you click "Shop" on the Villa website, the site you go to isn't run, managed or looked after by Aston Villa. There's a line at the bottom that says so - it might say Aston Villa at the top, but you're shopping with Fanatics and you're dealing with an office that's in Manchester. https://shop.avfc.co.uk/en/astonvilla-about-us/ch-1421 That gives the club a little bit of distance from responsibility for any problems, and indeed that's something that's attractive to clubs, football clubs don't want to run shops, it's not what they're good at, but that unfortunately means that finding people who will accept responsibility for poor service, poor quality goods and so on is difficult. I have a feeling that the Fanatics office in Manchester is pretty happy to be a faceless corporate thing that doesn't have to deal with Villa fans face to face - the anonymity protects them from having to do too much in terms of improving customer care. And that's how it is, the club maximises it's income through payment from Fanatics, who maximise their income by selling us stuff with Villa badges on, and we tend to complain to the club rather than Fanatics about a product they have very little to do with. I don't see the club backing out of the partnership any time soon, the model is clearly a good one for sports clubs, they make the shirts for the NFL and the NBA (even the ones with a Nike badge on), they have NASCAR, MLB, the MLS and Formula 1 - and they are making big inroads in the Premier league with our deal being followed by deals with Manchester United, Chelsea and Everton as well as Bayern and PSG in Europe. It's successful too, we may not necessarily all be happy, but we're buying four and a half times the amount of stuff that we bought before Fanatics came in - they're clearly doing something right in terms of how they're selling stuff to Villa fans - there are lots of happy customers out there. It's a $31billion pound company that's aiming to become a $100 billion company and like most company's like that, they're not particularly bothered what I or a fans group think about them. The aim will always be growth first and customer satisfaction second. Now of course, customer satisfaction should help with growth - but the beauty of sports markets is that loyalty is already built in - we're not going to buy a Wolves shirt because the Fanatics one is a poor fit - so the motivation for the company to put you, the fan, first isn't a big a driver as you'd hope. So, in short, we've raised it at meetings, but I don't think it's going to change; it's the global norm, the club is doing very well out of it, we're buying more stuff than ever and Fanatics founder Michael Rubin gets to live in a $43.5m penthouse. Sizing, quality, delivery and the shopping experience have next to nothing to do with the club. Thanks mate that clears up alot of the mess. Sounds like fanatics are the ones mainly at blame reading that. If the club are unwilling to do anything then only way for ut to improve is if people stop buying. Thats only way they will improve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fun Factory Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 (edited) 19 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said: Sizing, quality, delivery and the shopping experience have next to nothing to do with the club. Well yes, it does ultimately. If we as supporters consistently voice our disapproval then when the contract ends with fanatics they could either ask them to address these or look for a different partner or move the club shop back under the club's control. I don't think they should just shrug their shoulders and not bother if it results in poor customer satisfaction. It is totally opposite to what they are looking at in terms of the stadium redevelopment, the transportation issues, and the GA+ idea. Edited February 27, 2023 by The Fun Factory Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodders0223 Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 Club doesn't care about fan experience. The end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted February 27, 2023 Moderator Share Posted February 27, 2023 17 minutes ago, The Fun Factory said: Well yes, it does ultimately. If we as supporters consistently voice our disapproval then when the contract ends with fanatics they could either ask them to address these or look for a different partner or move the club shop back under the club's control. I don't think they should just shrug their shoulders and not bother if it results in poor customer satisfaction. Sorry, perhaps my full sentence should have read "Sizing, quality, delivery and the shopping experience have next to nothing to do with the club under this deal". And yes, the club can, should and I believe does consider supporters feelings when entering into this type of arrangement, and that they are in constant communication with their partners on issues that affect fans, but they aren't responsible for the retailing issues with the partner at the point of delivery - Fanatics are. When the time comes to consider alternatives, it might well be a factor, even if only as a negotiating object, but I think that to an extent this type of arrangement and Fanatics growing control over retailing within all major sports league means that there aren't too many decent alternatives out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted February 27, 2023 Moderator Share Posted February 27, 2023 50 minutes ago, rodders0223 said: Club doesn't care about fan experience. The end. I don't think that's true either. Depends what you mean by fan experience - I like winning and winning takes money, it's easy for us to want everything to be just so, to want a shirt with Acorns on it and ethical sponsors, to want the best levels of customer care and the cheapest ticket prices in the league, but that's not the world we live in - money talks and people within the club have to make difficult decisions in order to allow us to compete financially in the most financially lead sporting event in human history. Don't hate the club, hate capitalism. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aston_Villan4 Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 (edited) 5 hours ago, ender4 said: Too big or too small? Too small. Ordered an XL because I like my hoodies a bit baggy. Might as well have been a small with how tight it was on me. The sleeves only made it halfway down my forearm. Edited February 27, 2023 by Aston_Villan4 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aston_Villan4 Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 1 hour ago, OutByEaster? said: A quick google suggests that the club shop at Villa Park might actually be being operated by a company called Lids. Lids Inc. are part of the Fanatics group of companies and do what they call bricks-and-mortar shops. I don't know if that is the separation that means you can't return online goods through the store - maybe I guess. Lids the hat store? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted February 27, 2023 Moderator Share Posted February 27, 2023 2 minutes ago, Aston_Villan4 said: Lids the hat store? Yes. Fanatics bought Lids and from what I can figure out from the Fanatics website use Lids retail experience to operate their physical stores. I'm not sure if that means they operate the Villa Park store. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fightoffyour Posted February 27, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted February 27, 2023 4 hours ago, villa4europe said: I actually thought it was a law because you haven't physically seen the product before you bought it I've returned things via fanatics a few years back, was a case of log in enter a code and print off a free returns sticker Might've been a pesky EU law Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ender4 Posted February 27, 2023 Author Share Posted February 27, 2023 3 hours ago, OutByEaster? said: It's successful too, we may not necessarily all be happy, but we're buying four and a half times the amount of stuff that we bought before Fanatics came in - they're clearly doing something right in terms of how they're selling stuff to Villa fans That's really surprising. I guess most people just order something and wear it without too much thought and don't need to return it. It's only when someone has an issue that customer service becomes a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted February 28, 2023 Share Posted February 28, 2023 Quote SALE: Shop up to 65% off kits! Supporters can take advantage of up to 65% off Aston Villa’s 2022/23 kit range when shopping online at the Villa Store. The classic claret and blue home kit is on sale at up to 50% off, while this season’s away kit is available at a huge 65% discount. And fresh from a victorious outing against Everton on Saturday, the stylish black and yellow third kit is on sale at up to 25% off. All you need to do to take advantage of this offer is enter code HOLTE25 when checking out online via the Villa Store. Follow the link below to start shopping! https://www.avfc.co.uk/news/2023/february/28/SALE--Shop-up-to-65--off-kits-/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MNVillan Posted February 28, 2023 Share Posted February 28, 2023 8 hours ago, sne said: https://www.avfc.co.uk/news/2023/february/28/SALE--Shop-up-to-65--off-kits-/ Can you imagine the discounts they’ll offer at the end of the season when transitioning to the new badge? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fun Factory Posted March 1, 2023 Share Posted March 1, 2023 18 hours ago, sne said: https://www.avfc.co.uk/news/2023/february/28/SALE--Shop-up-to-65--off-kits-/ Mind you the starting price was insane- 65 quid for a football shirt, when you know that less than 9 months later they will be massively reduced? I have never paid more than about 20 quid for one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted March 2, 2023 Share Posted March 2, 2023 So i ordered the yellow and black zip cardigan in size medium. It came today and its more like a XL!!! label says medium but there is no way in hell this is a medium as its huge on me. Great now i need to send it back dreading the thought of this now Not ordering online again thats for sure 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted March 2, 2023 Share Posted March 2, 2023 Almost £6 for a return. **** jokers Thats unbelievable i think Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted March 2, 2023 Share Posted March 2, 2023 I can't buy anything with Cazoo slathered over it. Or any sponsor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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