It's clear we want to spend our money on stuff, yet as a club we continue to get this so very wrong.
Under the old regime it was understandable, but this is not good enough and is in stark contrast to the way the club has progressed everywhere else.
Do we employ a retail manager or does it fall under the auspices of another department?

I have got a similar feeling whenever i have been in the store.

I have to say guys this is well over the top for a very specific issue.

The merchandise before Christmas was great, the marketing is great, the shop is better than anything we have ever had before.

If you have specific needs then ask the question, or call before visiting, or accept that it might take time.
Like any shop, stock needs to be sold and replenished. They are not just going to hold hundreds just so they can get every person who might need them at the tisk of having excess stock not sold.....THAT would be bad business.

Its not just the shop though, albeit thats the main area of concern at present. People have complained about the turnstyles yet on saturday when I arrived there was a queue a mile long for the one turnstyle letting ticket holders in whilst three others that were either juniors or cash only didn't have a sole at them. Yet nobody could go use them to ease the congestion. The toilets. Why do the lights go out after kick off time? Do people not need to go after then? They know about it, but nothing is done. Why are there so many bulbs out on the floodlights? It just doesn't give a good impression. The size of the queues in the bars are obscene at times and it puts people off going in them. Two games now I haven't been able to get a programme for the little 'un because the sellers hadn't been given enough. Little things maybe but as has been said before, important to get right. Yes good things are being done and Rome wasn't built in a day. But neither did they sit on their hands when a small problem could be sorted quickly to the benefit of everyone. Didn't Mr Glover say he was 'a details man'? Time to prove it.

What WTW need to do is apoint a customer services officer and give them a designated phone line and the number should be displayed on the website and in the shop and on the tickets. Should someone have a need to complain the customer services officer would be able to either give the customer feed back instanly or take a contact number and call them back with an answer. By doing this it would make people feel as if they are being treated faily and that they are important to the club. But they must reopen the old shop.

Thats a very good idea SC.

Agreed, pretty much what I put earlier. But the said person should also be responsible for putting systems in place to prevent those issues happening again and maybe carry out an audit of the whole shabang to see what can be improved. You'll find an awful lot can be changed for little cost with just a few tweaks here and there. Its just having the time and dedication to go through it with a fine tooth comb.

There does seem to be a Plan A of trying to sell as much alcohol at matches as possible and no plan b with retail.

The shop in town is a great step forward but it needs to have a better mix of gifts and clothes. The online side obviously needs sorting. If we can’t get a ecommerce shop up and running this season, for whatever reason, sell via Amazon (or similar) and link from the website. Yes the cost will be higher but for fans who don’t live in the area it is a must.

We need to get a better range of merchandise and in winter have coats etc, in summer have t-shirts etc. It seems simple but not currently used.

The closure of the portacabin seems strange, yes it wasn't amazing but it did the job and was easy to call into.

Why not put the trailer used to sell stuff in trinity walk into the ground of match days, selling hats and scarves etc at the moment, then caps, sunglasses etc in summer. Have it over near the north/west stand- the furthest away from the new shop.

As a family club, playing a family friendly sport the idea of selling as much alcohol as possible seems a slight conflict to me with some of the language at the match not what I would want any children to hear.

Why not have a part of the ground for families, daddy cool could hang out there during games and have a stall with kids merchandise, drinks etc etc

Also the quality of the merchandise needs to be looked at, the first wash of my new polo shirt and the badge fell off- not good especially at around £40.

I went past the ground on Sunday and the board at the main entrance still had Bradford as the next game. I know Mr Elston said the trailers around town was the company who manage them's fault but that must surely be done in house and should be done during/ straight after the game.

The Ridings shop is probably our greatest marketing tool with thousands of locals walking past each day. I know that there is a fixture list on it but why not have a large screen/sign stating the next game is... buy tickets here.

There are loads more small things, many of which the club will know and it will take time. There have been huge steps in the last year and long may it continue.

Further to this post, I would like to thank Davide Longo for taking the time to phone me this afternoon to explain the situation and address my points. He informed me that the club are going to make a statement on this on the website and explained many good reasons, which I will give him and the club the courtesy of explaining for themselves in their statement. He said that he understood why I felt the way I did and I was more than satisfied with the explanations and feel pretty confident that our commercial prowess will improve in view of what I was told. If my feelings were a little strongly expressed then I apologise, though, if some of the things said to me had been on the website somewhere prominent already, I wouldn't have batted an eyelid. I think we can all accept the difficulties of dealing with other businesses and overcoming administration but a little clear communication helps keep confidence amongst a group of fans used to being let down. But thanks for that call and it showed the exact opposite of what I was accusing the club of.

Good to know; Mr Elston did a very similar thing recently with a guy who'd had a bit of a do with away travel - we might not be getting everything right first time, but there is very definitely a willingness to listen and learn from mistakes. Can't really argue with that approach.

Thanks for posting the update - that was decent of you.

It was by the main entrance to the ground on Saturday.

I agree. Davide Longo expalined a lot to me today and it all made sense but could be communicated in a much better way so we all know where we are

Yes Davide helped me out a couple of times so far this season, top bloke and very good at his job.

The online shop is VITAL in this day and age. They have really missed a trick, and it's a shame that the club have missed out on so much revenue, I know we don't have a SL stadium but we should have a SL standard commercial and merchandising part of the club. As for buying food and drink at matches this is restricted to our stadium, but there is no reason why we can't have an efficient online and offline shop.

I will be writing to them soon.

True customer service is not over committing and under delivering, it's how things are dealt with when highlighted and brought to attention of management, the current regime at WTW is far better at this than the old one and the board and other high ranking employees have no hesitation in communicating with those asking the questions, much better than the previous cloak and daggers that went on, I say thank you to the OP for bringing attention to this current issue and bigger thanks to WTW for responding in a clear concise and quick manner