CRM creates soccer club sales

September 14, 2005

An article at VNU Network today offered a related CRM news story —

�

Manchester City Football Club is boosting its retail sales using specialist provider Software4Sport’s CRM software built on smartcard technology.

�

Software4Sport, part of Computer Software Group plc, provides TALENT Sport, a software system that combines ticketing and CRM functionality for sports clubs, event and venues.

�

Manchester City FC, a member of the English F.A. Premier League, is using Software4Sport’s Profile Manager to boost its retail sales.

�

The club was one of the first to install a radio frequency identity (RFID) smartcard ticketing system, in the summer of 2003. The installation aimed to provide more detailed information about club supporters and their purchasing habits. Before that time, the club was unable to track what merchandise its supporters were buying unless goods were bought in conjunction with a ticket.

�

“Now we can look at what we’ve sold across our retail, Internet and mail-order channels, as well as ticketing purchase data,” Duncan Martin, head of retail at Manchester City FC, told VNU.

�

For Manchester City FC, the software is already creating sales opportunities.

�

“We used Profile Manager to identify our top 2,000 customers,” Martin added. “We invited them to a preview evening when we launched the new kit in May, and sold £15,000 of merchandise in one night.”

�

Software4Sport’s CRM software, called Profile Manager, integrates sales data with customer data stored on TALENT Sport; it is designed to pull together data from the smartcard system and match it with details about what those supporters have bought online, in shops or via the club’s mail-order catalogue. It assists in the analysis of spending patterns and spot opportunities; further, it can be more targeted in your marketing.

�

In addition to tracking purchases, Profile Manager allows these clubs to segment and profile their customers by applying business rules to the data, which can be profiled on demographics, purchasing, attendance, frequency, typical spend, stores visited or membership status, according to Software4Sports’ Web site.

�

The system has also been integrated to smartcard access control schemes at football/soccer clubs Liverpool FC, Chelsea FC, Manchester City FC and Leeds FC, amongst others.

�

---

DRB