American sports store

cena

I'v been thinking lately that there could be a a demaned for a an American sports that sells that sells NFL,NHL and MLB stuff. The likes of jersyes t-shirts, dvd etc.

Anyone else this could work if one opened here. The only think I wouldn't know is how would I go about getting this type of stuff. How would I contact over this.

I feel I some one opened one it could work.

brian93

+ NBA!

There could be a demand, it's a good idea!

cena

brian93 wrote: »

+ NBA!

There could be a demand, it's a good idea!

oh ya. Totally forgot about that. I would need too have the right place for it. Dublin would be grand, I think You would need too sell online for those that are not welling too head too the store if its too far.

I know Reebok Do the Nfl, nhl jersey etc. I could contact them and see what they think.

Only thing is i'v never did business studies in school. Its somthing I would like too give a shot at.

mikemac

Sell college gear too

Well at least have the option of ordering stuff in for people

Notre Dame are well known but there are many others and college sports are popular

Don't hold lots of college stock but at least have the popular teams

Reebok finish their NFL contract at the end of this year so check out who is dealing with it next year

cena

mikemac wrote: »

Sell college gear too

Well at least have the option of ordering stuff in for people

Notre Dame are well known but there are many others and college sports are popular

Don't hold lots of college stock but at least have the popular teams

Reebok finish their NFL contract at the end of this year so check out who is dealing with it next year

Football college gear is it? I'm not sure who are the well known teams. I well find out.

I think Nike are going doing the NFL jersey next.
Any ideas were would be a great place for such a store. Do ye think it would be a good thing too have in ireland. Some things can be 300 dollars too buy on there sites. Would people be welling too pay that kind of money.

EIREHotspur

You could try typing "wholesale NBA" or "wholesale ----" into Google ?

http://www.smallworld-us.com/Wholesale-nba-jersey_c551

iMax

There's a skateboarding shop up the back of Grafton street already sells a lot of American sports gear

Kinetic^

There used to be in George's St arcade and they also had an outlet on middle abbey street. Along with every thing else in the recession they went under. I wouldn't be looking at a bricks and mortar store for this tbh, the market in Ireland won't be great enough so I'd look at an e-commerce site so that you can hopefully sell to the EU.

maxer68

Think of the cost of stock that you would be holding.

number of teams x colours of gear x sizes.

Then, really how big is the marlet here? - Those who follow it have a line of supply via Uk or US websites.

As a department within another store, maybe. As standalone, I don't think so.

MyPerfectCousin

Agreed. There definitely is a market for these items, but on the other hand, it is definitely a small market.

I've seen this tried before, both physical store and online, without success. Potential customers are too thinly spread for a shop. And online, you are competing with dozens or hundreds of competitors abroad who have the same access to your customers but in many cases lower costs.

Your unique selling point would be delivery from an an Irish supplier - but would you need to import each item upon sale first? If so, how does the customer avoid paying more than buying from overseas?

This has also been tried with American sports equipment. Again, maybe enough customers in Ireland to support a store, but too thinly spread throughout the country. And the ecommerce versions couldn't sustain themselves. Even UK-based operations have trouble making a go of it.

Zonua

I think it's a good idea! I know I tried to get an NFL jersey before here.

MrMatisse

go for an online store

cena

Thanks for all the views on this. But are people welling too fork out for the more expensive clothing etc in Ireland. There is a demand for NFL jerseys. The boys are on the American football forum here are always looking jerseys.

wixfjord

Have thought about this before, and, while it's certainly a growing market, and there's already a good market here, it's not enough for a bricks and mortar store imo. Still too niche.
Think of how many American football fans there are in Ireland, and how many of them actually buy a jersey per season, and also keep in mind that these are seriously expensive items too.

There's a huge stock outlay too.

If you're going to do it, it'd need to be online, but even then there's lots of UK stores.

Think of specialist football jersey stores, like the one that used to be on Georges St. There must be 10 times the amount of footie fans in Ireland, and it still couldn't survive.
Elverys and Lifestyle don't make their money from jerseys I'd wager.

DubTony

wixfjord's and Maxer68's advice are the most important posts in this thread. Just think about the stock holding. And then there's the low demand. If there was real demand for this stuff, it would be hanging in Champion, Lifestyle and Elverys.

Just imagine the required stock holding to cater for all potential customers.
Take just 15 NFL teams, 15 MLB teams, 10 college football teams, just 6 NBA teams and the Boston Bruins (cos nobody here follows ice-hockey;)). Can we call that 45 teams? If you stock just 2 of each size available S,M,L and XL, and just one colour per team, thats over 400 items. At €20 each (cost to you - seriously underestimated I would say) you'll need to hold a minimum of €7,000 in stock. Then there are kids sizes and caps - Jesus, don't forget the caps.

But holding 2 of each size is unrealistic, as the popular ones will sell out (hopefully) and will need to be re-stocked quickly. But unless you're selling tens of units each week you'll be ordering very small quantities and paying huge delivery charges on them. That charge will hit your margin as selling at way above online rates just won't be feasible. The real problem is when a potential customer walks in looking for a Patriots shirt in XL and you're waiting for stock to come in. Or he wants the white shirt and you only stock the blue one. He leaves, pissed off, and tells anyone who'll listen that Cena's American Sports Store is a load of sh*te and not worth going into.

But let's say you sell 100 items a week with a clear €20 profit on each one, that's gross profit of €2,000 a week. From that you'll have wages, electricity, rent, rates, insurance, service charges, telephone, and a myriad of other stuff to pay for. And while 2k a week might cover all this stuff (some of those costs are location specific) I doubt whether anyone could sell 100 units a week of American Sports gear from a retail store in this country. Problem is that if you only sell 50 units, the fixed costs I've outlined remain the same.

This is a non-runner in my opinion. The first rule when identifying what you perceive to be a gap in the market, is to identify WHY the gap exists.

mikemac

Could you setup an online store OP?
There is a huge thread in American football forum about jerseys and one company won't deliver to Ireland since customs are cracking down

And when I bought from the offical NFL store, I got stung for thirteen euro by UPS for "administration" as UPS paid customs on my behalf and they had I paid them
I've no issue with customs but the fees from UPS are a rip-off :mad:

A good .ie Irish store could do well

wixfjord wrote: »

Think of specialist football jersey stores, like the one that used to be on Georges St. There must be 10 times the amount of footie fans in Ireland, and it still couldn't survive.

The bad attitude from the owner drove away a lot of customers

cena

mikemac wrote: »

Could you setup an online store OP?
There is a huge thread in American football forum about jerseys and one company won't deliver to Ireland since customs are cracking down

And when I bought from the offical NFL store, I got stung for thirteen euro by UPS for "administration" as UPS paid customs on my behalf and they had I paid them
I've no issue with customs but the fees from UPS are a rip-off :mad:

A good .ie Irish store could do well



The bad attitude from the owner drove away a lot of customers

I did state above some where I would also need an online store too. I have American football forum. I do be reading it every day.

Would reebok etc be welling too give you stuff too sell in Ireland. Like well they see as a good Business for them. Actually sports stores here use too sell Hockey jerseys and have since stopped. Not every one wnats a bruins jersey. Their is a good few on the hockey forum that like other teams.
I for one like collecting the hockey jerseys.