Rapid Retail, the UK’s leading supplier of flexible retail shop units and kiosks, is continuing its growth in football by securing new deals with Arsenal, Liverpool, Sheffield Wednesday, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Sunderland and Swindon Town.
The Cheltenham-based company is playing an important role in the transformation of football clubs throughout the UK and these latest contracts bring the total number of English Premiership and Championship clubs currently utilising the firm’s units to 21. Rapid’s units are designed to ease the pressure on busy club shops, bars and offices, and provide clubs with an affordable way to access flexible and adaptable retail floor space, helping them to generate increased retail footfall and maximise impulse purchase opportunities.
Arsenal, joining other leading Premier League clubs, has taken delivery of a fully fitted shop, positioned on the external concourse of the Emirates stadium, together with a VIP suite unit, showcasing a selection of the club’s merchandise to its hospitality guests. Sheffield Wednesday’s fans have recently seen three new bar units, together with two merchandising shops, installed at Hillsborough, whilst Wolves have been supplied with two merchandising shops and a new ticket office. Six programme kiosks have also been installed at Sunderland.
Meanwhile, as part of the continuing development of its products, Rapid delivered a new, multi-purpose unit at Anfield earlier this month. The shop, measuring 8m in length and consisting of a central merchandising retail space, supported by a programme vending kiosk at each end, demonstrates the innovative design, flexibility and versatility of the company’s units.
Rapid Retail is not simply focused on the big budget players, however. With affordable rental options, its units offer all clubs, big or small, the opportunity to drive up revenue by increasing customer turnaround. Rapid’s management team is working together with a number of smaller clubs, where budgets are more modest but where the central aim is as it is with bigger rivals, to drive revenue maximisation by increasing sales of club merchandise and programmes on match-days. Swindon Town has already signed up the company and other deals are in the pipeline.
Rapid Retail’s Managing Director, Nick Daffern, explains: “I am genuinely excited about the continuing opportunities presented to Rapid Retail. It’s great to see more and more clubs starting to capitalise on the advantages of using portable retail space. It is a flexible and low-cost way to drive up revenue through maximising purchase opportunities and, as an enthusiastic football fan, I really appreciate the difference our units make to the overall match-day experience.”
Rapid Retail’s business is not just confined to football in the UK. The company is in advanced talks with four major European football stadia and further contracts are due to be announced soon.
In business for just over three years, Rapid Retail has secured contracts at some of the UK and Europe’s other major stadia and venues, including Manchester United, Aston Villa, Stade de France in Paris, Stade Louis II in Monaco, the Brit Oval, Woburn Safari Park and many UK rugby clubs.
