Denton Academy

[Marty]

Went to Academy Sports today to look for some new shoes. They have a big game day display set up just as you enter the store with T shirts, corn hole, etc (tailgate accessories). Only 1 team featured, nope, not our local D1 team that has a home game this weekend. They had the burnt orange of the Texas Longhorns.

Ridiculous!

[untphd]

Was this in Denton? If so, that has to change.

[DeepGreen]

Wren Baker needs to make a call on Academy’s corporate offices.

 

[Marty]

16 minutes ago, untphd said:

Was this in Denton? If so, that has to change.

yes. I didn't have my phone with me to get a pic. 

[Jonnyeagle]

This type of stuff makes my blood boil.  We need to find out who the manager is there and make sure he knows this is unacceptable and would NEVER happen in any other college town!  

[untphd]

I just called them at 940-483-4300 to ask them about the mishap, but a real person did not answer the phone.

[meangreen11]

3 hours ago, untphd said:

I just called them at 940-483-4300 to ask them about the mishap, but a real person did not answer the phone.

It’s what it takes. We have to start holding businesses that benefit immensely from UNT to reciprocate.   Some of this falls on the AD as well.

[untbowler]

want answers to this don't attack the store, go after our AD and President Administration and the stupid licensing garbage. They make it hard to do anything, attacking the store does nothing. 

[untphd]

If the business finds out people want something, then isn't it up to the business to call the people who can make it happen.

[NorthTexasWeLove]

Not surprising. Venture off campus 2 feet and it's merchandise for every university not named UNT everywhere. I'm just waiting for our stadium store to start selling TCU, ATM and UT gear. 

[UNTcrazy727]

9 minutes ago, untbowler said:

want answers to this don't attack the store, go after our AD and President Administration and the stupid licensing garbage. They make it hard to do anything, attacking the store does nothing. 

If a store in Denton doesn't have any UNT merch then it's only their fault. 

[untphd]

1 minute ago, NorthTexasWeLove said:

Not surprising. Venture off campus 2 feet and it's merchandise for every university not named UNT everywhere. I'm just waiting for our stadium store to start selling TCU, ATM and UT gear. 

At first I thought that was kind of funny, but then realized it is very sad.

[NorthTexasWeLove]

Just now, untphd said:

At first I thought that was kind of funny, but then realized it is very sad.

It's a combo of both. 

But you know even our very own fans are, "Well I'm a diehard UNT fan, but-but-but-but-but my uncle went to ATM so that's why I have ATM stuff". Or, "I'm a diehard UNT fan, but-but-but-but I got my masters at Colorado (failing to mention global) (also fails to mention exclusively online (if you didn't pick up on global)) (also fails to mention when he was 47) so that's why I have Colorado gear." 

[Greenrex]

I did graduate work at the University of Georgia. My wife and many family members graduated from there and I have great fondness and respect for that university but, I love my North Texas with all my heart and soul. It is in my DNA and when we attended the UGA/UNT game a few years ago, I proudly wore my Mean Green gear and hoped beyond hope that we would beat Georgia.

[NorthTexasSportsNetwork]

Not very shocking if you ask me. Still can’t get our product out to the DENTON PUBLIC, there’s a problem within the athletic department.

Shocker.

[Pseudo Nym]

Do we have anyone on here from the College of Merchandising, Hospitality & Tourism?

I'm inclined to believe dollars and cents may have prevailed in this case, though it may be time to test the waters again?

Floor space in a store is measured by return on investment (ROI), and all of these stores have metrics and analytics when it comes to product placement.  

To that end, I think these are the questions most warranted:

1. What's the projected profit margin on UNT gear vs. current items on the floor?
    
2. Does the bottom line ($) make sense to put UNT gear out?
    
3. What's the history with having UNT gear on the floor?  When was it? What was the outcome? Is it worth doing again?
    
4. Is there a deal to be made where UNT provides the product and pays a premium to display the items for a certain period of time to show there is value to the store ($) for stocking, displaying, and selling these items?

An option may be to pay to have our product there if it's not profitable to the store, not sure that's a wise use of funds.

It may not be profitable at this moment in time but as the AD and his staff continue to build the brand, it may be more of a timing issue with now not being the most opportune time from an ROI stand point.

TL;DR: It may not make sense financially right now.  Dollars and cents matter, ROI matters in product placement.  The way the AD + Staff have been growing the brand, we are on our way to seeing this happen when it does make sense from a $$ stand point.

---- Additional Background ----

The following is from this article: The Ultimate Guide to In-Store Product Placement in 2020

What is In-Store Product Placement?

In-store product placement is the art of determining where your products appear within a retailer through planning, negotiation, and design. It also concerns the spatial analysis of shelving and the use of planograms, which are visual representations of product shelving that help merchandisers maximize capacity.

Effective in-store product placement will boost brand recognition and maximize sales. Factors to consider when formulating a strategy include where the majority of the foot traffic is in the store, the size of the store and the shelving available, and what items are also being sold in your category. Additionally, in-store product placement consists of strategies employed by field marketing and sales teams such as the organizing and tracking of placed products and the restocking of shelves that become empty.

Retail Product Placement

Paying for space, paying to stay, and paying to limit rival shelf space are easier for companies with bigger reputations. For newer brands, fighting for prime real estate on the store shelves is much more challenging.  To avoid “new product failure” in retail product placement, we’ve got some tips below:

Co-brand your display

Target a failing competitive brand

Know your unique prime shelf real estate

Consider the broker option

Build clout

“Eye level is buy level”

[LitMedallion]

UTSA stuggled with this for a long time, but the Academy across from the school stepped up and made a UTSA section. I put it on our school, though. There are plenty of college kids who could design great tshirts on campus and school should use this as an approach to any marketing or business classes and give the kids a chance to earn some side income. Learn actual real life marketing and business skills

[meangreenJW]

2 hours ago, untbowler said:

want answers to this don't attack the store, go after our AD and President Administration and the stupid licensing garbage. They make it hard to do anything, attacking the store does nothing. 

Huh? All any retailer has to do is fill out a licensing form and agree to the appropriate accounting of merchandise sold and send the University their share. I know htis because my wife has a small business making jewelry. It took her 30 minutes to fill out the form and she had approval back in days. If she wasn't to do a design that isn't pre approved (normal logos and colors) she has to submit that for special approval but otherwise she is good to go. 

Academy is almost certainly licensed. If they only have UT Austin out, it's because they think that's what will sale. The store makes that decision, not UNT. The store is the right place to reach out IMO. If you owned a store, you would let UNT tell you what to sell and put on display?

[untjim1995]

12 minutes ago, LitMedallion said:

UTSA stuggled with this for a long time, but the Academy across from the school stepped up and made a UTSA section. I put it on our school, though. There are plenty of college kids who could design great tshirts on campus and school should use this as an approach to any marketing or business classes and give the kids a chance to earn some side income. Learn actual real life marketing and business skills

You guys are winning, and the SA citizenry has a strong pride in your city. It's a lot like Fort Worth in that way. Academy is smart to make a section available for your fans. I suspect that corporate support, as well as local alums/donors will probably help you guys even more with NIL stuff, which UH already benefits from the money available down there. I suppose UTSA should be able to copy that pretty easily. Now, a school like Texas State...they probably won't, as they deal with very similar issues as we do.

There are many things that are tough about our situation. Apathy is the first. About 2% of the UNT alumni and students care about UNT Sports, based off of giving records the AD has shown us over the years. Denton itself is split between being apathetic or actively loathing our football program, which is completely different from anywhere else that has a FBS program. And the fans of Texas, A&M, OU, etc...they get the products sold that these retailers make a nice margin on. IOW, coolness is a huge factor. We aren't that fortunate. In our media market, we don't even get regularly covered. We hear about the Big XII teams all the time and then we get pounded over the head about how SMU "should" be in the Big 12, even though there is absolutely no reason whatsoever for them to be added to that conference. NIL is just making this all worse for us.

It is what it is. 

 

[Coffee and TV]

This is stupid not just because they're missing UNT gear, but only having UT. The Aggie cult alone could double sales. 

[bstnsportsfan3]

So I was a former manager with Academy. The store has very little (almost 0) say in what products they carry. I was a manager in Frisco when the Denton store opened and tried to push for Frisco to get NT gear but corporate wouldn't do it as they wanted it to go to Denton. My guess is that after a few years of the gear not selling ( i never thought the selection was good, to be honest) then the buyers probably stopped buying it and corporate stopped supplying the store. Not much the managers in the store can do. All stores and merchandise is set directly from corporate. 

[GreenTexan13]

I could have sworn I have bought UNT gear back when it that store was new. Definitely annoying this is not the case as you proved.. 

[meangreenJW]

7 minutes ago, bstnsportsfan3 said:

So I was a former manager with Academy. The store has very little (almost 0) say in what products they carry. I was a manager in Frisco when the Denton store opened and tried to push for Frisco to get NT gear but corporate wouldn't do it as they wanted it to go to Denton. My guess is that after a few years of the gear not selling ( i never thought the selection was good, to be honest) then the buyers probably stopped buying it and corporate stopped supplying the store. Not much the managers in the store can do. All stores and merchandise is set directly from corporate. 

Makes sense. It's kind of what I was trying to say with less experience. But corporations (and really all businesses) care about one thing making money. They will fill there store space with what will bring the highest sales. It's that simple really. For this reason, anytime I go into a space with good UNT selections I buy something. I just want to validate them carrying it (and I can never have enough green). We can gripe on here all we want. That will not help. Buying stuff will

[bstnsportsfan3]

5 minutes ago, GreenTexan13 said:

I could have sworn I have bought UNT gear back when it that store was new. Definitely annoying this is not the case as you proved.. 

Yes if you see my previous posts, they did carry NT gear when they opened. They still had some last year, but if it didn't sell corporate may have axed it. 

[GreenTexan13]

1 minute ago, bstnsportsfan3 said:

Yes if you see my previous posts, they did carry NT gear when they opened. They still had some last year, but if it didn't sell corporate may have axed it. 

Yeah saw it after you posted it and thanks for the insight. Hard to argue if this is indeed the truth, as a business runs by profit. Another thing you make me ponder on is how tough it is to even buy NT gear if you're not in the city of Denton. There is no options but Rally House and pay $80 for a polo shirt or $35 for a cotton T shirt.. 

I ended up just buying a polo for much cheaper online at some sports website for half the charge of Rally.. May check out Sams or Walmart while in Denton tomorrow to see what they have. Unless that got axed too.