Day 2: Merchandise

My second day at project I shadowed the merchandising department and learned how their business works. This was again a game day so I got to see how the store operates when fans are in the ballpark. Throughout the day I was in the team shop and learned the ins and outs of what they do, from my experience I learned that this department is more or less retail work and the main objective is to sell their products. What I enjoyed most about this day was sitting down and talking with the head merchandising director, Joe. Joe is responsible for buying the product, running the online website, maintaining relationships with designers and other responsibilities pertaining to generating revenue of Rubberducks apparel. He explained to me the strategies he uses, such as keeping track of what is selling and what is popular and not popular so he can stress them to his employees. For example the day that I shadowed he wanted to increase the revenue of mini bats, so he had a competition between his employees and interns and the person who sold the most got a prize. If a specific item is selling really well he allows his employees to wear them in the store so the interest remains high to customers and they buy more of them. The merchandising department in sports marketing is extremely similar to the average retail business in normal society but the business is designed to promote the team and generate more revenue for the organization.