We need to innovate to meet fans’ demands for licensed product, says Fanatics’ Cole Gahagan.
The sports industry and licensing in general is playing catch up when it comes to on-demand product delivery, and getting the right product, to the right fans at the right moment is key.
That was the message from Fanatics’ chief commercial officer, Cole Gahagan, during his keynote address at this week’s Licensing Expo.
Cole told the assembled audience of industry executives that with sport in particular, the sentiment factor comes into play which is probably unmatched anywhere else. This means fans are more likely to buy product, for example when their team has won a major game or tournament.
The licensing and sports industries challenge is being able to react to this fast enough.
Cole used several examples of missed opportunities, including Leicester City winning the Premier League, because product couldn’t be got into market fast enough to meet demand.
“When sentiment spikes, there’s a window,” he stated. “If we can’t get there to meet that fan intersection of excitement and demand, then we are under-servicing our industry, our businesses and, most importantly, the fans.”
Cole cited Netflix, Airbnb and Grubhub as examples of on-demand corners of commerce which are ahead of the game.
Fanatics has already begun to bridge the gap, with Cole explaining it ‘defragmented’ its business in order to get the right product, at the right time to the right fans – “starting to meet demand as it happens”.
“Speed meets personalisation is critical in today’s economy,” Cole continued. “Consumers aren’t interested in generalisation any more. We are living in a rapidly changing time when it comes to the preferences of fans.
“We need to innovate and change to try and meet those demands, or we fail the fans.
“We hope that Fanatics can help to user the industry into this new age.”
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