That’s why Nike has designed the Tiger Woods brand shoes, and other models like the Nike Air Max Mystify golf shoes women and men’s variety, to safeguard your feet with quality construction and durable materials. The shoe heel construction on these Nikes includes a lower profile heel with a slight divot on the outer side of the heel. This shoe feature makes sure to secure your foot and ankle in the Nikes, to ensure that your foot is supported each and every time the shoe strikes the ground. Nike designs its best golf shoes as if they’re a pair of high caliber athletic cross-training shoes. These Nike shoes still come with the features that make them excellent golf shoes, such as strong spikes and great support. But they also come with heel construction and sole support that usually comes with shoes meant to handle the stress of repetitive walking. For the soles, the Nikes have a lower midsole, too, since golfers don’t need as much cushion as, say, a runner. But golf players still do need some cushion from their shoes for their 18 holes of golf, so Nike has just the right amount. With this support and padding in their shoes, Nike makes sure that you can concentrate on your golf game, not your feet.

Doing things is expensive. And quite often, hassle. As my mission for squash recommences “Staffordshire-style”, there are a few things that are rather instrumental to the game, that I’m required to buy.

So to the High Street I go, shopping list in hand. The main focus of my attention is obviously, sports shops and this is a problem in itself. Ten years ago, you’d walk into most sports retailers and you’re more than likely to find what you’re looking for. My first mistake was thinking that the curiously named ‘JD Sports’ actually sold sporty things.

Tracksuits and Burberry aside, I scoured both floors and not so much as a tennis ball or golf bag in sight. Nike, Adidas and Puma aplenty, but if they don’t stock footballs then me coming across any sort of squash paraphernalia is extremely unlikely.

A degree of luck in the more appropriately named, ‘JJB Sports’. They actually had a selection of rackets, randomly spread across the ‘Racket Section’ of their first floor. But none that I liked. Prince is my weapon of choice, and I know just enough about them to not be swayed by a £19.99 thing that felt like waving bamboo.

My final attempt was Adidas Sport. Not because I’d had enough and was giving up (quite), but surprisingly that was all the store’s Hanley has to offer.

Approaching this store I feel the same sense of trepidation I began to develop back in ‘JD’, but surprisingly I struck gold. Pack of 3 double-dot Dunlop squash balls for £3.99 – nice. A second pack of balls, this time single-dot (purchased with the aim to inspire beginner friends into joining me), also £3.99. Squash rackets however, not so much luck. Not a single Prince in stock.

This means online shopping, which will further push back my participation in Stoke-on-Trent squash.

Also, with getting to clubs a major turn off for me last year, I put my hand in my pocket for a pair of tracksuit bottoms, so jogging/walking won’t be quite so unpleasant. Special offer £9.99 – win.

I have since purchased a racket on website: SportDiscount.com – a lovely looking Prince specimen for the ‘princely’ sum (sorry) of £65 with free p&p. For anyone interested, I’ve used them before and would definitely recommend some of their special offer So a total of £80+ to get back in the game… I suppose I’ll have to make a point of getting my money’s worth now. Thank you overdraft card.

After looking at the terms and conditions of prodirectsoccer.com in detail, I have found that they are reasonable and similar to other E-commerce websites.  An example of this is that the customer’s account is only debited when the goods are dispatched and exceptions can be made when returning goods that were purchased for Christmas presents or gifts.  I believe that this is very reasonable as not all businesses would do this for the customer.  The website currently address the ongoing situation with Royal Mail, stating, “Due to ongoing Royal Mail industrial action please give up to 2 working days extra on top of expected delivery date. Priority service is unaffected!”.  I believe this to be extremely useful as it could avoid any confusion for the customer if their goods are not delivered on time.  The website also provides information on the time that the goods will be delivered, which vary depending on the delivery method chosen.

I did not find anything unusual in the terms and conditions of the website.

As I previously returned an item to ProDirect, I believe that the return’s policy of the website is acceptable, however it is not as good as its main competitor, JJB Sports.  ProDirect’s policy is that the goods can be returned within 14 days for a refund or exchange, provided the goods are not damaged.  The customer has to pay the packaging costs (recorded delivery) when posting the item.  JJB however, allow returns up to 28 days after the item was purchased.  As JJB also has the benefit of stores, the user can return the item free of charge to a store.

ProDirect provides call backs to the customer when orders have been delayed or the release date of pre-ordered items have been changed.  There is also 5 questions and answers to help the customer return goods, along with a return’s page included on the site.

The only way to register an account with the company is to purchase an item.  To register on the website the user must first enter their address, this page is does not appear to be encrypted.  When the user has to enter their personal details such as name, contact numbers and payment details the padlock icon appears in the address bar.  This indicates to the user that the current page is encrypted by a SSL (Secure Socket Layer).  The encryption is 128-bit standard, which protects the data when being sent from their computer to a network.  This would stop hackers obtaining their personal information for themselves or rival companies.

The ProDirect website uses cookies to store information on what the user is viewing on the website.  It is also used to store the contents of the shopping basket.

A cookie is a small piece of text stored on a user’s computer by the web browser.  A cookie contains information such as user preferences and shopping cart contents.  The user can disable the cookies from a website if they wish.

As cookies are used to store the contents of the shopping cart, if the user disables these, the user would not be able to purchase from the website.

The first website that I used to obtain information about my website was www.statsaholic.com.  This website allowed me to find out the number of visits that the website has got since August 2008 to August 2009.  The table has shown that in August 2008 the website had 15,889 visits.  In the months November, December and January the website had 21,222, 19,029 and 23,290 respectively.  This increase is common for any business in the lead up to the Christmas period.

The graph above also shows the number of visits that JJB Sports (www.jjbsports.com) had in comparison to Prodirect.  Prodirect soccer has a relatively larger amount of visits than JJB.  This is also brought more in to context when you consider that JJB does not specifically sell football equipment.

The process for purchasing online on my chosen website is as follows:

Step 1 – If the user is familiar with the site, they can type the page URL in to the address bar.  If the user is not familiar with the site, they can find the site through a search engine.  The site appears first in the list on Google (www.google.co.uk).

Step 2 – Once the user has entered the site they then navigate to their desired section.  If the user wishes to purchase football boots, they will then click on the Boot Room.  They will then choose the boots they wish to purchase, the size, if they want to personalize them, and proceed to checkout.

Step 3 – At checkout, the user is required to enter their information, such as Name, address, email address and their card details.  A confirmation email is then sent to the customer’s email address.

Step 4 – When purchasing the item the user has the choice of 1st or 2nd class delivery.  The item is then packaged by the shipping team and given to a courier.  The courier then delivers the item to the customer, which usually requires the customer’s signature or the  customer to be at home, as the parcel is usually to big for the letterbox.

As I have not seen a Prodirect advertisement on the television I believe that this is a great channel for them to pursue.  The potential amount of new customers would be huge for the business.  The strategic choices to be made for this would include how much to spend, and when the advertisements would be aired.

Question 1

The website that I have chosen is JJB Sports (www.jjbsports.com). The company is focused on selling sports goods ranging from replica kits, shoes, bikes, fitness equipment etc.

(Click to enlarge)

Above is a picture of the website’s homepage. As you can see the website is well laid out and has a clean design. The website’s navigation is good, with the main categories appearing at the top, along with sub-categories on the left hand side.  A search box is provided so that a product can be found more efficiently. A shopping cart is available, which allows customers to purchase items from the website and have them home delivered.

The website promotes the new England football shirt on the main page. This is due to the team qualifying for the World Cup, so it looks like the website is updated frequently.

Question 2

JJB Sports has many stores throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is estimated that it currently employs around 9,417 employees. It’s annual operating income is around £46.4 million, with its net income £34.6 million.  That gives the company a £11.8 million turnover.

Question 3

JJB Sports was founded as a high street store in 1971 by David Whelan in Wigan, so the Internet is not the only channel of marketing for the company. As  of 2005, JJB Sports has over 430 stores across the U.K. and Ireland.

Reference Link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JJB_Sports

I know I promised this post on 1st Jan, what can I say, its been a busy year so far !

Retail in 2009 is going to be one of the worst years in the history of retail.  We have already seen the failure of big household brands like Zavvi, Woolworths, Whitards, Adams, Viyella, Waterford, Wedgewood and The Officers club.

I predict that the following companies will fall on hard time in 2009.

Arcadia Group – BHS, Topshop, Topman, D Perkins and Burtons.  BHS has seen poor trading figures for 3 Decembers in a row now.  Topshop, Topman, D Perkins and Burtons all sell what I consider to be ‘higher end’ clothes which people have almost stopped purchasing on a regular basis, opting for cheaper stores like primark and saving stores like Burton etc for that few and far between special occassion.

JJB Sports – Another company that has seen its fair share of problems over the years, with more people either buying online or holding off on new sports equipment, JJB could see further major problems in 2009.  JJB has recently announced that in 2008 they made a loss of 10 Million – the writing is on the wall I fear !

The fashion chains Principles, Oasis, Karen Millen and Warehouse – all owned by Mosaic – have had an emergency restructuring team sent in from Deloitte. The stores employ about 5,000 staff whose jobs will be at risk unless a new lender is found to refinance the business.

Golf Retailers – These are usually independently ran, with a down turn in people spending money – I feel that existing golfers will ‘make do’ with their current clubs and new people to the sport, might not bother at all !

River Island, Again a high end retailer with people dropping down a budget rung, people may find River Islands pricing just abit to steep !

Marks and Spencer – Will have to fight hard to hold on to their current status this year with hostile take overs a huge possibility ! Click here for more on this.

Phones 4u – Sold in 2007 by John Caldwell for over £700 million to a group of hungry investors let by management – The American power house that turned Eircom upside down will be wondering if, when and how they are going to see a return, they have already removed around £4Million worth of management – more to come I fear !

Next, is another british institution but its another woolworths in the making – since 2005 it has struggled to keep its head above water with profit warning left and right.  I don’t think this is a brand that will disappear but 2009 will definatly be a struggle with well paid staff, falling sales and high rent !

Thomas Cook – Package holidays are the last thing on people’s mind this year, with the bulk of job losses in England and the bulk of thomas cooks business in England – It all adds up to an unhealthy recipe !

But ….. Its not all doom and gloom, amounst the fear and loathing some retailer’s will actually do fantastically this year !

Primark – have just annouched fantastic trading figures, as have Lidl and Adli, these cheaper brands with just as much quality are all part of what money experts are promoting ! Drop down a budget level ! Very little people sell clothes as good as primark as cheaply as primark so it appears that being on the bottom rung of the ‘retail chain’ is definatly the best place to be !

So, now the relevant offices return from their Christmas holidays, myself and the others on ETS Prague intake are hoping to get a few queries cleared up…

It is only 6 days to go & it seems no of us are any the wiser. Having spoken to Maria at ETS this morning, I’m told this is nothing unusual… We arrive on Sunday in 2 batches, one flight from Stanstead and one from Birmingham. Yet, none of us know exactly where we are going to be placed (accommodation or organisation wise!) We’ve all selected our top 3 choices, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Rather than panic, I’m seeing it as an adventure! And I feel like I need one! Graduating into design when all you hear on TV & in the papers is talk of job cuts & recession makes the placement route feel more valid than ever. I had been offered a job with a small printing firm back in Septemeber… but didn’t feel it was quite for me & took on my old job at JJB Sports as a stop gap.

After some soul searching, I found myself digging around for an email all the students received from Ian Weir (3rd Year BAGC Tutor) in March from ECTARC -Wales’s answer to Leonardo. I made a call & found out that I’d have to try ETS, England’s Leonardo arm, who are based in Lichfield, Staffordshire. This was due to me moving back home to Derby & no longer living in Wales, and therefore ineligible for any help from ECTARC. Maria Massarotto was the lady I spoke to at ETS, and within 2 weeks of making the call, an interview was set!

Armed with my portfolio & feeling ridiculously overdressed, I made the short drive down the A38 to the pretty market town of Lichfield. It turns out that I shouldn’t have been so nervous, as the interview seemed more to do with picking my top 3 choices of companies of who I want to be placed with, and filling out the extensive medical questionnaire. 

All that I have to do now is wait on the details & pack for the cold!

On the approach to the big day I have been reflecting on the loses Britain has suffered over the last couple of months.

We’ve lost MFI, Woolworths and lots of public sector organisations. With approx 35,000 staff losing their jobs it’s been a huge impact on community’s country wide.

We’re looking at the loss of Zavvi, JJB Sports, Some Officer Club stores and the majority of The Pier store. A lot of people will approach this Christmas with uncertainty.

This Christmas I pray for everyone affected in this turbulent time and I believe that a sense of renewal and opportunity will prevail.

The British High Street will look very different in 2009, let’s make sure we do out bit to help British companies and our local economies.

UK legal publication The Lawyer has an interesting article out today for anyone tracking trends in class and collective action reform across the pond.  According to the article, Which?, a consumer organization granted the right to pursue collective redress on behalf of consumers harmed by conduct declared to have violated antitrust laws, isn’t convinced that it would pursue another one after facing several practical barriers in pursuing a case against a sports merchandiser for allegedly selling overpriced replica soccer jerseys.  Among the challenges cited by a lawyer for the group was the fact that few consumers found it worth their while to pursue a claim in light of the relatively modest amounts they stood to gain (£20 per person), the fact that consumers had to provide proof of purchase, and the fact that years had passed by the time the opportunity to make a claim became available. 

The report notes that even after a highly publicized media campaign highlighting the case, only about 500 consumers decided to participate.  The total amount of the settlement payout was around £18,000, plus reasonable litigation costs, as compared to a multi-million dollar penalty imposed against the company for its anti-competitive actions in the first place.   An earlier article by The Lawyervalued those costs at many hundreds of thousands of pounds, dwarfing the amount of the payout.  That article quotes a lawyer for which as saying that the use of an opt-in versus an opt-out system contributed to the discrepancy.

The issue of the cost of litigation versus the actual benefit to victims, however, is one that arises whether the system is opt-in or opt-out.  Even in the U.S., which technically has an opt-out system, actual monetary redress to alleged victims happens as a result of some sort of claim-in process, either as part of a settlement or a distribution of a judgment.  Unclaimed funds are either distributed pro-rata to those class members who do file a claim, returned to the defendant, paid to the government, or distributed to charity as part of a cy pres remedy.  In any event, the system does not in any way guaranty redress to those who don’t have the means to prove their entitlement to relief or who don’t find it worthwhile to pursue a remedy.

It’s not just about saving money.

When Tracey and myself joined, we were persuaded by the BROADCALL LAPTOP tariff for their broadband. The girls were always wanting to use the main computer and our old laptop was a wreck. So a laptop, with a lifetime guarantee and a DVD writer together with broadband, free home calls and the ability to kick into touch our BT line rental charge was a no brainer.

Since joining though, what i’ve found is their customer support exceeds anything I’ve used before. the automated phone lines for adding meter readings and topping up our new cashback card are exceptional.

We stood in JJB sports with an armful of stuff, in the queue with not enough money on our cashback card to pay and obviously claim the 5% cashback that comes off our single monthly bill.

Out comes the mobile phone and quite literally a couple of minutes later we’d transferred the money from our bank to the card, paid, bagged the gear and reduced our monthly bill by £6.60.

Going online the following day and all our transactions were visible and the savings plain to see.

With the recent report in Which magazine placing Utility warehouse at #1 as the UK’s best Utilities supplier, it seems our family is not the only one thoroughly satisfied with the Utility warehouse experience.

For more information on joining the Utility Warehouse Discount Club visit http://www.savvysavings.co.uk

Rudi

Well that’s the reaction to the Footjoy Greenjoy Golf Shoe from golf customers around the UK.

JJBGolf,co,uk, one of the UK’s leading golf retailers has just released a great deal on 3 styles of Footjoy Greenjoy golf shoe. Customers can choose from White/Black, White/Brown or Black Greenjoys and all for just £40

Here’s a direct link for more information

http://www.jjbgolf.co.uk/footjoy-greenjoy/entprod_100619.aspx

Best of Luck on the course

A report published yesterday by respected Insolvency experts Begbie and Traynor details that 323 major retailers are in crisis and have a 70% or greater chance of going bust in the coming months. Whilst none of the companies have been named it would be likely I’m sure that JJB Sports (see below) is one of them. Another possibility could be Woolworths who yesterday took the decision not to pay their business rates meantime. This is worrying news as Woolworths is currently an anchor store in Dumbarton town centre. One piece of comfort in all this is that Woolworths while closing their Braehead store, have kept the Dumbarton one open and have been quoted as saying that it is a good performer.

I had a moan on this blog a while back about Odeon cinema banging on about being fanatical about film when the actual experience doesn’t deliver on that promise one bit.

An experience not delivering on brand promises is a real bone of contention with me, and I almost spat my tea out the other day when watching the footy on TV.  The reason?  A highly priced, high visibility pitchside ad at a Premier League game which stated “JJB – Serious about Sport”

Come on guys.  Put your marketing team in a bus.  Drive them to the JJB in the centre of Leeds and go in there as an amateur sportsman trying to buy some kit, and needing a bit of advice.

They wouldn’t believe how far the experience is from being “serious about sport”.  I tried to buy football socks in there 3 weeks before the start of my sunday league season.  Once I’d prised the shop assistant from his conversation with his mates, he didn’t know where they were.  When I eventually tracked them down they didn’t have any adult sizes, in any colour, in stock.

It’s a similar story whenever you try and buy any sporting equipment from JJB or JD Sports or any of the high street retailers.  Fantastic places to go if you want to buy a hoodie, or some “sport themed” leisure clothing.  But for serious sportsmen, or enthusiastic amateurs?  Not a chance.

When the JJB marketing team are bored of the “we don’t have them in that size” conversations, they would do well to head over to a brand that is truly serious about its sport, Up and Running.  This a retailer that you can tell is owned and staffed by runners, cares about running and is really and truly serious about its sport.  Or go online to ProDirectSoccer, and see how they back up their words with a smooth customer journey through the site and quick delivery.

As a brand I generally don’t mind JJB.  They are pretty good at what they do and they obviously have found a good market to operate in, and it is one they understand.

It just irritates me when the marketing communications try to make out they are something that they are not.

Well now Wimbledon is here, tennis courts around the country will start to fill up as soon as the championship wraps ups next week. I think that the BBC just have terrific coverage and with viewing figures increasing each year, the public obviously think so too!

Discounted Tennis Rackets

JJB has just released discounts on its competition racket range which is effectively rackets (or racquets for the traditionalist) for the better player or those who demand the best equipment. Most of these competition rackets have just been reduced by 15% and here is a link to the competition racket section

http://www.jjbsports.com/tennis/competition-tennis-rackets

If you are looking for a real bargain though, JJBsports.com has a selection of rackets which have been discounted by up 50% which means you can pick up a good quality racket from as little £7.99. Here’s a direct link to those pages.

http://www.jjbsports.com/tennis/tennis-racket-sale

Top Tip

If a racket that you really want is showing out of stock don’t despair. Just register your email address and click the “notify me” button. With stock being renewed most days there’s a chance we’ll email you within 24-48 hours letting you know new stock has arrived

JJB stocks major tennis brands such as Wilson, Slazenger, Head, Prince & Olympus

Keep checking back for more deals on other sports as they happen.

***Important*** The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author and not necessarily shared or endorsed by JJB Sports. All comments and questions should be directed to the author.