A game-changing e-commerce platform has been launched to help amateur and community sports clubs generate new income by streamlining the way they sell their own branded merchandise.
Glasgow-based tech start-up Kitvendr aims to empower clubs – and lighten the load placed on the volunteers who run them – by making it easier to sell directly to their own members and supporters.
Kitvendr co-founder Rangi Jericevich is a player and committee member of the city’s GHA Rugby Club and saw first-hand the logistical and financial challenges experienced by clubs that wanted to offer branded apparel.
Clubs signing up to the free-to-use platform receive their own bespoke online shop and product range, from which customers can then directly order hats, scarves, t-shirts and other items of branded clothing.
Kitvendr currently offers a range of caps, beanie hats, t-shirts and scarves, but aims to expand on this in future. It is entirely up to each club which products it wants to offer its customers, and clubs can be set up on the platform within seven days.
The platform has been trialled by the Commonwealth Crusaders – a rugby sevens team made up of players who played at the Commonwealth Games – and the feedback has been excellent, both on the process of setting up a shop, the management of it and on the quality of the products.
