OT: Sports business assignment - Please help me out!
November 2nd, 2010 at 10:16 PM ^
This won't be helpful but a very big LULZ at Len Middleton. My buddies who were in the b-school referred to him as the "full of bullshit, name-dropping douchebag".
EDIT: Took the survey. Cool idea btw.
November 2nd, 2010 at 10:16 PM ^
Good idea I just don't think that anyone would want to rent a jersey...
November 2nd, 2010 at 10:17 PM ^
I filled out the survey. The idea is unique, but man, the thought of what might have taken place in that jersey before I rented it...no thanks.
November 2nd, 2010 at 10:21 PM ^
It's just like why would I rent a jersey for like 5 bucks if I could just buy one for 50-150 and wear it for years.
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<br>I just don't think that this idea would work for jerseys as Its kind of a niche market.
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November 2nd, 2010 at 10:33 PM ^
I guess after giving it more thought - we rent tuxes, and god knows some disgusting things happen in them too.
I have to wonder about the profitability too - how many times does a jersey get rented before it becomes too dirty to rent. I guess if it's the blue home jersey, probably takes awhile. My Drew Henson 2000 jersey is still holding on 10 years later...
November 2nd, 2010 at 10:19 PM ^
and a pretty cool idea, never thought about that
November 2nd, 2010 at 10:20 PM ^
is that a weekly budget for everything or just discretionary spending?
November 2nd, 2010 at 10:44 PM ^
Discretionary spending is what the question was geared towards. Sorry about that, but thanks for all your input.
November 2nd, 2010 at 10:21 PM ^
not a bad idea. survey done
November 2nd, 2010 at 10:25 PM ^
"Are you a fair-weather fan? Well we have the solution for you!"
I hereby claim rights to this slogan. You want it, you pay for it
November 2nd, 2010 at 10:32 PM ^
As Waxing_Gibbous already asked, it would help to have clarification on the budget question. I filled out the survey and answered what my weekly budget was for everything, but I have a feeling you meant discretionary spending.
Anyway, very interesting idea. It's always refreshing to see interesting business ideas coming from fellow Wolverines.
November 2nd, 2010 at 10:38 PM ^
I like the idea because then you don't get stuck wearing a jersey that you bought a couple years ago of a player who isn't on the team anymore.
November 2nd, 2010 at 11:16 PM ^
make sure they are authentic jerseys, not the $45 crap ones that you can get at any store.
you should also rent out retro jerseys.....with the current state of the defensive backfield, who doesn't want to rock a morgan trent or markus curry jersey in support of the team?!?!?!?!
November 2nd, 2010 at 11:24 PM ^
we would actually be looking into both. but yea...definitely agree that people are more likely to rent authentics since replicas are cheaper and would just be easier to buy.
November 2nd, 2010 at 11:36 PM ^
Not a bad idea, actually. I always love walking by the jersey section of MDen or wherever they're sold at. But then I look at the price tag and... no =[ Renting wouldn't be too bad.
November 3rd, 2010 at 3:06 AM ^
As I see it, there are 4 major flaws in a Jersey renting Netflix like renting operation:
- Commodity Cost and Lifecycle. The beauty of the Netflix business model is that their base commodity (an already made movie) is virtually free. They pay an overall fee to the studios and then to make the initial disk. The rest of their costs are basically postage. Their product utilization rate is sky high, and they can easily destroy excess inventory (say in 5 years when there arent 10 million requests for Iron Man 2, they can easily just destroy all those disks and have lost maybe $10k). Jerseys cost more to make, wear out faster, and frankly, your utilization rate would blow in the offseason. At the end of its life, or if demand goes down (Joey Harrington Lions Jersey!) your remaining product is virtually worthless. You would have to destroy it just to maintain a market for the remaining people to rent Joey Harrington Lions jersies. Then you're out the money you used to buy it.
- Supply. Netflix also deals with very little customer disappointment. Sure, it sucks that you might have to wait 2 weeks to get Iron Man 2 because you're in a queue, but they send you what's available in your queue until that point, so you always have something to watch. Rarely is it essential that you HAVE to have Iron Man 2 by this weekend. If it's that important, you would go out and buy it. Jersies don't work like that. If you really wanted that Denard Home #16 this weekend, I don't think you'd be too happy settling with a Jeremiah Masoli Oregon-White with feathers.
- Price/Profit. Shipping DVDs works out because they're compact and light, and Netflix can get away with first class postage at worst. Jersies are bulkier, and you'd want to wrap them to prevent unnecessary commodity damage. This would lead to higher shipping costs. Factor in the price of a jersey and the price/profit equation will quickly death spiral.
- Customer Behavior. The big reason Netflix works is because customers see the value prop they propose. Rent unlimited movies for $7 vs. rent 1 for $5 vs. buy for $20. The proposition for this idea is less clear to me. Why would I rent vs. buy? if I don't have the $150 to shell our for the jersey, how do I have enough money to rent this long term? Why would I rent long term if I could just buy it now and pay off a credit card?
So, yeah. Sorry if I killed your hopes and dreams there. But hey, if you can answer those questions well, you're well on your way to get some start up capital.
November 3rd, 2010 at 9:28 AM ^
Tacopants makes all great points here, and as a former BBA, you would be wise to address these points in your writeup/ presentation because professors who have studied the Netflix model will likely feel the same way.