The possibilities of creating an online store for an amateur sport club
Pochet, Andy (2023)
2023
All rights reserved. This publication is copyrighted. You may download, display and print it for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2023121336752
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2023121336752
Tiivistelmä
This thesis was commissioned by the Tampere Rugby Club ry to explore the feasibility of having their own online store to sell their officially licensed products or “merch”. To their own admission the club has a less than efficient irregular process in place and was interested in learning about the different options regarding having their own online store and what it entails. Their main constraints were having a limited budget, time, and workforce to dedicate to such activities.
In order to assess properly their situation at that point, it was decided to follow the principle of qualitative research, more precisely performing evaluation research, as the main methodology. An intensive case study composed of a semi-structured interview was used as the main data collection technique. In addition, desk research was conducted, to provide insight and best practices regarding the main aspects of running an online store.
The interview helped to establish the main pain points and areas of focus as followed: knowledge of Ecommerce platforms, stock management, storage, shipping, and after-sales. Based on existing literature and online resources, these main aspects were explored and developed later in the thesis, which helped to provide general guidance and targeted recommendations befitting the rugby club’s situation.
As conclusion, it was recommended to implement several solutions in parallel to reach the club’s goals. First, to answer to the immediate demand, to rely on solutions such as drop shipping to sell low profit products, as this should help them with organizational challenges as well. Secondly, to create and implement their own online store on an easily accessible and relatively cheap platform such as WooCommerce to sell a limited selection of products with higher margin and generate profits. In the future, they could also move all their operations on their own online store, once they are more experienced with the platform, and have generated enough income. To solve the process related issues, they were invited to follow the best practices listed in the thesis.
In order to assess properly their situation at that point, it was decided to follow the principle of qualitative research, more precisely performing evaluation research, as the main methodology. An intensive case study composed of a semi-structured interview was used as the main data collection technique. In addition, desk research was conducted, to provide insight and best practices regarding the main aspects of running an online store.
The interview helped to establish the main pain points and areas of focus as followed: knowledge of Ecommerce platforms, stock management, storage, shipping, and after-sales. Based on existing literature and online resources, these main aspects were explored and developed later in the thesis, which helped to provide general guidance and targeted recommendations befitting the rugby club’s situation.
As conclusion, it was recommended to implement several solutions in parallel to reach the club’s goals. First, to answer to the immediate demand, to rely on solutions such as drop shipping to sell low profit products, as this should help them with organizational challenges as well. Secondly, to create and implement their own online store on an easily accessible and relatively cheap platform such as WooCommerce to sell a limited selection of products with higher margin and generate profits. In the future, they could also move all their operations on their own online store, once they are more experienced with the platform, and have generated enough income. To solve the process related issues, they were invited to follow the best practices listed in the thesis.