The battle to win the Rugby World Cup will be hard but the battle to sell jerseys to Irish fans looks set to be equally fierce.
Lifestyle Sports is banking on price to maintain its lead in market share at a time when shirt sale numbers are likely to soar.
This weekend they have reduced the recommended retail price of the Irish shirt to €69 undercutting rivals including Elverys and the Canterbury online store by €12.50.
Refund
They have doubled down in the promotion stakes by offering a complete refund to fans who have pre-ordered or who buy today, Saturday or Sunday, either in store or online should Ireland win the World Cup in October.
“This promotion could cost us €100,000,” said Lifestyle Sports CEO Mark Stafford, “but if the Irish rugby team become world champions we would only be too delighted to give our customers another reason to celebrate.”
Lifestyle has 62 stores around the country and launched the promotion with Ireland international Mike Ross at the Grafton Street flagship store yesterday.
50% ahead
“The number of pre-ordered shirts has been 50% ahead of our own internal forecasts,” said Marketing Director Debbie Byrne speaking yesterday to Sport for Business.
“We believe we have hit the right price point that customers are willing to pay to wear their colours.”
“We are the official partners to Leinster, Munster and Connacht and the insight we have through communication with their fans has guided us on how we will be active over the coming weeks.”
Social
“There will be substantial social media presence and we will be building €ForVictory as the team progresses.”
Lifestyle have also made a commitment to stocking each of the participating countries in the tournament which gets under way on September 18th.
“Namibia and Argentina have been the two to cause us the most trouble in tracking down supply but hopefully neither will cause the same problems for Ireland if they meet in England,” added Byrne.
Competition
Elverys announced yesterday details of a star prize draw for those who buy through them, using a great video with Simon Zebo while The Loop store at Dublin Airport was promoting itself as the first place in Ireland for fans to get to buy the jersey yesterday.
There will also be intense competition from Premier League jerseys with Manchester United launching their new Adidas kit next week.
