Wigan Warriors • Pricing/marketing
Read an article today around season ticket prices in Super League. I noticed that Wigan's cheapest adult season ticket is the most expensive in SL at £295 with Wakefield the second most expensive at £45 pounds less.
Wigan £295 (South Stand)
Catalans £130
Huddersfield £180
Hull £165
Hull KR £240
Leigh (only seem to offer a monthly membership so left them off the list)
Leeds £233 (they also offer an £140 ST in the away end)
Salford £209
St Helens £226
Wakefield £250
Warrington £240
A South Stand season ticket saves £30 on the price for 13 match tickets (so a little more than the price of one match ticket). If we compare that to Hull for example, season ticket buyers there save up to the cost of 6 match tickets. Also have a look at the season ticket webpage/brochure and compare it to Wigan's webpage. They have a much higher standard of marketing and over 80 discounts at local retailers.
A few other points on match tickets / flexi memberships and marketing.
Match tickets for the East Stand have been increased over the last year or two to £30 - the same price as the West Stand. I always felt that was a mistake, particularly as optics are so important and more often than not the TV cameras point towards a very sparsely populated stand. How about scaling the prices for the stand so that prices for the central blocks are more expensive but the blocks near to the South/North stands are cheaper?
With a South Stand flexi membership for 4 games you would save £1.50 per match ticket which doesn't feel like a big incentive. Maybe tweak the flexi memberships so you save £5 per ticket as opposed to £1.50.
Some more innovation/creativity with Wigan TV - potentially with some fan involvement/discussions. Increased benefits for ST holders who bring new/lapsed fans to a game. A fan survey to existing/lapsed/potential fans to gather views on what would attract fans to games. An email newsletter to the fan database. Invite fans to sign up for the club's social media channels in the newsletter (particularly YouTube which has a very low subscriber count of 2,300). Hand out flyers at the St Helens Good Friday game with some form of ticket bundle offer for the next few games.
Not sure if anyone knows how well season tickets are selling at Wigan - if sales are up then great. There's lots of good things going on off the field with community involvement, Robin Park events and improved merchandise. But I think pricing and marketing is still an area where the club could improve. Recorded attendances were up 7% on 2019 (pre-pandemic) although there's always been a suspicion that there's been more than a few freebies handed out. No complaints about that here and there but it isn't sustainable as a long term strategy. I hope the club consider some tweaks to the pricing (particularly with cost of living and post-pandemic impacts). Its not about personally wanting to save a few quid - it just doesn't like a good business strategy to me but perhaps I'm in the minority. Would be interested to hear what others think.
Wigan £295 (South Stand)
Catalans £130
Huddersfield £180
Hull £165
Hull KR £240
Leigh (only seem to offer a monthly membership so left them off the list)
Leeds £233 (they also offer an £140 ST in the away end)
Salford £209
St Helens £226
Wakefield £250
Warrington £240
A South Stand season ticket saves £30 on the price for 13 match tickets (so a little more than the price of one match ticket). If we compare that to Hull for example, season ticket buyers there save up to the cost of 6 match tickets. Also have a look at the season ticket webpage/brochure and compare it to Wigan's webpage. They have a much higher standard of marketing and over 80 discounts at local retailers.
A few other points on match tickets / flexi memberships and marketing.
Match tickets for the East Stand have been increased over the last year or two to £30 - the same price as the West Stand. I always felt that was a mistake, particularly as optics are so important and more often than not the TV cameras point towards a very sparsely populated stand. How about scaling the prices for the stand so that prices for the central blocks are more expensive but the blocks near to the South/North stands are cheaper?
With a South Stand flexi membership for 4 games you would save £1.50 per match ticket which doesn't feel like a big incentive. Maybe tweak the flexi memberships so you save £5 per ticket as opposed to £1.50.
Some more innovation/creativity with Wigan TV - potentially with some fan involvement/discussions. Increased benefits for ST holders who bring new/lapsed fans to a game. A fan survey to existing/lapsed/potential fans to gather views on what would attract fans to games. An email newsletter to the fan database. Invite fans to sign up for the club's social media channels in the newsletter (particularly YouTube which has a very low subscriber count of 2,300). Hand out flyers at the St Helens Good Friday game with some form of ticket bundle offer for the next few games.
Not sure if anyone knows how well season tickets are selling at Wigan - if sales are up then great. There's lots of good things going on off the field with community involvement, Robin Park events and improved merchandise. But I think pricing and marketing is still an area where the club could improve. Recorded attendances were up 7% on 2019 (pre-pandemic) although there's always been a suspicion that there's been more than a few freebies handed out. No complaints about that here and there but it isn't sustainable as a long term strategy. I hope the club consider some tweaks to the pricing (particularly with cost of living and post-pandemic impacts). Its not about personally wanting to save a few quid - it just doesn't like a good business strategy to me but perhaps I'm in the minority. Would be interested to hear what others think.
Statistics: Posted by MadDogg — Mon Jan 02, 2023 5:03 pm — Replies 2 — Views 132