Pricing/marketing : Mon Jan 02, 2023 5:03 pm  

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 Castleford the second most expensive listed.

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.

Re: Pricing/marketing : Mon Jan 02, 2023 5:22 pm  

Interesting reading.

Also, adds weight to the argument of saying 'no' to a child when they ask for season tickets for xmas/bday (its the same day in our case).

Simply too expensive for the quality of the stadium experience. The fan village is great but i would expect a higher discount for an ST over purchasing regular match day tickets.

Re: Pricing/marketing : Mon Jan 02, 2023 6:01 pm  

leighs cheapest membership is 300 quid - absolute robbery and disgraceful when daft money is being thrown around for the entertainment opener v salford.

Re: Pricing/marketing : Mon Jan 02, 2023 6:14 pm  

knockonknockon wrote:

knockonknockon wrote:

leighs cheapest membership is 300 quid - absolute robbery and disgraceful when daft money is being thrown around for the entertainment opener v salford.

Not good - I saw the £25 a month figure but wasn't sure if it included all of the months in a calendar year.

Re: Pricing/marketing : Mon Jan 02, 2023 7:22 pm  

Not had one for a few seasons due to always missing some games with other commitments but I believe the auto renewals and other renewals are decent value. The issue you’ve got though is that if a first time season ticket holder or somebody who hasn’t had one for a while, wants to buy one, the prices don’t look great, so I don’t think you’ll get floods of those people buying them.

Maybe it’s impossible to do but I wouldn’t mind seeing something where we offer every adult season ticket one year for £150 to drive numbers up drastically and then offer renewal prices for the following season at around the current renewal prices. Try and get those core figures of ST holders back to a really good number and fight then to keep it at that level. It will be interesting to see the Hull figures. We’re in a better position than them in terms of on field success, so it’s not like for like, but are they seeing sales taking a big jump? And then can they keep them if they rise costs next year?

I’m no expert and that just might lose the club money for not much benefit. What I don’t like to see as an approach to falling crowds is a club just charging people who do go more money (and I get ST renewals are less than newbies but plenty go match to match or have ST’s some seasons but not others).

Re: Pricing/marketing : Mon Jan 02, 2023 8:19 pm  

some dodgy prices in there.wigans price is the full price , but the saints one is renewal price. full price is £280. leeds at £233 and saints at £226(but really £280) are for terrace standing.
leeds cheapest seat is £298 ,saints £315

Re: Pricing/marketing : Mon Jan 02, 2023 8:32 pm  

roo67 wrote:

roo67 wrote:

some dodgy prices in there.wigans price is the full price , but the saints one is renewal price. full price is £280. leeds at £233 and saints at £226(but really £280) are for terrace standing.
leeds cheapest seat is £298 ,saints £315

Thanks - Iv changed the Saints one.

It's a comparison of the cheapest ticket irrespective of seating or standing. I can understand the thought that a seating ticket could cost more but at the all seater stadiums you don't have a choice. Im sure there are a lot of Wigan fans who would happily take up the option of a cheaper price for a standing ticket if it was available.

Re: Pricing/marketing : Mon Jan 02, 2023 8:34 pm  

MadDogg wrote:

MadDogg wrote:

Thanks - Iv changed the Saints one.

It's a comparison of the cheapest ticket irrespective of seating or standing. I can understand the thought that a seating ticket could cost more but at the all seater stadiums you don't have a choice. Im sure there are a lot of Wigan fans who would happily take up the option of a cheaper price for a standing ticket if it was available.

i agree. im too old and grumpy to stand anymore but wish there was standing.

Re: Pricing/marketing : Mon Jan 02, 2023 9:56 pm  

NickyKiss wrote:

NickyKiss wrote:

Not had one for a few seasons due to always missing some games with other commitments but I believe the auto renewals and other renewals are decent value. The issue you’ve got though is that if a first time season ticket holder or somebody who hasn’t had one for a while, wants to buy one, the prices don’t look great, so I don’t think you’ll get floods of those people buying them.

Maybe it’s impossible to do but I wouldn’t mind seeing something where we offer every adult season ticket one year for £150 to drive numbers up drastically and then offer renewal prices for the following season at around the current renewal prices. Try and get those core figures of ST holders back to a really good number and fight then to keep it at that level. It will be interesting to see the Hull figures. We’re in a better position than them in terms of on field success, so it’s not like for like, but are they seeing sales taking a big jump? And then can they keep them if they rise costs next year?

I’m no expert and that just might lose the club money for not much benefit. What I don’t like to see as an approach to falling crowds is a club just charging people who do go more money (and I get ST renewals are less than newbies but plenty go match to match or have ST’s some seasons but not others).

That would certainly appeal to us. My wife and me where ST holders for a while but stopped buying them when the little un arrived. To be fair that is now 13 years ago but our daughter has really got into it now and we have started going to the odd game again. She asked for ST's for xmas but as now 'first time buyers', for x3 ST's its just far too expensive

Re: Pricing/marketing : Mon Jan 02, 2023 10:12 pm  

[Gareth] wrote:

[Gareth] wrote:

That would certainly appeal to us. My wife and me where ST holders for a while but stopped buying them when the little un arrived. To be fair that is now 13 years ago but our daughter has really got into it now and we have started going to the odd game again. She asked for ST's for xmas but as now 'first time buyers', for x3 ST's its just far too expensive

It’s something that is totally off the top of my head and is possibly unworkable but I know in terms of my circumstances (and clearly yours) I’d get one on a deal like that without a doubt and if I could then renew at what this seasons renewal is (£212 when I’ve just checked) for the South Stand, or for an increased premium than what longer term ST holders are being asked to pay, then even missing games would be fine and I’d keep it going forward. I’ve looked at the fixtures this season and I can get to about 10 or 11 home games at the minute but there’s just not much of a saving (and maybe none if one more game falls for me), so I’ll continue going game by game. If there was a way in to a season ticket at a cheaper price but with a commitment to then renew going forward for the next year or two, I’d commit to that for sure. How they could work that is for people with more sense then me but I do think they need to try and grow that ST holder base.