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RCD Espanyol de Barcelona redefines its strategic business objectives in response to the COVID-19 pandemic
- Developing sponsorships, generating new support and offering alternative visibility are among the measures adopted
- The aim is to increase online sales, while the shop at Ciutat Esportiva Dani Jarque will be transformed into a new concept shop-cafe
- It has been decided to definitively close the RCDE Store La Rambla
- We are promoting use of the official app for sales and members' transactions
Since March, we have been dealing with an exceptional situation that has forced clubs to change the way they manage business. In this sense, RCD Espanyol de Barcelona has developed the use of technological solutions internally to adapt to these demands and to make the club more flexible from an organisational point of view.
In this line, the decision-making focus is now on adapting to the decrease in revenue, thus prioritising projects that allow the club to secure its future and continue growing in a sustainable manner.
In terms of sponsors and advertising, the club has redirected the strategy with each one of them, implementing new worthwhile proposals based on the generation of content other than the competition by creating audiovisual pieces on social networks. We have also negotiated with LaLiga the incorporation of advertising features to provide greater visibility, thus promoting loyalty and attracting potential new sponsors. Once competition starts up again, we will be able to analyse the impact of the measures and their validity with audience measurement tools.
On a social level, we have put the focus on our members and season-ticket holders, who are the essence and the mainstay of this club, prioritising our economic efforts to try to give as much compensation as possible to all of them because of the pandemic and because they can't watch the remaining matches of this season live in our stadium. 2.3 million euros have been directed to compensating for the new situation.
Another strategic decision has been the promotion of the club's official app with CaixaBank, which allows cashless transactions at the RCDE Stadium, the stimulus of ticketing with experiential proposals adapted to the new normal for when we can reopen partial or total capacity of the Stadium, and the activation of the international member's card, basically for followers in Asia.
The reopening of the RCDE Tour will also be a cornerstone to increase revenue and bring the club's history closer to visitors as soon as health authorities allow it.
In the retail area, it has been decided to boost online sales of all official products, and to reopen the RCDE Store at the RCDE Stadium, adapted to the new health requirements, last Tuesday.
In addition, work is being done on the development of the shop-cafe concept with a unique space at Ciutat Esportiva Dani Jarque, thus improving services and promoting the sale of official products more directly.
Due to the state of alarm and expecting Barcelona's total recovery of tourism to be long term, it has been decided to close the RCDE Store in La Rambla for good. The club's intention is to recover this commercial initiative in the centre of Barcelona as soon as general conditions return to normal.
Finally, regarding commercial events, it has been decided to cancel all those scheduled for the summer of 2020, including the Marc Anthony concert, and to open a period for negotiating dates and commercial conditions for use of the facility for the summer of 2021, both for this concert and for other events that had been scheduled.
Finally, and as a consequence of the world's changed situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the first team's tours scheduled for next summer have been postponed.