Swan Retail: Winning At The Margins

Marginal gains are just as important off the field as they are on it.

It was during Sir Dave Brailsford’s time in charge of British Cycling that the concept of marginal gains in professional sport came to the fore. Simply put, Brailsford’s philosophy was based on the notion that small, consistent improvements compound into a serious competitive advantage.

“The whole principle came from the idea that if you broke down everything you could think of that goes into riding a bike, and then improved it by 1%, you will get a significant increase when you put them all together.”

After seeing the success of this approach in cycling, elite professional sport more widely has embraced the search for marginal gains. From cricket teams analysing fielding standards and batting data to football clubs scrutinising player recovery to help injury prevention, the drive to find the small details that make a big impact is relentless.

And, while marginal gains have become the cornerstone of on-field success, sports businesses today are now applying the same level of thinking to their commercial operations.

Matchday – where marginal gains matter most

The commercial opportunity that surrounds professional sport continues to grow, with the UK sports facilities sector alone estimated to be worth £7.4bn. According to a PwC Global Sports Survey, sports execs expect ticketing, hospitality and merchandising to be among the fastest-growing revenue sources over the next few years.

Matchday revenue already represents a significant component of club revenue, with ticket sales, food and beverage and merchandise purchases combining to boost club coffers – for example, Manchester United’s matchday revenue in 2024/25 was £160m, representing 24% of its overall operating revenue.

With tens of thousands of people entering stadiums regularly, the opportunity for incremental gains to deliver a significant impact is clear. Matchday is a time constrained, high-pressure retail environment, with thousands of customers arriving in a short period and limited time to transact.

Under conditions such as this, tiny inefficiencies become magnified – slow transactions create queues that discourage purchases, and poor stock visibility leads to missed sales.

The financial impact of marginal gains

On the field and off the field, a significant improvement rarely comes from a single action. Instead, it’s the result of multiple small changes and optimisation that combine to have a huge effect.

Consider the potential impact of small operational changes across your stadium.

– Reducing average queue time by 20 seconds

– Increasing stock availability by a few percentage points

– Streamlining checkout processes

– Improving staff visibility of real-time inventory

– Simplifying payment and fulfilment options

Individually these changes may seem minor, but across your home crowd and 20 fixtures each season, the impact compounds.

For example, if you could increase the average per-head spend in a crowd of 25,000 by just £1, that’s an extra £25,000. Multiply that over 20 games, and that’s an additional half a million pounds you’ve added to revenue.

Increase it by £1.50 or £2, and the maths are pretty straightforward – and the impact significant.

The growth of data in retail performance analysis

Pre- and post-game retail analysis has become just as important for a professional sports club as match analysis is for the coaching staff.

PwC’s research highlighted the growing importance of aggregating data from ticketing, retail, membership and digital interactions to understand fan behaviour and unlock new revenue opportunities.

When those data sets are connected, clubs gain insights into product demand, fan purchasing behaviour, peak retail periods and transaction performance.

Serving the modern fan

Increasing consumer expectations is a trend across retail as a whole, and professional sport is no different. Supporters engage with multiple touchpoints both in person and online, and expect a connected, seamless and personalised experience.

The UK licensed sports merchandise market alone generated around £1.3bn in revenue in 2022 and is projected to reach approximately £1.93bn by 2030, highlighting the continued growth potential in fan retail.

Capturing that growth requires more than just selling more products, however. To make the most of those opportunities, frictionless journeys need to be created – because when things happen in isolation, the fan experience suffers.

From unified inventory across online and in-stadium, and click and collect services on matchdays to faster and more flexible checkout options, the retail experience has got to work as a team, rather than a set of individual outlets.

Culture matters as much as technology

Having the right technology in place to help you collect data, manage stock more effectively, get deeper supporter insights and decrease the time it takes to process payments is one thing – having the off-field culture needed to strive for continual improvement is another.

Just as great sports teams are built on a shared ethos and culture, so too are off-field teams. Clubs that successfully implement a culture of incremental improvement typically have a team willing to analyse data, question it and challenge assumptions. They have a steadfast commitment to continuous improvement, rather than one-off upgrades, and take a longterm view of fan experience and revenue growth.

Off-field commercial, retail, supporter and tech teams also work together to ensure the very best, unified outcomes – and, supported by the right tech solution, they can achieve fantastic results.

Book a demo or learn more @ www.swanretail.co.uk