The analysis
Funding
A small set of named modes, so flexibility does not become a different negotiation with every club.
| Mode | What it is | Who pays |
|---|---|---|
| Family-funded | Families order and pay directly through the club's shop, against a fixed deadline, for the core kit and for whatever else they want. hypothesis | The families, before anything is made. |
| Club-funded | The club finances part of a programme or a quantity itself, where it wants to control distribution or hold something back. hypothesis | The club, from its own funds. |
| Business-funded | A local business funds a defined run of a defined community product, part of which the club gives away and part of which is sold. hypothesis | The business, before production. |
| Mixed | Different components of the same season funded by different participants: families for the kit, a business for a community run, the club for what it wants to give away. hypothesis | All three, each for a named part. |
What is still unresolved
- When money is taken and when production is committed, given a production lead time of four weeks or more.
- How margin is allocated between EKANA and the club across the different modes.
- Who owns stock once it is made, particularly in the business-funded case.
- Who absorbs what does not sell, and at what point it stops being anyone's problem.
- What a business-funded arrangement actually says: quantity, price, what the business gets, what happens if the club does not distribute it.
- What the club contributes, in money or in work, in each mode.
- How this is invoiced and accounted for across three parties in two countries.
- Refunds, and what happens when a family pays and then leaves the club.
- Preorder cancellation rules, and what happens when a window closes below the minimum.
The mechanisms, and what each is for
| Mechanism | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Core club order | Reliable season supply for the players, on the normal custom-production timetable. |
| Preorder | Test paid demand before anything is produced, through a window with a closing date and a minimum. |
| Limited drop | Create scarcity and an occasion, so there is a reason to buy now rather than eventually. |
| Earned product | Reward behaviour and participation, for things that cannot be bought. |
| Event product | Mark a moment, an anniversary or a match that mattered. |
| Membership incentive | Increase participation by putting something in the hand of a member or a season-ticket holder. |
| Business-funded product | Involve local commerce, and pay for a run before it is made. |