By the time the Kansas University football team plays its first game in September, fans should be able to buy licensed merchandise online at a new athletics department Web site. Eventually, they may be able to buy sports tickets.
The KU athletics department announced Thursday that it had hired the Internet Solutions Division of Smith Micro Software Inc., in Aliso Viejo, Calif., to develop an e-store, real-time inventory management program and customer tracking system.
Pat Warren, KU assistant athletics director, said the site was part of a drive to increase revenue for athletic scholarships by allowing the department to sell its own products. Currently, the department sells merchandise in conjunction with the Kansas and Burge Union Bookstores.
“We don’t have solid projections right now on what we’ll make on the deal. … All the revenue we generate will go to student athlete scholarships,” Warren said. “We hope to offer a wider selection of merchandise than is currently available at the bookstores.”
Warren said sports tickets probably would not be available at the site for about a year.
Along with handling online sales, the software will adjust inventory electronically as merchandise is sold from both the Web site and at the university’s sports arenas. Warren said the feature would help the department fill orders for merchandise sold online during game days, when radio and television broadcasts are expected to boost sales by actively promoting the site.
“If we’re promoting our Web presence during a football game,” he said, “we don’t want to sell 25 football jerseys at the game and not be able to fill the order online.”
The customer database feature will log customer information, such as past purchases, donor activity and sports preferences. The data will enable the department to offer a customer rewards program and create e-mail marketing campaigns.
Warren said the department plans to launch the site at http://www.kuathletics.com in early August.