Counting on retail sales, Golden Knights play up store experience

In an Amazon world, a decidedly offline experience forms the core of the Vegas Golden Knights merchandising strategy.

It starts at the armored knight statue a few feet inside the team’s Armory retail shop at T-mobile Arena, perfect for a photo op. Highlight video projected onto draped golden chainmail hovers over $115 fleece pullovers on the back wall. Dozens of hockey sticks stand on their handles to form an eye-catching backdrop for a curved Golden Knights logo shield behind seven registers, where cashiers wait to ring up $45 fitted hats and $30 wallets.

Every conversation piece intends to do just that: encourage the 500 fans who have visited the store each day since its opening to talk about the space and the swag. Driving team-owned revenue through retail in today’s professional sports world requires the creation of an experience powerful enough to overcome the ease of a one-click purchase from the couch.

“It’s critical because nowadays, retail’s not about pure commerce because you can buy product anywhere,” said Nehme Abouzeid, senior vice president and chief marketing officer for the Golden Knights. “It was important for us to have a fan experience that was very welcoming and very innovative.”

Licensed sports merchandise sales in North America totaled nearly $14 billion in 2015, according to a study by Pricewaterhousecoopers (PWC). Yet a saturated