Scunthorpe United Football Club uses Shopify to manage its online merchandise store, with Terrace using ShelfTalker’s Shopify plugin to connect the club’s Shopify site with electronic shelf labels (ESLs) in store.
For a busy football club shop, knowing whether a particular shirt or piece of merchandise is available in the right size can make a big difference to the customer experience. Without clear stock information, fans may need to ask a member of staff to check availability, or they will just leave.
Scunthorpe United’s switch to ShelfTalker’s ESL software gives the club more information about how customers interact with its merchandise while providing customers with the exact products or merchandise they are after.
“Having the stock information on the ESLs has made a noticeable difference in the shop. Fans can see which sizes are available without having to find a member of staff and ask us to check, which makes things much easier when the shop is busy.
Scunthorpe United Football Club
The Challenge
Football merchandise can create a particular set of challenges for a club shop. A single shirt design can have multiple sizes available, and stock levels can change throughout the day as fans make purchases. Customers don’t necessarily want to wait for a member of staff to check whether their size is available; they want to know before deciding whether to buy.
For staff, repeated stock questions can quickly become time-consuming. A customer might pick up a shirt and ask whether a large is available, only to need another check when they move on to a different item. During busy periods, those questions can add to the pressure on the team and take staff away from other customers.
Scunthorpe United also needed a way to connect its **existing Shopify setup** with the physical merchandise environment. The club already had its online store and stock information; the challenge was making that information useful to customers while they were browsing products in store.
There was another opportunity too. The club could see which products customers were interested in, but bringing together that in-store behaviour and subsequent online activity could provide a more complete picture of customer interest. A system that could support both the customer experience and better understanding of merchandise engagement therefore offered considerably more value than a basic price display.
“The Shopify connection has also been useful because it means the information we already have about our merchandise can be brought into the physical store. For clothing, being able to show the available sizes at the shelf gives customers a much clearer idea of what’s in stock before they make a decision. On top of this, ShelfTalkers ESL software gives us more information to work with while making the day-to-day experience easier for both our staff and fans.”
Scunthorpe United Football Club
The Solution
Terrace uses ShelfTalker’s Shopify plugin to connect Scunthorpe United’s Shopify site with its electronic shelf labels. This allows information from the club’s Shopify setup to be used within the ESL displays, creating **a direct connection** between the online merchandise system and the physical shop floor.
For apparel, the ESLs can display **stock counts by size**. A fan looking at a shirt can therefore see the availability of different sizes directly at the shelf, rather than having to ask a member of staff to check the stock room.
This makes the buying process much clearer. If there are only a few large shirts remaining, for example, customers can see that information while they’re considering the product; if a particular size isn’t available, they can see that before spending time trying to find it.
The approach also reduces some of the repetitive questions that staff have to deal with. Instead of being the only source of information about stock availability, the digital shelf edge can answer straightforward queries at the point where customers are making their decisions.
Because the information is connected to the Shopify system, the displays can also reflect changes in the underlying stock information. That gives the club a more responsive way to communicate availability as merchandise sells through.
Connecting In-Store Interest with Online Behaviour
The Shopify connection also creates opportunities to understand how customers interact with merchandise beyond the physical shop floor. Where products are scanned in store, that activity can provide useful information about which shirts, products, or other items are attracting customer attention.
That data can become particularly interesting when considered alongside online sales activity. If a customer scans a product in store before later purchasing it through the Shopify site, there is potential to see a connection between the initial interest and the eventual online purchase.
Over time, this type of information could help the club build a clearer picture of how fans shop. A product might receive a high level of in-store interest but relatively few purchases, for example; another could generate fewer scans but perform strongly online.
The ability to connect these different behaviours gives the club more information to work with when considering its merchandise range. It can help show what fans are looking at, what they’re ultimately buying, and where there may be opportunities to improve the way products are presented.
The Result
For Scunthorpe United, the ShelfTalker and Shopify integration gives the club a more informative way to manage the merchandise shelf. Fans can see stock availability by size directly on the ESL, making it easier to understand what’s available without having to ask staff to check individual items.
That makes a practical difference during busy periods, when repeated stock questions can quickly build up. The digital displays give customers more control over their shopping experience while reducing some of the routine questions the club shop team has to handle.
The Shopify connection also means the ESLs can work as part of the wider merchandise system rather than operating separately from the club’s online store. Stock information can be brought into the physical shop, while product scans can provide additional information about what customers are interested in.
For Terrace and Scunthorpe United, the result is a digital shelf edge that does more than display merchandise information. It gives fans clearer stock information, makes the shop easier to manage, and creates opportunities to understand how interest in products develops from an in-store interaction through to an online purchase.
