FC Barcelona has yesterday launched its own online store, after reaching an agreement with Nike who had managed the club's online store for more than five years.
The new FC Barcelona store is already available under store.fcbarcelona.com but currently only serves the Spanish market. This will be expanded to all of Europe in the coming weeks and months, the club announced.
Managing this store itself allows FC Barcelona to offer much more items online than previously, including ones that aren't produced by Nike, which were previously almost exclusively available at the club's local stores. Those local stores already returned to being managed by the club in 2018.
It's now also finally possible to buy an authentic FC Barcelona Champions League shirt, which was only available locally before.
Oriol Tomàs, vice president of the commercial area of FC Barcelona, has pointed out that this launch “allows a new step forward in the objective of expansion and internationalization of the retail business, which already has a network of its own physical establishments with six points of sale." In his opinion, "this new direct sales channel is key for Barça, since it will allow them to get their products to as many culés as possible, opening a new income channel and obtaining greater profitability."
"The launch of the 'e-commerce' of the Barça Store at the Camp Nou is one of the essential pieces in the new ecosystem of digital services and projects that FC Barcelona is developing within its digital strategy," said Dídac Lee, who's in charge of FC Barcelona's digital operations."
"These projects are here to stay and will be valid for years to come, evolving and adapting them to different future contexts," he continued.
Let's hear your thoughts on this story in the comments below.