USA Merch

Flying Off The Shelves: USOC Can't Keep Merchandise In Its London Retail Outlet

By Tripp Mickle, Staff Writer

Published August 10, 2012

The USOC has sold so much merchandise at its retail outlet in London it cannot keep the store stocked. In order to keep up with demand, it has called in five replacement orders since the Games began. The organization exceeded its total sales from the '08 Beijing Games in the first 10 days the store was open, and exceeded sales from Vancouver in '10 in even less time. The store is located in the front of USA House and covers two stories. The upstairs features apparel from its top three suppliers -- Ralph Lauren, Nike and Oakley -- while the downstairs features apparel from Outerstuff brand, mugs, pendants and other items. The store was designed with help from Nike, Ralph Lauren and Polo, which gives it the same feel as a department store, with branded areas for each company’s products. The brands also provided store specialists to assist shoppers and manage merchandise. USOC Managing Dir of Consumer Products Peter Zeytoonjiansaid the brand’s assistance in creating a good retail environment, the diversity of apparel, the USOC’s new logo and the number of London-based expatriates visiting the store all combined to deliver strong sales the last two weeks. “Everything has done fantastically well,” Zeytoonjian said. The USOC also is selling the apparel in the U.S. at Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s and Polo Ralph Lauren stores. Its goal is to hit $100M in retail sales around the Games. The USOC would not release current sales figures, but on Thursday said merchandise sales have more than doubled those from Beijing. The USOC and its licensees already are making preparations for the '14 Sochi Games. Nike and Ralph Lauren are close to finalizing their product lines and will finish that process in September. Zeytoonjian said he expects sales for Sochi to be bigger than Vancouver.