CHRIS BACKLEY Apurva Chandra purchases
BearWear items from ASUCLA employee Tiffany Butler
in the UCLA Store.
By Melody Wang
Daily Bruin Reporter
Students are sporting more BearWear clothing than last year, as
the UCLA football team has increased its victories this season.
Since the beginning of August, the UCLA store has sold an
estimated $1.9 million in BearWear items ““ up 14.3 percent
from last year’s figures at this time.
This comes as a bit of a surprise for the Associated Students of
UCLA, which had only planned on selling about $1.5 million in
merchandise.
“Last year wasn’t a good year for us so we were very
conservative in planning for this year.” said ASUCLA
Financial Director Rich Delia.
To improve sales this year, ASUCLA administrators met in the
spring to discuss new marketing strategies, which were then
implemented in August.
ASUCLA Executive Director Patricia Eastman attributes the
increase in sales to the performance of the athletic teams this
season, more aggressive marketing campaigns and changes to the
store.
“I wish we could just pinpoint it to one thing, but
we’ve been doing all of these things,” she said.
For example, the association extended its telephone service
availability from eight to 24 hours a day and increased publicity
of its Web site. They also sent out twice as many merchandise
catalogs as last year, resulting in increased orders.
Also, instead of offering a free gift for every $100 mail order,
ASUCLA now provides free shipping instead, said Fred Klein,
director of the apparel and accessories department.
He said another factor that has helped sales is the fact that
UCLA has won four of the five football games this season.
“Students are wanting to affiliate with a winning football
team,” Klein said.
Because the team has been scoring more touchdowns, students are
taking advantage of the new “Score Big in BearWear”
promotion, Klein said.
For each touchdown the team scores, a student with a ticket stub
can receive a 5 percent discount off BearWear items the Monday
after a game. But students may only receive a maximum discount of
25 percent.
Though sales revenue has almost increased to its normal level,
ASUCLA will continue to make additional marketing improvements,
Klein said.
“Students have the idea that the store isn’t always
fun to come to,” he said. “We’re working on
creating a higher energy level.”
Klein said the new music store and Campus Cuts Salon on A-Level
have attracted more students to Ackerman Union.
“There’s definitely been an increase in foot
traffic, but there’s no scientific way of measuring
it,” he said.
The layout of B-level has also been rearranged, with the
Clinique counter and Fast Track Adidas merchandise now closer to
the front of the store.
Delia said the old Fast Track area will be rented out to
generate more revenue.
Though this move will decrease the BearWear area, officials said
this doesn’t mean it will sell fewer items.
“Just because you reduce the area of the store,
doesn’t mean you’re reducing sales,” Delia
said.
In the future, Delia said ASUCLA wants to move the store’s
distribution center from Pico Rivera to one on campus.
The move would mean the association can save on truck and rental
expenses while allowing them to hire more students. This would also
decrease the time students must wait for certain merchandise to
arrive on campus.
Delia said ASUCLA hopes to increase sales revenue to $9.4
million, the level it was at during the 1998-9 fiscal year.
“We’d love to hit that number again,” Delia
said. “We don’t know if we can, but it’s looking
good.”