Craig Mckelvie, founder and CEO, The BootRoom Collection
Sports memorabilia brand, The BootRoom Collection had to quickly turn its focus online, as its brick-and-mortar stores suffered amidst temporary closures due to COVID-19 pandemic. The brand accelerated the launch of its e-commerce site, alongside collaborating with online marketplaces such as Amazon.ae and noon.com.
“We were down 97% year-on-year during the March-April period,” shared Craig Mckelvie, founder and CEO, The BootRoom Collection. “We had to accelerate our plans to start transacting online. Within a matter of five weeks, we kickstarted our online store, which has helped us to offset some losses incurred from brick-and-mortar. Having that said, brick-and-mortar will always play a significant role in our business.”
Also watch: Accelerating Digital Transformation
Overall, the sports memorabilia industry is currently valued at $27.5 billion and set to reach $47.2 billion within the next five years. And Mckelvie says this growth projection will not get impacted by COVID-19. “We have had people asking us about product availability via social media during the lockdown. If anything, the value of sports memorabilia is set to increase.”
The BootRoom Collection was created 18 months ago to bring sports memorabilia to the Middle East market. The brand has quickly expanded presence through the shop-in-shop format within six Virgin Megastore outlets in the UAE, including Mall of the Emirates and The Dubai Mall. Today, The BootRoom Collection is present in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and soon Kuwait.
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