The past year, @Fanatics has been busy launching new ventures such as Fanatics Live and the events business, but one core staple of the business has been vastly improved: customer service.
The customer service line for Topps, specifically, has seen effort made to expand the number of live reps on the toll-free line, so when a consumer calls, a real human actually picks up the phone to talk about it. The call center functions have been decentralized from just Texas so a team of reps around the country can all answer, and have access to part of the back-end database for, in this example, redemptions.
@MichaelRubin has been public about his disdain for redemptions. "“I heard from so many customers about redemptions,” Rubin told talk-show host Colin Cowherd recently on The Volume. “We hate when we get a redemption. You buy a box of cards and you get a redemption because it was too difficult to get the autograph on the card when they made it. So I think the industry works that way.
“We are looking to say, ‘that is not acceptable.’ So many collectors hate it. We’re saying, ‘how do we eliminate it?’ The mentality is, we need to do better.” (https://sportscollectorsdigest.com/news/sports-card-redemption-cards-autographs-michael-rubin-fanatics)
And his company has backed it up.
There are significantly fewer redemptions in 2023 Bowman Draft compared to 2022 Bowman Draft, and redemptions are actually...being filled! Yes, this is not a novel business concept of giving people what they want, but it's basic blocking and tackling.
Now Topps can take this one step further. Enable the folks who answer the phone to have access to more data (as they used to have before de-centralization). When a consumer asks "What's happening with my Gavin Cross 2022 Bowman draft gold auto redemption," the answer should go beyond "no update." Conversations with a status update "It's out for signing/it's back from signing but in QC/it should be shipped within the next four weeks" would be a terrific step to help engender trust and an answer to the question that drove the phone call to begin with.
It's customer service 101: give the consumer what they want. In this case, a real answer. Basic stuff. Consumers will be happier when they get an answer that help sets expectations, and it'll be reflected on social media posts over time. (Oh, and eliminating putting redemptions in boxes really helps, too. #JustSayin)
Hey Topps, you've come this far with improved customer service: how about one step further?

Hey @fanatics @michaelrubin , the promise of buying @topps has been improved product, fewer redemptions, and flow. And sure, the F1 season starts March 2, and sapphire launches on March 1, but this is a forced launch given F1 Chrome launched today. Where's the flow management?
Launching two products within two weeks in the same genre (not even talking Dynasty here) is sub-optimal for collectors, breakers, and LCS. In other words, for the hobby.
This comes on the heels of Bowman Draft/Topps Heritage/Bowman Black/Bowmans Best stacked on top of each other during an inane holiday rush.
This means consumer spending is crunched, and will have to impact sales flow. Day 0 for F1 Chrome was a new experience on @fanaticslive , but let's see how the pace of fills continues on Days 1-5, and 6-10. F1 fans may quickly turn the page toward Sapphire and means inventory levels of F1 Chrome will flip the conversation from the launch window to "the art of the long view" and "long tail" discussions.
And this is without even getting into pricing. F1 sapphire at $259/box at launch last year, and Montgomery club sales this year already at $389/box but value prop not easily or clearly defined beyond (hopefully not sticker) autos.
The opportunity is there, but the execution needs attention. The promise and upside of what Fanatics can bring to the table is great news for consumers, but the message gets muddled when the product car crashes happen. (Insert your own Crashtifi joke here. lol)
Sincerely, P.J.

MILESTONE day for card breaking. This image is a feature dream for @michaelrubin @fanaticslive as the breaking industry begins to mature. How? This break schedule looks like a TV schedule -- the goal. Consumers are familiar with TV programming and have been trained to know when to tune in and for what content. This is an F1 (TV) channel, and way better than the world of "it'll break when it's filled" approach in the early business model days over the past few years. It provides certainty for the consumer, a familiar look, and trains people when to tune in. It is the maturation of the card-breaking market and expect to see more of this type of "programming," driven and managed by Fanatics. You'll have the F1 "channel," the soccer channel, football, baseball, basketball, etc. Yes, it will largely require pre-fills to be successful, but that is more tied to management of flow of product from Fanatics and buy-in from the breakers.
Don't be fooled -- identify this industry for what it is. It is not narrowly defined as card breaking. It is about ENTERTAINMENT. This is entertainment in the card-breaking industry/vertical, like the live game broadcast industry/vertical, or e-sports tournaments, or streaming TV and movies. They are all different verticals in entertainment, and all use the expectation of time slots to get consumers to tune in at certain time or to pre-record. (Recording breaks are already feasible for card breaking, but not simple or intuitive.)
Today, card-breaking advanced as entertainment. Welcome to a new big day for @Fanatics and congrats to @f1castle and Scott for pushing this industry forward.