Retail Email of the Week: Rally House’s Throwback Style

Rally House, a sports apparel retailer, used a Father’s Day email to evoke the glory days for some sports fans.

Mailer Name: Rally House
Date Emailed: June 15, 2017

Rally House is a Lenexa, Kansas-based retailer that sells all kinds of sports-related merchandise, including apparel, memorabilia, and other gifts. Its 60 brick-and-mortar stores across eight states carry products that center on the local favorite college and professional teams for that area.

Rally House's e-commerce site, however, is a different story. It enables fans to buy merchandise from teams regardless of their location, and for Rally House to mix and match customers’ buying preferences.

This email marries the long-standing nostalgia trend in sports apparel with Father’s Day. “Old Styles For The Old Man” is how the email’s subject line put it.

The image at the top of the email shows a “throwback” style T-shirt of MLB’s Philadelphia Phillies, one of the customer’s favorite teams. It implies that the customer’s dad might be not just a fan of the same team, but also have a connection with a long-gone style or logo.

Clicking on the image directs the shopper to Rally House's website for the featured T-shirt as well as other old-school items from the same collection. Although the other T-shirts are shown with pricing, the main one is not.

For those unsure of what to buy, two more options are presented. They can purchase a gift card for their dad from a selection on the Rally House website. “Give the gift that always fits,” reads the copy. Or they can visit their local Rally House store. Details shown on the site include directions, a map, store hours and new merchandise, favoring the local teams.

The Takeaway
Nostalgia can be a powerful influencer that puts customers in the mood to buy.