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Ben Simmons, Superstar, Cracks the Top 10 in Jersey Sales
By Jim Adair
Published:
Early on, we declared Ben Simmons a superstar. It’s less about his talent at this point and more about his ESPN profile, his Showtime documentary, and his friendship with LeBron. All of those things, combined with the hype train which is barreling down 95 at full-speed, have slid Simmons’ Sixers jersey into the top-10 in sales.
Since draft night, Fanatics.com is reporting that in terms of merchandise sales, Simmons is the 10th-best seller among National Basketball Association players. He’s the highest-selling Philadelphia athlete in all sports across the Fanatics platform of hundreds of e-commerce sites, which includes SixersShop.com – the Sixers’ official team store.
Demand for Simmons merchandise helped SixersShop.com see a 76 percent spike in sales compared with July 2015, according to Fanatics.com.
76%? #Branding #Nice
From June 23rd to August 31st, here were the top 10 players in jersey sales: LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Derrick Rose, Dwyane Wade, Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Russell Westbrook, Ben Simmons. But it’s not just that he’s selling a bunch of jerseys, it’s where he’s selling them. Thanks to Simmons – and Matthew Dellavedova probably for some bros – both Melbourne and Sydney are in the top-5 city purchases rankings worldwide. He’s not just a star, he’s an International Superstar of Mystery.
When he's not writing about sports here or ranting about them on Twitter, Jim is probably watching X-Files on Netflix or drinking a beer somewhere. Jim has nothing against hockey, it's just not his style. He once met Duce Staley at a Sixers game.