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Arsenal is taking lessons from Amazon not Manchester United

Samira Vishwas | May 21, 2025 3:12 AM CST

As Arsenal teams up with NTT DATA for a digital transformation partnership, Chief Commercial Officer Juliet Slot reveals why the club is rethinking what it means to be a football organisation—and how technology, personalisation, and a fan-first mindset are driving a new era on and off the pitch.

“In the past, I’ve been guilty of trying to get partners and then plugging them into our systems”, admitted Juliet Slot, Arsenal’s Chief Commercial Officer, during a recent panel at SportsPro Live in London.

However, it wasn’t the approach she took in September 2024, when Arsenal named NTT DATA as the club’s first official digital transformation partner.

At the event, Slot was joined on stage by Tom Winstanley, CTO and Head of New Ventures at NTT DATA, to discuss how the collaboration is designed to do more than upgrade backend systems and instead, strengthen the club’s relationship with its supporters.

Juliet Slot, Chief Commercial Officer at Arsenal and Tom Winstanley, CTO and Head of New Ventures at NTT DATA, on stage at SportsPro Live.

Driving this deal is a broader industry shift, or what could be described as a growing realisation within sports organisations.

As Slot put it: “We are a retailer, physical and digital. We’re a ticketing business, we’re an events business, we’re an experiential business, we also do football… we are a lot of things to people that they experience in a multitude of environments outside of coming to the game.”

Arsenal’s Chief Commercial Officer explained she wants Arsenal to take cues from e-commerce giants like Amazon, companies which deliver personalised customer journeys. This goal means having a much deeper understanding of the Arsenal fan base, not just what they want to buy, but how they want to buy and interact with the club itself.

“We’re not a football club,” she added. “We’re a global brand that plays football that really serves our supporters.” This, she said, is the expectation she has placed on NTT DATA as a strategic partner.

Tech in action

The partnership is not just about e-commerce or digital retail. It also aims to enhance the matchday experience.

Speaking separately to Insider Sport, Dominic Rowles, Head of Sport and Travel at NTT DATA UK and Ireland, shared how technology is already beginning to reshape what it means to be a fan.

For Rowles, the priority starts with getting the fundamentals right. He said much of the innovation centres around improving stadium accessibility and safety, particularly for women, children, the elderly, and those with disabilities.

He explained technology can assist by helping fans navigate stadiums more easily using digital apps that show “the quickest route” and identify “how busy certain areas are and where the toilets are”.

Queue management is another key focus. Rowles pointed to a system trialled in the US, which gives food and beverage vendors real-time visibility of crowd locations, enabling them to send out targeted offers to manage flow and drive sales.

Across the industry, personalisation has become a top priority. “All [football clubs] are talking about personalisation,” Rowles recalled from conversations with major sports organisations. “That is probably their number one thing”.

He offered a notable example from a Premier League club which welcomes thousands of corporate hospitality guests every matchday, but only recognises around 1% of them.

“If you think about it, a lot of those people will be high-net individuals, who might be C-suite customers… You need them to basically volunteer their information to the club to say, ‘Hey, I’m Freddie Smith, I’m the CTO at X, Y, Z company. I’m happy to opt in for your marketing.’ Suddenly, that opens up an amazing opportunity for lots of people.”

The commercial upside is significant. Rowles noted that if clubs can get fans to opt into marketing, they could increase sponsorship values by around 25%.

“But why would anyone choose to opt in?” he asked, before suggesting that clubs must offer real, tangible benefits in return, such as fast-track shopping, concierge services, or even transport assistance.

Looking ahead, Rowles was particularly excited about the potential of wearable technology. He described a smart wristband concept developed with a major vendor. “You can have your ticket, you can have your data, you can have your emergency information. You can buy your beers with it, all that sort of stuff,” Rowles said.

“But it’s not just functional, it’s experiential too. While looking out over The Oval, the cricket ground hosting the event, he added: “They can vibrate and they can have lights on them. Imagine if a six gets hit and suddenly you make the light show people’s arms.”

Building a partnership on outcomes

Back on stage, the panel turned to the broader vision driving the partnership between Arsenal and NTT DATA, one rooted not only in technology, but in shared outcomes, cultural alignment and long-term strategic ambition.

NTT DATA has a presence across a wide range of industries, which means it brings insights which are often underutilised in the world of football. It also draws on experience from partnerships in other sports, including Japanese football, IndyCar and The Open.

This expertise has helped shape the Arsenal-NTT relationship, which has been built with clarity and intention. As Slot put it plainly: “Our partnership should be outcome-led. There’s no point having a partnership if at the end everyone’s going, ‘What did we achieve for our business?’”

For Arsenal, this strategy is driven by two clear priorities. “Number one priority: to have the best technology stack that will allow us to serve our supporters,” Slot said.

“Number two priority: to keep us a partner for as long as possible because we are delivering for their needs and their outcomes.”

This balance between vision and practicality consistently came up throughout the discussion, with Slot noting the club is trying to drive as much revenue as possible into the business. It also looking to minimise costs off the pitch so it can then make sure there’s enough cash to “invest and to win trophies”.

On NTT’s side, this approach fits with a broader philosophy they describe as the “triple win”: value for the client, value for the partner and value for the end user, which in this case is the fans.

An additional strength of the partnership lies in the support provided by Arsenal’s ownership. As noted above, NTT DATA has worked with many sports organisations, and this support isn’t something common to come by.

“You come up with a great plan and then you get the investment, and then a year later you might not sell the player… and the investment would end up not being supported,” Winstanley reflected.

By contrast, he said Arsenal’s owners “are absolutely supportive of this strategy and… excited about what we’re doing.”

Still, it’s not just about the plans on paper; the real test of any partnership is how it holds up under pressure. “When the going gets tough is where the culture is really important,” Slot said.

This mindset is reflected in how both sides work together day-to-day, not as client and supplier, but as genuine partners seeking mutually beneficial outcomes.

“They are part of our team,” Slot emphasised. “Every single penny we’re spending is scrutinised to make sure that we’re delivering against the objective and also against the promises.”

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