
August Golf Shop: Go For Growth
The pro shop’s ticking over nicely and you’re feeling in a good place. Maybe now’s the time to take the next step? Growing your business doesn’t necessarily mean major expansion, a big shift in your business model or taking high risks. However, it will require you to update your strategies. Here, we look at just some of the ways you could move your business forward.
In a constantly changing retail landscape, taking the decision to grow your business and find new ways to appeal to golfers is key to long term success. But, is it right for you? Start by asking yourself where you want to be in 5, or 10, years’ time. As a golf professional, you might be mulling over multiple possibilities: depending on whether you want to spend more time coaching, move into operations or expand to new locations.
If increasing your revenue features high on your list, then growing the retail business is going to help you achieve this. However, sticking to one location without looking at new channels will restrict growth opportunities. Here are 5 ways to expand your market share and diversity into new sales channels.
5 EXPANSION TACTICS
- Open a new bricks and mortar store. This isn’t about replicating what works at your existing location. This is a whole new venture with customers who may not have heard of you, a new venue and locality.
- One of the best ways to reach new customers, both locally and further afield, is via a website. While passion and drive will give you a great head start, setting up an eCommerce site isn’t easy. The commitment to your new eCommerce store is similar to setting up a new bricks and mortar shop, with additional investment in stock and staff needed. Talk to the team at XPOS about integrating your sales system with Shopify for a slick, easy-to-run option.
- Being present on multiple channels is the best way to reach new customers and online marketplaces such as Amazon, Facebook or eBay, will also help you to increase revenue and scale your retail business.
- Pro shop app. Many consumers still prefer a combination of online and physical shopping. “Click and Mortar” allows shoppers to reserve, or purchase online, and collect the item in store. Since its launch last year, hundreds of golf retailers have signed up to the Xcaddie app which gives shop customers 24-hour access to the pro shop, without the financial investment needed with an eCommerce website. Designed for time-short PGA members, the app contains a host of golf-specific features to help boost loyalty and profits.
- Local and trade shows. If your shop is based at a well-known venue, events that attract consumers, such as The British Golf Show, are perfect for selling your own branded items.
GROWTH SUCCESS STORY
Niall McGill is a Head PGA Professional and Managing Director of Noah’s Ark Golf Centre in Perth: home to a Trackman Range and simulator, adventure golf and retail store. McGill is also Director of Golf at Pitlochry Golf Club.
We use Xpos in both shops and it works really well for us. Noah’s Ark is the bigger of the two and because the store room at Pitlochry is small, we manage the stock from Noah’s Ark and move products across to Pitlochry.
I’ve always been a fan of technology and we’ve always invested in it to grow the business. We’ve gone heavily into video coaching, launch monitoring and now use it to boost our custom fitting service.
What made you want to expand?
We’d dabbled in online sales for 10-12 years but it didn’t work because the website wasn’t integrated with our till system. I see our online business as a natural next step for us and during lockdown, when we were running really popular virtual golf tournaments each week, I knew we should go forward with our online offering.
With our old site, I used to dread the ‘ping’ on my phone of a new sale coming through as I wouldn’t know if I actually had the item in the shop, so we switched it off. The new Shopify integration with Xpos, our sales and stock till system, means product information is up to date and synced across both shops. It’s going to give us so many more opportunities to reach new people. We aren’t trying to be the next American Golf but we do want to grow the business organically and regionally.
For me, it’s not always about selling globally. There’s a real market for making online sales locally.
What Plans do you have for the Future?
I’m spinning lots of plates at the moment but I want to continue to grow the site at Noah’s Ark. We’ve recently invested in Trackman and have also built an indoor/outdoor studio. The shop at Pitlochry Golf Club is fantastic as well, and delivers a great service to members and visitors there.
I just feel that our new online site will grow the retail business more and more and then we can start to look at national sales later on.
Good to Know
Retailers experience a 190% increase in revenue when they sell on more than one channel Source: Shopify
59% of consumers are keen to “click and mortar” where they order online and collect in the physical store
For more information about Xpos, visit xpos.co.uk or contact sales@crossovertec.co.uk