Compare and Change: Your 2022 Pro Shop Review
As the year comes to a close, having a grasp of what you did well and where the retail business struggled is essential for success in 2023.
Whether you’re an experienced business owner, or retail newcomer, a review at the end of the year can help to influence how you achieve your goals in the future, establish new aims, and renew your enthusiasm for what you do.
In our last article of 2022 for PGA Monthly, we show you the simplest ways to review your achievements over the last 12 months and how you can use this knowledge to boost future profit margins and turnover.
How do you think you did in 2022? To get an accurate picture, you should be looking over the goals you set yourself at the start of the year. Did you meet those aims? Were they realistic? If you did/didn’t achieve what you set out to, why not?
Bare Basics
You’ve probably heard the phrase “retail is detail”, but don’t get bogged down in that if you just don’t have the time, or inclination. Even a basic strategic review can get you by. As a bare minimum, focus on the things that will have the biggest impact on your business: Turnover, profit and stock turn.
Getting to grips with your business numbers isn’t as onerous as it sounds. A good ePos system will do the heavy-lifting for you but remember, the data you get out is only as good as what you put in.
If you’re new to this, think whether you can trust the numbers in your ePos reports. If something doesn’t look right, ask yourself why. Are you including sales that should, or shouldn’t, be in there? If you haven’t done a stocktake recently, make sure you do a full shop stocktake before running key reports. Finally, are your cost prices correct?
Compare and Contrast
Golf shops are seasonal businesses and year on year comparisons will help you understand the peaks and troughs. In addition, having a benchmark is crucial to knowing whether your shop is actually performing well.
Each business has different anomalies. If you see an increase in stock turn this year, it’s likely that you’ll see bigger margins too. However, for some people, there may be an increase in turnover but lower margins. The key point here is to recognise what’s good or bad, be able to explain why and then act on it.
Take your three big numbers (Turnover, Profit and Stock Turn) from 2022 and compare them to previous years. Normally, we’d suggest a comparison against last year, but following the bumpy years of the pandemic, you could look at your figures from 2019 instead.
Learn and Change
If the numbers aren’t looking as positive as you’d hoped, don’t be afraid to admit you may have got it wrong this year. Be honest with yourself and discuss things with the team. Our top tips for a successful 2023 are:
- Set goals for 2023
- Make your team aware of their targets and establish roles of responsibility within the business
- Draft a marketing plan. You’ll have much more success if there’s something in writing. Nothing too detailed, just a calendar of events in the club/shop that you can promote before they happen
- Capture as much customer data as possible at point of sale (names and email addresses as a minimum).
- For up-to-date retail advice throughout the year, follow Xpos on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
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Advanced Users
- Never rest on your laurels! Only regular stocktakes will ensure the information in your reports is accurate.
- Deal in detail. Understanding your customer’s requirements is key – filling your shop with the right sizing and colours will make a big difference
- Spread the love. Just because you understand the detail doesn’t mean your team do. If they do any of the selling, they need to know the details of how much profit products make: empower them to make good business decisions.
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Did You Know?
An increase in TURNOVER is often down to buying in the right products, good marketing, creative merchandising and high footfall.
You can boost PROFITS by selling higher-margin products, good sales techniques, clever merchandising but, most importantly, stock control.
Too much dead stock? Increase your STOCK TURN with excellent inventory control.
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Case Study
Martin Balfour, MB Golf Shop, Donnington Valley Golf Club
“It’s like a pre-shot routine. If I stick to it, I shouldn’t go wrong”
Every month, I look at reports for turnover, profit, stock turn and dead stock and add the numbers to a spreadsheet so that I can compare the months as we go through the year. Because I’m making changes all the time, we now have very little excess stock in the shop which has made a huge difference to my cashflow and margin.
For my annual review each year, I do a big version of what I do at the end of each month. I’ll do a breakdown of the product groups and look at what is performing well, or less well, and will come up with plans to fix them or move them on.
My staff are very involved in the process and this helps me immensely. The team looks at look at stock turns and dead stock each week, and do stock checks every month. Everyone is responsible for different product groups, so if they see stock turn is high, they’ll order more product or, if it’s low, we’ll discuss what to do to get it moving.
Staying on top of the business in this way has been the number one reason for increases in profits and margin. It’s like a pre-shot routine. If I stick to it, I shouldn’t go wrong.