Get Ahead of the Buying Game: Why Preparation is Key

 

For most golf professionals or retail managers running a pro shop in the UK, August and September are critical months for deciding on inventory purchases for the following golf season. It’s a pivotal time, when you’re likely to meet with brand representatives to determine not only the products that will line your shelves but also your pro shop’s ability to meet customer demand, stay ahead of trends, and maximise profitability.

To ensure a successful meeting with suppliers, it's essential to come prepared with an understanding of how your retail business compares to the market, which categories and brands worked well this year, and why some stock didn’t make the grade.

In the first of two articles to help you make the right buying decisions, here we explore key tips to help pro shop retailers prepare effectively for those crucial discussions.

 

Know the Numbers

Rather than relying on gut feel, use your Xpos reports to research the facts before making buying decisions.  Just an hour spent looking at your sales numbers over the last 6-12 months will help you to make the right choices and negotiate better with chosen brands.

For retailers using the Xpos online system, one report does it all!

Just key “Brand” into the Universal Search bar and select “Brand Statistics Report” from the options. Use it to identify the current worst-performing products and brands in your shop.

Take a group, such as clothing, and compare TURNOVER, COST OF SALES AND MARGINS across all your brands.  Also look at how much stock you have left over?  Do this across all your groups prior to meeting with your supplier contacts.

 

 

Looking at these key metrics is likely to reveal a clear winner, ie, the brand that gives you the highest margin and where you have the least stock left over.

 

The Big Questions

It’s also a good exercise to ask yourself why one brand out-performed the others.  For example, why was the margin on men’s tops so much better than men’s shorts?

If you found shoes a breeze this year but struggled with clothing, is it because the weather affected sales?  Maybe you picked the wrong colours? Did you buy too much?

Try to be brutally honest with yourself. Did you lose focus on that category? Did you run a campaign to boost sales?

When it comes to poor-performing items, there could be multiple factors, and, even though some of them could have been out of your control, it’s important to put your case together and learn from mistakes.

 

Brand Facts

Pro shops often find hardware easier to sell than, say, clothing, but as clothing probably accounts for a significant chunk of your business turnover, it’s important to get your strategy right.  If clothing hasn’t performed well this year, rather than thinking about buying less and shrinking your business – always a dangerous strategy – your customers could simply be crying out for a new brand.

Depending on the size of your shop, we’d usually recommend working with 2-3 suppliers across your main categories, rather than spreading yourself thinly with 4-5. One sign that you need to slim down the number of brands in the shop is if you have too much product left over across all your suppliers.

It’s always difficult to make a change but an educated punt is better than one based on personal preference or gut feel.   Ask us about market comparisons and find out how other pro shops in your area are performing across the categories and brands.

 

How do your pro shop sales compare to other shops? How are brands performing across the market? For this information, and more, Xpos retailers can sign up to receive FREE monthly market comparison reports emailed to your inbox. Contact hello@xpos.co.uk