The secret to improving retail sales in your golf pro shop can be summed up in three critical areas: Location, Merchandise Options and Design.
Golf Pro Shop Location
At most modern golf courses, retail/pro shop services haven’t been giving the care that other club operations have received. The prop shop is tucked off from the counter in an effort to streamline the coming-and-going of golfers checking in for tee times. Have you visited Disneyland or Walt Disney World? It is often that an attraction exit point will run right through a specialty shop. This isn’t out of convenience, but rather, out of design. A captured audience is more likely to browse and possibly make a purchase than the visitor who has to make an effort to get in to a shop. The first takeaway is make sure the counter operation is visible, yet forcing a pathway from the door to the counter through golf merchandise fixtures.
Merchandising
Merchandise display is often an afterthought in a golf pro shop. pro shop staffers often have passing experience in retail sales, but lack the knowledge of professional merchandisers. Some specialty shops will forego the added expense of retail fixtures to maximize merchandise display options and simply opt for the traditional tables, counter tops and everyone’s favorite: the basic 4-way rack. Golf and tennis wear is often very trendy with bright colors. Why hide these colors away when they could bring color to a drab pro shop in addition to catching the eye of trendy shoppers. The takeaway for merchandising is to use custom golf pro shop retail fixtures to capture the eyes of your audience.
Pro Shop Design
Finally, the pro shop its self can use some help. As previously mentioned the pro shop is often an afterthought of a golf course. An artifact from days gone by where the dining, drinking and social options were where the money was in a club. These days, younger audiences are shying away from both golf and the legacy country club life. As such clubs are facing financial issues as they struggle to replace the revenue. It may be worth taking a look at a remodeled pro shop to focus the audience. Remodeling a pro shop to create a captivating interior that elegantly solves business needs. From movement and flow, to merchandise mix and display to custom retail fixtures. But it takes specialist in the field for golf pro shop design.
A typical golf course will see 25,000 rounds a year, finding a way to up sell just 20% of those players with only $20 in merchandise sales could add $100,000 in revenue to the club’s bottom line. Which is the final takeaway. A remodeled golf pro shop could likely pay for itself in a year from additional sales and revenue. Would $100,000 make a difference in your golf club?