Page 36 - GBC English Fall 2020

PRO SHOP INNOVATION
At Goderich Sunset Golf Club, we decided to take a more personal approach with selling during COVID. We advertised on Instagram and Facebook and also emailed our database informing golfers what was available in our pro shop. We invited them to contact us with their wish list and questions about inventory they had seen online. After a brief conversation, I would take photos of the merchandise and email back prices, photos and details. Once they approved the purchase, we arranged a date and time for pick up. We found that they would purchase more items when they came in and we became their one stop golfing experience.
Since the pro shop has always competed with Golf Town, Sport Check and Amazon, we thought this personal approach might bring their business to us. Once the pro shop was allowed to open we continued with texting merchandise requested by the golfers. It was very apparent that they did not want to linger in the pro shop for long, but really appreciated the individual attention.
Each golf course is unique when it comes to their pro shop and how much merchandise they stock. Adam Tobin, from Whistle Bear Golf Club in Cambridge, Ontario, immediately moved forward with an online store as
soon as the shutdown occurred. It was launched in late April and proved to be an early success. Adam said: “We leaned heavily on email communications, social media, and club apps to push out sales.” Both online store and curbside success continued into May.
He mentioned that once the golf course opened on May 16th online traffic heavily declined as golfers were able to visit their golf shop. Adam was very clear that although the online store was successful during the closure, it was a major time commitment and staffing constraint getting it up and running. He looks forward to seeing the results of his online store during the offseason. They were also very creative in their advertising using club emails, apps, and FaceTime appointments. For example, they hosted an online fashion show with all of their new arrivals.
Social media has made advertising products easier and allowed us to reach a larger audience. At Serenity Golf Club in Calgary, Alberta, golf professional Kevin Graf said that they are using social media to run “feature item” sales show- casing a wide variety of products. They are also making sure all their promotions encourage bulk buys. For example, buy 1 get 10% off, buy 2 get 20% off, buy 3 get 30% off.
At Legacy Ridge Golf Club in Owen Sound, Ontario, Sam
McEvenue, golf operations manager, was thrilled at the response to their social media sales. They did just over $5000 in online/social media sales bringing their pro shop sales up by 16% to date. He thinks the two biggest contributing factors are the increase of play and the new players to the game. He said that lots of his members are upgrading their sets and paying anywhere from $2000-$4000 per set as they view it as an investment because they will be golfing all summer and not travelling.
Kathy MacLennan, from Summerheights Golf Links in Cornwall, Ontario, spoke about the success of curbside pickup before they opened. Once their pro shop was open she noticed that golfers were just there to golf, they were not able to loiter around the pro shop and simply went to the tee. She is happy to have the suppliers that she deals with allowing her to send back her shoes and gloves that are not sold this season.
IMPACT ON SUPPLIERS
At Goderich Sunset, the suppliers we deal with were fantastic, allowing us to pause our merchandise deliveries in the spring when we were unsure if we would be able to open. Slowly, we have been bringing in some of our orders, making sure to space it out. With this delay, we did have to
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Golf Business Canada