Breaking the price myth – helping pro shops promote how they aren’t more expensive! Ian Melham Head of Membership Services at Foremost Golf discusses how professional shops are still perceived as being more expensive than online and high street retailers and offers solutions that can counteract this myth. It’s no secret that many golfers believe green grass shops are more expensive than high street and online retailers. When you take a step back and put yourself in their shoes, on the face if it you can understand the logic. These larger off-course retailers tend to have significant choice and very large stock holdings – giving the impression that economies of scale surely mean they will be paying less than at a smaller, independent PGA pro shop. At Foremost we conducted a customer survey in late 2023 on behalf of our member retailers which received over 42,000 responses. This survey highlighted some key information on club member shopping habits. When asked about their preferred place to buy golf equipment, 41% of respondents said they didn't buy the majority of their golf equipment from their club pro shop. 56% of these respondents mentioned the price as the reason for purchasing elsewhere. However, when you start to look at industry data, it shows the opposite to be true. Over the last couple of years, on-course prices in the majority of retail categories, have been cheaper than off-course. It is down to us, as independent green grass retailers, to up our marketing game and re-educate our customers. Firstly, ticketing is a must. Customers will perceive you to be more expensive when there is no confident price ticketing present on products. It is essential that your review the ticketing across the shop on a regular basis. You can make the same product look expensive or good value depending on how you present it. Foremost professionals have an industry leading ticket system (ForeTickIT) to create this perception of value and an overall professional feel to the shop. A Price Match Promise is something that is seen in many retail stores on the high street and online. It provides the customer the peace of mind that they will not be paying over the odds for their goods. Offering and clearly promoting a price match promise in store will help squash the myth that the pro shop is expensive. And remember, a price match promise is NOT saying ‘we will match the cheapest retailer’. You can come up with your own policy, for example, ‘we will match ‘x’ large retailer on any product’. In some cases, you might even find yourself putting prices UP to match some of the well-known retailers! Something that can often be overlooked but can go a long way in how your value is perceived, is the price point of popular and price sensitive products. An example would be golf balls. The majority of golfers will know what the ‘going rate’ is for a leading golf ball on the market, and you will be judged on this. Therefore, it’s imperative that you are competitive with the market, as if you aren’t, customers will jump to the conclusion you are expensive on everything. This will also include popular new releases to the market, such as hardware. Prices have generally been much more stable over the last couple of years, as overheads for off-course retailers have increased, but it always pays to be in tune with what your competitors are charging on popular products. Finally, it’s all well and good offering these services but it’s imperative that you promote them through your available marketing channels. This includes both digital and in-store. Communication is key and to attract and retain the price sensitive customers, you need to constantly reinforce your messaging through these impactful service types. Never be afraid to repeat these key messages! For more information on how Foremost can assist you and your business in simply email membership@foremostgolf.com or call 01753 218 890 August 16, 2024By David Muller General 0 Comment (0) Comments are closed.