How to get your footwear ordering right for 2025 Do you go into your footwear pre-book meetings armed with a buying plan? Many do not, which has really contributed towards a general overstocking in this category over the last couple of years. If yours is a shop that year after year forces you to have a big sale at the end of the season because you have too many golf shoes, let’s do something about it. The phrase ‘if you want a different result, don’t do the same thing’ comes to mind. Putting a buying plan together does not need to be complex. This article will explain 4 key points to focus on: 1. How many shoes to order Even though we’ve experienced very different years in terms of trading patterns and weather recently, our till system analysis shows that there is a real pattern to the number of shoes sold in golf shops each year. Run a report and look at the number of pairs sold each year for the last few years. I would take the average of this number and then reduce it by around 15% to allow for the number of custom orders you will inevitably do. Finally, factor in any marketing campaigns your retail group is doing (that could require additional purchasing) to help drive sales in this category. You will then have your pre-book number to stick to. Don’t be tempted by ‘better terms’ for buying more. It is only better if you sell them. The biggest contributor to low margins isn’t buying at the wrong price. It is overstocking. 2. More or less choice? There are so many brands, models and colours to choose from nowadays. You could do an enormous pre-book but still be custom ordering in for the rest of the year. Concentrate on your popular sellers, price points and margin makers. If you have these popular shoes in good stocks, you will satisfy the majority of customers and can then order in for any other requests. Don’t be tempted to stock too many brands either. This usually results in diluted sales, larger pre-book commitments and more ‘bitty stock’ to try and sell off at the end of the year. Foremost select a number of key models from our suppliers and put together a comprehensive marketing support package for these models before the season has even started. This enables our pro’s to de-risk their ordering and ensure their digital marketing is promoting the exact models that they have in store. 3. What sizes to order According to Footjoy, in 2023 80% of shoes sold were between sizes 8 and 10. Consult your till system to see your sales breakdown in terms of size, as the chances are it will not make sense to do the typical 7-12 size run order in each shoe. You could have all of these options in your most popular model, but it makes sense to de-risk by removing the less popular sizes in other models. 4. Margin mix If you have access to higher margin footwear options / special buys / exclusive products, make sure you always have these in stock. Selling products like these is a much better way to increase margin than just ordering more shoes to get a higher discount. As I said earlier, it is only profit when it has sold. Buying for your golf retail store isn’t straight forward by any means, but you can definitely stack the odds in your favour by doing a small amount of preparation before your pre-book meetings. Follow these simple guidelines and reach out to your retail group for support, as they will be well versed in helping put these plans together. For more information on how Foremost can assist you and your business in simply email membership@foremostgolf.com or call 01753 218 890 July 30, 2024By David Muller General 0 Comment (0) Comments are closed.