The Best Retailers are Planning for 2023 Now The chaos in the peak golf season has long been a very justifiable reason for many golf retailers to neglect working on the business rather than in it. However, you can save yourself a lot of time, stress and money down the line by thinking ahead in a number of crucial areas now. Make sure you consider your marketing support when entering pre-books Buying and Stock Although it is impossible to know how much stock you are going to sell between now and the end of the year, suppliers are wanting commitments for next year’s pre-books extremely early. Don’t just guess or allow the supplier to put the entire order together for you. Use your till system’s reporting to give you an idea on the number of items you’ve sold in each department over the last 12 months. Subtract a number that you will undoubtedly have to special order in and then work to this number in your pre-books. Work with your retail group to help you get a buying plan in place. Foremost use a clever stock matrix document which will give you an idea of how much stock to hold in each department to achieve your desired turnover (and gross profit margin), without being overstocked. Foremost also work with the suppliers to provide in-depth digital and in-store marketing support on key products, such as clothing and shoes (Marketing Supported Clothing / Footwear). This enables members to pre-book from a range of products across the top suppliers, knowing that they will get all of the support they need to sell those ranges through – again, reducing risk with pre-books. Finally, I would always recommend holding back an amount of cash for in-season special buys. Your retail group should be negotiating these with suppliers and the very nature of these deals means that they usually come with very little notice, so if you are overstocked and have exhausted your budget, you won’t be able to take advantage. A Marketing Plan will provide structure and direction Marketing It is evident that the most successful retail and coaching businesses are those that market themselves effectively. With so many retailers vying for golfers’ business, you cannot neglect this area. Start putting a marketing plan together for 2023, including the key promotions and events you would like to run. This will give you time to source any stock you need, integrate your plans with the golf club’s (if you are an on-course retailer), get the commitment of 3rd parties e.g. suppliers and just give you and your staff a solid direction, organisation and professionalism. Finance Make sure you have a financial plan / cash flow forecast for 2023. I have seen a few businesses have cash flow problems early this season, despite decent sales. This has mostly been down to not having a financial plan – which would have told them to put more money aside during the good months, to act as a buffer when the bills start to roll in early the next season. Your retail group will be able to help with this and should have tools to make it extremely easy to do. Stock Planning is imperative. Look to utilise your Retail & Marketing Group for support Other areas to think about: Business strategy – Step back and take a high level view on where you want to take the business in 2023. What is going well and what needs improving? If you want a different result, don’t do the same thing! Thinking about this now will give you the time to put things in place. Leaving it until the end of the year will mean you are unlikely to be able to implement effective change. Staff – What level of staffing will you require in 2023? Have you budgeted effectively? Do your staff have adequate training and if not, look to plan this into your calendar. Stock taking – Start the year with a plan on when you will conduct stock takes. I would advise doing very small areas, regularly. This way they are easy to complete and will ensure your stock stays far more accurate than the typical 1 or 2 massive stock takes a year. Pay special attention to the fast moving items. For more information on how Foremost can assist you and your business in 2022 simply email membership@foremostgolf.com or call 01753 218 890 July 22, 2022By David Muller General 0 Comment (0) Comments are closed.