 |
PGA Professional Mike Woods, the PGA head professional at Haggin Oaks Golf Complex in Sacramento, Calif., is the 2008 PGA Merchandiser of the Year for Public Facilities. Woods has been at Haggin Oaks for his entire career in the golf industry.
|
Can you give our readers a description of your shop and what you
think makes it special?
The Super Store is a 14,000-square-foot retail store located at the Haggin Oaks Golf Complex. We are fortunate to have many unique features to the store, including:
- America’s #1 Clubfitting Team, which receives in-depth training on customer service and sales from our CEO, PGA Director of Golf Ken Morton Sr., product training from all of our vendors, and training on clubfitting techniques from PGA Director of Instruction Tom Morton.
- Complimentary Demo Program, in which customers are encouraged to try any product in the store on our practice range at no cost, and we even supply free range balls. Each day, we average over 150 customers testing the latest products.
- Nike, adidas and FootJoy stores embedded in the Super Store.
- TrackMan Launch Monitor Fitting, Vector Launch Monitor Fitting and SAM Putt Lab Fitting available in our Player Performance Studio. The three-bay studio provides the latest technology, with the customer seeing the ball flight on the practice range.
- America’s Largest Demo Day – the 34th Annual Haggin Oaks Golf Expo, had more than 22,000 attendees over three days. This event produces large sales, but more importantly, creates tremendous repeat business for the following 90 days.
What is your overall hiring philosophy and how do you want your staff to interact with your customers?
Haggin Oaks Team members must share our core values to be successful in our organization. Our core values are honesty, trust, integrity, respect, caring and having a positive attitude, a commitment to excellence and personal growth, and, finally, to make work fun. We take great care in insuring that all new team members share these values in their everyday lives. Team members that share our core values tend to live our service theme of “Creating Genuine Enthusiasm By Exceeding Service Expectations For Each and Every Guest”. We value the customer relationships that are built by our team members as well as the sales dollars that are generated.
How do you determine which apparel lines you will offer in your shop?
There are a few factors we take into consideration when deciding which vendors will make up our soft goods inventory. First and foremost, you must know your customers and what their needs are and what price they would pay for those goods. After you have figured out that key element you can begin to narrow down the selection of vendors who meet those criteria. Each season we also review the numbers on the vendors we did business with and ask ourselves a few questions such as: How was the sell through? What type of margin did we make? Did they ship on time and complete? Hopefully asking those questions will give you a good idea of whether you would carry that line again. Fashion trends, be they fabric technology, colors or fit also plays a role in our determination. It is also important to go with your gut instinct!
What are some other ways you increase shop revenues?
Each year we explore new ways to increase the Super Store’s Revenues. In the last few years, we have increased revenues in the Golf Gift Section of our store. By attending some of the gift shows around the country, we specialize in unique golf gift items that our customers cannot find anywhere else. Lately, we have created golf gift tables that promote golf games, kitchen and bath, the office, glassware, furniture, jewelry and more. With little competition from our competitors and increased margins, the golf gift item business continues to grow in the Haggin Oaks Super Store.
What is your approach to selling shoes?
Our approach to fitting golf shoes is to work with our customers to determine what type of footwear will best suit their needs and game (i.e. do they walk, ride, combination, waterproof or not, skill level, etc). Once their needs and wants are determined, we have the customer sit down and we double-check their foot size. We check for length, arch measurement (the most critical aspect of fitting) and width. When the proper size is determined, we will have the customer try on a variety of different styles that best fit their personal requirements, while always keeping the customer in the proper fit and focusing on total comfort. Once the customer has made their selection, they have a 30-day, one-time exchange option on their purchase.
What marketing efforts have you employed to help drive traffic into your shop?
Haggin Oaks Golf Super Shop is trying to do something a little different in 2009 by taking 12 different items every single month and doing some down and dirty dealing on them. At the beginning of each month, we’ll post 12 items from some of the biggest manufacturers in the business at ridiculously low prices – and they’re called our “Down & Dirty Dozen.” A large banner is placed outside the golf shop that is eight feet tall and four feet wide and another matching banner is put inside the golf shop in a spot so prominent, you can’t miss it. Sales have been off the charts in the items selected. Our goal is to sell many of these items, but also to increase traffic in the store and sell many of our regular items as well.
Back to the Best Golf Shops Main Menu
|
 |
