Holiday shopping officially starts next Friday and usually involves sales, promos and a Christmas party at most clubs. Merchandising this time of year should be seen as a unique opportunity to help members solve their gift giving needs, create a festive ambiance and lower inventory levels if your season is winding down.The center piece of this effort obviously should/could be a gift table and here are some ideas:
Think of this presentation as an chance to take all of those onesies left over from collections that now look naked and put them together as coordinated outfits in a gift box with tissue under the tree. Outfits work best here if your inventory lends itself to putting together a woven and a tie, a vest and a knit or perhaps a skort and top.
Another display that works well is the stocking stuffer selection. Get a large Christmas stocking and stuff it as the prop. Great product for this could include:
Smathers and Branson belts, which can be tailored to customers by theme, custom club, hobbies/interest or University logos are also wonderful for this as they come in easy-to-stack attractive wooden boxes.
Winston Collection's slimfold wallets, scorecard holders, valuables bags and leather wrapped stainless mugs are all terrific looking and affordable debossed with the club logo. The Winston embroidered leather pillows are easy gifts to give and great props.
Tervis products are appropriate for a stocking stuffer display and can be stacked under the table to give the staging a more vertical look.
Kiltees are back. Something new/old to put your laces through. Bring fashion down to your footwear or show your support for your favorite team or charity. Look good whether your game is good or not.
Keeper Frames - Every round has a story and this gift can save your golfing memories forever; capturing the hold-in-one, eagles, or once-in-a-lifetime golfing trips or experiences on the course. This incremental category would dress up a holiday display perfectly.
Special Gifts:
Allen Edmonds golf shoes for the man who takes his dressing seriously.
The Ecco stree shoe or the FootJoy Contour casual are hot items right now.
The "Golf by James Warren" mercerized interlock basic is a proprietary fabrication in the USA. They are Italian made and a unique knit gift for the discerning golfer.
Depending upon your membership, a presentation of "The Littlest Golfer" could certainly create incremental sales.
A display of ladies' goods that "translate well from the office to the course" would be particularly appropriate for the holidays. 18th Coutour prides itself on this aspect of their line.
A terrific corporate gift can be handled by Millenium. They have incredible custom branded corporate and tournament gift programs and packages.
As always, any holiday efforts, promos and offerings should be emailed or news-lettered to all members and special customers.
Four yourself and your staff, I am offering the two manuals, "The Winning Golf Culture" and "The Merchandising Buy Plan Guide" sold here on the blog at a special package price. The BUY NOW icon at the top right of this entry will get them delivered ASAP.
I am also offering a day visit to your facility customized to your needs which could include creating a buy plan and determining proper inventory levels and turn as well as providing a customer-service and retail training seminar for your entire staff at a reduced rate. This visit would also include a copy of both manuals. If interested, please email me at craigrkirchner@gmail.com or call me at 443-309-3005 to discuss.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and a prosperous holiday season. Next week's entry will be specifically about Holiday get-togethers and Christmas parties.
And on another front, some news From Full Turn Partners:
Full Turn Partners Announces Name Change for Pima Direct to Linksoul Club
San Francisco, CA November 2, 2011- Full Turn Partners, formerly Pima Direct, has announced that its custom branded division will now be known as LINKSOUL CLUB. John Ashworth will develop the product line for the LINKSOUL CLUB collection.
"The LINKSOUL CLUB custom branding collection will remain classic and refined. Our entire LINKSOUL Company is honored to serve and promote the game of Golf. Our design and merchandising efforts are here to exclusively support the Green Grass Golf community." relates John Ashworth."The team that built Pima Direct has done an incredible job in changing the way the golf industry thinks. They have empowered the golf shop with the ability to build off of their already valuable own brand with enhanced margins. I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to build the products that will represent the finest golf brands in the world, " explained John.
"It made sense for us to leverage the equity in our brand Linksoul John Ashworth & Co. to the benefit of our custom branded customers," explained company CEO Mark Killeen. "Now our custom branded customers can say to their members and guests that their own custom products are designed by the finest talent the industry has ever known."
The Linksoul Club product line will consist of double mercerized luxury knits made with Supima cottons, performance EcoTec knits utilizing a unique bamboo, charcoal and micro polyester blends, cashmere and merino sweaters, functional sweatshirts and golf inspired outerwear.
The LINKSOUL CLUB collection by John Ashworth & Co. will make its debut at The Orlando PGA show this coming January 2012.
Press Contact: Mark Killeen, CEO mark@linksoul.com 510-618-1200 John Ashworth, CCO john@linksoul.com 510-618-1200 |
