2016 ASSOCIATION OF GOLF MERCHANDISERS PLATINUM AWARD ENTRY
CATTAIL CREEK COUNTRY CLUB | GLENWOOD, MD Bob Wampler, PGA Head Golf Professional Lauren Burns, AGM Merchandise Coordinator & Team 1
CUSTOMER SERVICE INITIATIVE Every month, we write an article about new items in the Professional Shop for our Cat Tales Magazine that goes out to the Membership. This year, in addition to a monthly article, we created an opt-in Professional Shop email group for Members. Knowing that this group of members has expressed interest in receiving these updates gives us confidence that we are not bombarding them with another email from the club. We only send out this email when we receive multiple shipments of orders. The featured items can range from golf bags to Vineyard Vines polos to Vera Bradley totes, which broadens the slope of our target audience. Additionally, it has helped us create loyalty with this select group of Golf Shop supporters. For apparel, we have the staff member model it instead of obtaining a generic image from the internet. This makes the email more personal, and the staff members get to model their favorite piece from the shipment. As a result of our Golf Shop email initiative, Members have come in the following day inquiring about the shipments. As we have many members that travel, some have simply Merchandisers 2016 Platinum Awards
replied to the email and requested we set aside their size in one of the pictured items. We like to send the emails on Tuesdays to encourage members to come in during the week. This also gives them a sense of urgency, since popular items do tend to sell quickly. In addition to informing the Membership, these emails also serve as a tool to reinforce product knowledge to the Golf Shop staff. We still send personalized emails to certain Members when we get a shipment of their favorite line, but this larger email helps to target a wider range of members with more than just one update on the latest and greatest in the golf industry. Personally, I prefer to be pro-active and market our new Merchandise prior to our Members coming in and asking “What’s new?� We believe that over-communicating is better than under-communicating. The Golf Shop email has drastically helped our sell-through rate. The initiative has improved our sell through rate by approximately 12% and has allowed us to bring in additional shipments to replace and re-order our best selling items from previous shipments.
GROWING THE GAME INITIATIVE The Golf Professional Staff, with the support of the Membership, has made Junior Golf a top priority. We are proud that our Junior program has earned the reputation of being one of the best in the region. This year, we introduced a new program for our Junior camps and clinics called “Cattail Cash”. The Cattail Cash program gives the teaching professionals a way to incentivize the juniors and award them for good behavior, etiquette, helping to clean up afterwards, and winning various contests.
parents are in the Professional Shop, they may see additional items they want to purchase, like Super Stroke grips, hat clip ball markers, and Lil’ Stitch headcovers. With the introduction of Cattail Cash as an enhancement to our Junior Golf Program, not only has behavior improved, but so has sales in the Junior category. As a result of our continued focus on Juniors, participation in our Junior Camps and clinics grew by 10% over 2014 and sales in the Junior Golf category improved by 15%.
Cattail Cash is like real money, ranging from $1 bills to $100 bills. We print them on various colors using card stock and each denomination featured a different member of the Golf Professional Staff. We purchased an organizer to hold prizes such as golf balls, towels, games, candy, divot repair tools, hats, shirts, and other items that have been donated to us. We keep the prizes in the Professional Shop, so in order to redeem their cash for prizes, the juniors, and often their parents, need to come into the Shop. In addition to handing out Cash for good behavior, we have structured the program in a way that increases sales. For example, juniors were given Cash for wearing a Cattail Creek logo shirt. Another day, we handed out cash to all juniors who were wearing actual golf shoes instead of tennis shoes. After only a few weeks, we had parents coming into the Professional Shop telling us stories of how they were trying to purchase golf clothes for their kids at big box stores, but the juniors told them they did not want a shirt without a Cattail logo. Knowing that Cattail Cash brings the juniors and parents into the Professional Shop, it provides us with the opportunity to measure the juniors to ensure they have the proper U.S. Kids set for their height. When the juniors and their 3
RETAIL INITIATIVE This year, we created a new strategy for buying ladies merchandise, a category that can be very challenging for any Shop. At the end of last year, our team met to discuss ideas that would make our ladies section more appealing and profitable. After some discussion, we decided to increase shipments of our more popular brands, but to cut back on the quantity in each shipment. The approach has allowed our Shop to always look “new” without having excess inventory. In order to make the most informed buying decisions, we first looked at how we were buying and who we were buying for. We ran a report to show the top twenty female supporters of the Professional Shop and solicited their feedback to place the majority of our open-to-buy dollars with those preferred vendors. We purchased specific pieces with ladies in mind. The final step was to let ladies know when a shipment came in with pieces we felt they would like. They loved the personal, pro-active service approach and the loyalty we solidified through this initiative has been invaluable. In addition to customizing our buying plan with specific ladies in mind, we also made it a priority to play golf with them as much as possible. When we golf with them, we are able to get a better idea of what the ladies are wearing and gain valuable feedback on what the Members like and dislike about our current selection. With this information, we made the decision to purchase more Nike women’s apparel for 2015. As a result, Nike ladies sales has grown from $3,200 in 2014 to $3,800 year-to-date with over 3 months remaining. In terms of accessories, we adjusted the amount of our four main vendors; Brighton, Spartina 449, Thymes, and Vera Bradley. We have a very successful special ordering program and we Merchandisers 2016 Platinum Awards
determined Vera Bradley would be cut back this year. Vera Bradley has an online program that allows us to order whatever we need, so we can stock less and special order more; therefore decreasing our risk. Spartina 449 stock was increased, as they have a perfect gift for under $30; the “Sea La Vie” collection. They come in circular boxes with a message on each one, making this small gift more personal. The Sea La Vie collection alone has increased our sales by contributing an additional $1,670 year-to-date.
SPECIAL INITIATIVE The number one service that Cattail Creek provides our Members that differentiates us from other golf shops is our ease of special ordering. As a Professional Shop on the Mill River program, the demand for special orders is very high. With our pricing structure of 15-20% over wholesale, it is less expensive to order with us and pay shipping than it would be to order the item online or another store. We have a Special Order page on our website, which enables Members to submit orders with any company we have an account with 24 hours/day, 7 days/week. We have catalogs of the current lines of each of our vendor partners available. They can send an order from their couch at home and we follow-up with them within one business day. This allows the Member to browse our selection and send in an order at their convenience. Furthermore, it allows us to offer our Members a larger variety of brands than what we can physically carry in the Shop. Should a requested item not be available, we pride ourselves on keeping the sale alive. We always suggest an alternative if items are sold out or on a long backorder. For example, we
started doing business with Vineyard Vines about two years ago. Although they do a great job stocking their golf line, our Members are also looking for lifestyle items. We teamed up with our sales representative so that with each special order we receive, we ask them for their current availability sheet. This way, we are able to give alternatives should any items be unavailable. This benefits both parties, as our Members do not have to spend hours with us trying to find alternatives and we can easily see what is readily available. Most companies have a website that allows us to view all of this information. This has worked out particularly well for smaller companies, and has allowed us to increase our business with them by approximately 25% year-to-date. Our special order program and our consistent, personalized service has allowed us to receive recognition and awards, which we have on display via Signs by the Sea by the front door to the Professional Shop. As a club established in 1993, the recognition of these awards certainly sets us apart from other shops and gives us instant credibility with Members and their guests.
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