Austin, TX – CourseTrends customers set new records in Online Store sales over the Black Friday-Cyber Monday weekend. Mercer County Park Commission of Central New Jersey sold over $57,000 in gift cards over the 24-hour period. Canyon Lakes Golf Course in Washington sold over 1,200 rounds of pre-paid golf over the Black Friday-Cyber Monday holiday bringing in over $36,000. In four short days, Golf Visions, a premier golf-management company based in Chicago saw sales of their 2012 Player Passes reach 40% of their 2011 total sales.
While Black Friday may have already passed, the coming few weeks represent a huge opportunity for golf courses to drive new revenue. The key is focusing on items that golfers will purchase.
Courses have a lot more to sell than just rounds of golf, and if they’re not using their websites as an online store, they’re missing a tremendous opportunity to generate significant incremental revenue, according to Scot Forbis, PGA (VP of Account Services at CourseTrends).
Forbis advises courses not to compete online with major retailers on hard goods. “Sell things that are unique to the golf course.” Among the items he suggests: gift certificates, golf vouchers, annual memberships, loyalty cards, golf round packages and gift packages.
The No.1 performer in online stores is gift certificates followed by certificates for a round of golf, according to Forbis, who adds this bit of advice: “When pricing your round of golf certificate, remember, this is a gift. And people giving a gift don’t normally worry too much about how much it costs. Price it at your rack rate and make it good for anytime the recipient wants to play.”
In addition to gift certificates, Forbis says bundled, pre-paid rounds and gift packages are popular items for the online store. He suggests selling pre-paid rounds in 5, 10 and even 20 packs at a slight discount.
“I always think I’m going to play 20 rounds of golf every year, but seldom get the time. But, if I have an opportunity to prepay for 20 rounds at a discount, you’ve got me committed to your course for an entire season,” Forbis says. “My definition of customer loyalty is when the customer has already paid you for their golf.”
Gift Packages that include a round of golf along with a shirt, cap and balls are also hugely popular with gift givers, especially during the holiday season. “Maybe it’s a $300 value to the customer that you’re selling for $200,” he says. “You normally have the margins available on those items to really load up the value and make it very attractive.”
Here are 4 Categories you should have in your online store:
1. Gift Certificates: provide 3 choices of $50, $100 and $250 in addition to the round of golf certificate.
2. Golf Round Packages: Offer 5, 10 and even 20 round packages.
3. Gift Packages: Bundle together a round of golf with merchandise such as a shirt, hat, logo towel and even lunch.
4. Golf Lessons: Offer single lessons as well as multi-lesson packages.
CourseTrends is the #1 provider of online golf marketing solutions. Over 1,500 facilities in North America choose CourseTrends to handle 100% of their internet marketing.
Mercer County Park Commission – www.golfmercercounty.com
Golf Visions – www.golfvisions.net
Canyon Lakes Golf Course – www.canyonlakesgolfcourse.com
Call CourseTrends today to learn more: 877.231.0060
Contact:
Gary Eanes
512.236.0060
www.coursetrends.com