Special Merchandise Feature
Relationships and Exceptional Experience the Key at Walnut Creek Golf Preserve How did you go about developing your merchandising philosophy and why? By Brian Carlson, PGA | Head Professional | Walnut Creek Golf Preserve At Walnut Creek Golf Preserve, we believe a successful golf shop isn’t simply based on volume and revenue. We believe you need to know your market, what your position is in that market and how it aligns with your facilities vision/mission. Once you identify your position, you can build unique strategies, measure what success looks like and define what value you can bring to your merchandise operation, which in turn adds value to the overall club experience. Our merchandise philosophy is simple – its built around our customer service philosophy of building relationships and providing exceptional experiences. People want to feel good about where they spend their time and money and we work hard at being that “3rd Place” after work and home! The golf shop needs to be that great experience where fun conversations happen, laughter is heard and stories are told. The golf shop should be a place that excites the all the senses – sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch. We work hard to provide exceptional experiences in our golf shop by playing music, piping in seasonal smells through scent marketing machines and the use of candles – which are also for sale and a BIG seller in our shop! We continually encourage and coach our team to come up with visually exciting displays and use unique props with mannequins that showcase our merchandise about every 10-12 feet throughout the golf shop. Each display needs to evoke an emotional experience that guests can interact with and our merchandise is meant to be touched, picked up or gripped. Displays tell a story in our golf shop and give a “vibe” about who we are and why we are a unique shopping experience. If you’re not passionate about merchandising, it will show – take the time to learn from other successful golf shops, stores, restaurants and businesses that excite you and that make you want to visit them again because of the experience. Then try to find ways to incorporate those experiences into your merchandise plan and product assortment plans.
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The SUMMIT