April 6, 2007
Sales Drivers: Women Golfers
By Tom Ryan
Overlooked for years, women golfers are slowly getting the attention of retailers.
Golf Galaxy expects to draw 10,000 women across its 73 stores for its fourth annual Women’s Night Out on April 24. The event promises women a chance to shop, try free products, receive one-on-one instruction from PGA pros, and win gift certificates to local spas or Starbucks – without being distracted by the guys.
The goal is “not just to get women to try our stores but to increase their love affair for the game,” Justin Royer, vice president of marketing at Golf Galaxy, told The Wall Street Journal. “That helps everyone.”
Golf Galaxy joins other golf retailers updating their approach to women. Common complaints include lack of merchandise for women, and sales staffs either pushing women to buy substandard equipment or assuming they are buying for their husbands or boyfriends.
Women haven’t been getting much attention because they still represent only around 18 percent of U.S. golfers. Moreover, since they play with hand-me-down clubs and buy equipment less frequently than men, they are estimated to account for no more than 10 percent of the industry’s sales. But women make up about 40 percent of new golfers – a potential source of incremental revenue for a stagnant industry.
To tap the opportunity, retailers and manufacturers are trying to better understand female golfers. Women often start learning golf at an older age than men, are likely to be less familiar with the rules, and frequently lack golf partners. Women also tend to make purchasing decisions based on friends’ recommendations while male golfers look to buy the club Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson are using.
Finally, although many first-time golfers today are women, they don’t stick with the sport like men. In the past three years, the number of women playing golf has shrunk almost five percent. Retailers say women aren’t buying higher-price clubs and stop playing because the older clubs are hampering their performance.
But women also don’t have as many chances to bond with the sport as men. That’s why many retailers spend significant time driving interest in the game. For instance, Empowered Women’s Golf in Plano, Texas runs golf schools with lessons on everything from putting to fairway shots. It also holds seminars explaining golf rules and etiquette. PGA Tour Superstores hosts several free women’s clinics a week.
The training is being combined with upgraded store environments and deeper women’s assortments including women’s-specific clubs. Copying fashion boutiques, some stores are sending out e-mail blasts when new product arrives.
Pittsburgh’s Gals on and off the Green uses fashion shows to showcase golf apparel and hosts “Monday Night Football” events, where men are treated to food, beverages and the game while seeing (and often buying) golf product their wives or girlfriends have picked out.
But a big key is also encouraging women making purchases on their own. Patricia Dixon, founder of Empowered Women’s Golf, convinces women not to let their husbands buy their clubs by asking, “‘Do you have him buy your bra?’ If you can buy a bra, you can buy golf clubs.”
Discussion Questions: What do you think of the opportunity to reach women golfers and the methods being used? Can you come up with some of your own ways to reach women in predominantly male shopper environments?
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Golf Galaxy will capitalize on its new approach in marketing to women and if they do it right, will achieve success significantly beyond the 18 percent of U.S. golfers that are female. They’ll capitalize not only on the 40% of new golfers that are women, but also on couples that shop together for sporting goods, as so many do for tennis and other sports in which they participate together. Golf Galaxy has many locations in strip malls and other shopping areas in malls that already have Target stores, beauty supply stores, and other stores that predominantly reach out to women.
Having worked with a wide range of large and small golf retailers as well as several leading apparel and club manufacturers, I do not believe women golfers have “been overlooked for years.” Manufacturers and retailers have spent millions of dollars on products and initiatives to reach women golfers. The most successful, whether they are retailers or manufacturers treat ALL golfers the same–with the understanding and respect for their desire to play this difficult game.
While it’s nice that Golf Galaxy has decided to go after women golfers with a special initiative, they would do well to look at their stores, their product mix, their marketing, and the people working in their stores and insure all of these things focus on the customer whether they are a woman golfer, a man golfer or a child golfer.
I do think this is a very good approach. With the popularity of the LPGA, more women might be willing to give the game a try and if Golf Galaxy does the marketing right, then that would happen. Thing is, manufacturers need to make products that are adapted for women and make them a selling point. Hope that happens.
It’s a similar strategy that Home Depot has started using when they host certain improvement seminars geared towards women. This initiative should bring women golfers above the radar at last. That’s not to say they haven’t been a source of revenue all along, they have just been very quiet about it. As a former caddy in the 70s, let me tell you there were plenty of women golfers out on ladies day. However, in those days it was more of a social activity (believe me) where as now it is a sport.
Hire knowledgeable female staff. I owned a specialty bicycle shop for 8 years, a predominantly male industry. After a first year of disappointing sales, we hired 4 women to work our retail sales floor, provided them with the training they needed to represent our product lines, and turned them loose. They related well to both male and female customers, ultimately outselling our male sales people.
We learned that women want to feel comfortable and, real or not, many felt immediately at a disadvantage when they had to talk to a male salesperson.
Special sales events for women, like Golf Galaxy’s evening, are great. But for increased sales every day, have women on your sales staff.
Wendy’s ran a salad co-promotion with Curves for Women. There are other retail businesses that can help each other reach women. Talbot’s, Sephora, Lucille Roberts, Avon and many others can co-promote with each other by exchanging mailing lists, coupons, and jointly-sponsored special events.
Don’t patronize the women golfers. Find out what their pet peeves are regarding the purchasing of clubs, reserving tee times, or types of activities in which they would like to be involved. Don’t assume that the first activity has to be lessons or has to be selling them clubs. Figure out how to make it easy for them to play the game!
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Golf Galaxy will capitalize on its new approach in marketing to women and if they do it right, will achieve success significantly beyond the 18 percent of U.S. golfers that are female. They’ll capitalize not only on the 40% of new golfers that are women, but also on couples that shop together for sporting goods, as so many do for tennis and other sports in which they participate together. Golf Galaxy has many locations in strip malls and other shopping areas in malls that already have Target stores, beauty supply stores, and other stores that predominantly reach out to women.
Having worked with a wide range of large and small golf retailers as well as several leading apparel and club manufacturers, I do not believe women golfers have “been overlooked for years.” Manufacturers and retailers have spent millions of dollars on products and initiatives to reach women golfers. The most successful, whether they are retailers or manufacturers treat ALL golfers the same–with the understanding and respect for their desire to play this difficult game.
While it’s nice that Golf Galaxy has decided to go after women golfers with a special initiative, they would do well to look at their stores, their product mix, their marketing, and the people working in their stores and insure all of these things focus on the customer whether they are a woman golfer, a man golfer or a child golfer.
I do think this is a very good approach. With the popularity of the LPGA, more women might be willing to give the game a try and if Golf Galaxy does the marketing right, then that would happen. Thing is, manufacturers need to make products that are adapted for women and make them a selling point. Hope that happens.
It’s a similar strategy that Home Depot has started using when they host certain improvement seminars geared towards women. This initiative should bring women golfers above the radar at last. That’s not to say they haven’t been a source of revenue all along, they have just been very quiet about it. As a former caddy in the 70s, let me tell you there were plenty of women golfers out on ladies day. However, in those days it was more of a social activity (believe me) where as now it is a sport.
Hire knowledgeable female staff. I owned a specialty bicycle shop for 8 years, a predominantly male industry. After a first year of disappointing sales, we hired 4 women to work our retail sales floor, provided them with the training they needed to represent our product lines, and turned them loose. They related well to both male and female customers, ultimately outselling our male sales people.
We learned that women want to feel comfortable and, real or not, many felt immediately at a disadvantage when they had to talk to a male salesperson.
Special sales events for women, like Golf Galaxy’s evening, are great. But for increased sales every day, have women on your sales staff.
Wendy’s ran a salad co-promotion with Curves for Women. There are other retail businesses that can help each other reach women. Talbot’s, Sephora, Lucille Roberts, Avon and many others can co-promote with each other by exchanging mailing lists, coupons, and jointly-sponsored special events.
Don’t patronize the women golfers. Find out what their pet peeves are regarding the purchasing of clubs, reserving tee times, or types of activities in which they would like to be involved. Don’t assume that the first activity has to be lessons or has to be selling them clubs. Figure out how to make it easy for them to play the game!