Flickering light at the end of the tunnel?

To paraphrase a kids song, rain, rain, go away, come again another day, golfers want to play. This months numbers aren’t pretty!

It will be great when we can sound a little more upbeat. Unfortunately, little has changed in the economy that would encourage customers to open their wallets. Therefore, it is not surprising that the year has not yet shaken off the rather damp and downbeat theme. January’s overall sales were down by -4.7% compared to the same period last year. February’s thankfully are a bit better at -3.9%. The best news, owing to its current massive share of the marketing mix at 62.7% is for clubs, which just managed to break even at +0.3%. The other three groups out of the four reported on by Golf Datatech showed declines -13.9% consumables, -8.7% apparel and light durables -3.8%.

Year to date figures for February overall are -3.9% with all four product groups down from -8.8% for light durables to -0.5% for clubs.

However good the industries manufacturers are in developing ever better products which will be attractive to golfers they cannot overcome the problems presented by the weather. It continues to break records and not for the good. February was generally a mild but wet month with a clear division between the South and Midland compared to the North of England and Scotland. Southern England recorded 239% of their average rainfall making it the wettest month on record. East Anglia went even further braking two records: wettest and warmest. Additionally, it was a dull month for most of the UK weighing in at only 79% of the average sunshine hours. Once again little to encourage golfers out on their courses. Confirmed by a major drop in ball sales, which is generally a good indicator of the state of play, off -16.6% compared to last year.

Drilling down to individual hardware products for the month there is a wide range of results. The top three performers are distance devices +4.2%, woods at +2.4% and putters at +1.8%. Interesting all products with high price points. At the other extreme are trolleys at -25.9%, balls at -16.6 and gloves at -8.7%. For apparel, the greatest sales came from men’s tops, men’s shirts and men’s trousers and shorts. But each of them failed to achieve any growth on last year’s figures.

Looking forward, the good news is that inflation has dropped from 4.0% in February to 3.4% in March. The lowest it has been in the last two and a half years. There is also talk about reductions in the bank rate. This seriously effects mortgage payments which have been eating into a major slice of most people’s discretionary spending power. So, there could be a flickering light at the end of the tunnel.

With the effects of inflation in mind it is worth reviewing average selling prices for the year to date. The top three hardware product price increases compared to the same period last year are distance devices +25.4%, bags +13.0% and gloves +7.9%. At the other extreme wedges are the only product with a price drop of -2.9%. The top three apparel price increase come from men’s shirts at +11.3%, men’s tops at +10.9% and men’s trousers and shorts +8.0%. The only fall was for ladies’ skirts at -2.6%.

While the figures are negative it is important to remember that January and February only account for about 10% of annual spend. So, there is still lots of opportunity to make some progress – if the weather plays ball! GR

Golf Datatech is a world leader in golf industry research. It provides the trade with specialised market research covering retail sales, inventory, pricing, distribution, along with strategic sales and marketing consultancy. In the UK, Golf Datatech research is based on an average of 2,000,000 records per month, recorded by EPOS systems at the point of sale. For greater detail contact John Hassett on 07976 797081.