Royal & Awesome achievement for Salter

    PGA professional Jonathan Salter from Ullesthorpe GC has won Royal & Awesome’s award of Europe’s ‘Most Awesome Retailer’, selling more than £10,000 worth of clothing to clinch the title. Salter with two local pro shops, supported by online sales, started selling the brand with an order for just six pairs of trousers.

    The prize includes £1,000 in cash and five ‘Awesome’ staff uniforms, with the competition – which was open to retailers of all sizes – judged on three criteria: incremental sales, allowing smaller retailers to compete with larger stores; visual merchandising; and ‘Awesome’ initiative.

    Salter was selected by a panel which included R&A brand director Graeme Smeaton, Bijal Patani, of distributor JS International, and Glyn Pritchard, editor of GOLF RETAILING. The judges were impressed by Salter’s ability to identify early on that the brand could be worn by all golfers at a club – on a particular occasion or event – whether for a charity golf day, a group holiday in the sun or, impressively, to groups of visiting golfers or societies. This insight was capitalised on, through simple displays, emails to societies and the sharing of pictures of groups having fun in their Royal & Awesome outfits.

    Smeaton explained, “Jonathan Salter was our clear winner. His approach and consequent impressive incremental retail revenue should prove an incentive to all retailers out there. He made the brand the talk of the clubhouses and an integral part of his business moving forward. We were delighted to be able to name him our ‘Most Awesome Retailer’ of 2014.”

    Revealing the secrets of his success, a delighted Salter explained, “I was immediately enthused by R&A – with a little effort doing the simple things well, the brand soon created a buzz around a club. You get what you put in with Royal & Awesome, and it’s undoubtedly worth putting in the small amount of effort required to achieve impressive incremental sales.

    “R&A has become a focal point of my business, both on-line and in-store. Sales continue on an upward curve and I’m delighted to say that R&A has been my most exciting find of 2014. It’s also a very exciting part of my business moving forward. Winning the title is great but the staff uniforms will help to further the success of the brand in our shops and I aim to auction off one outfit for a local charity, Keep the Beat, which is very close to my heart. R&A has brought a ‘dare to be different’ approach to my business and customers, and proved it is just what golf needs.”

    More at: www.royalandawesome.co.uk