I apply behavioral economics, which is understanding how and why people behave the way they do, to my golf shop operation. People enjoy the experience of visiting our golf shop and want to spend time there. This is obviously a good formula when one of your goals is to sell merchandise. It’s hard to sell merchandise if you can get people in your store.
In addition to carrying the right merchandising mix (we carry a lot of non-golf-related merchandise as well), one of our most successful strategies is placing complimentary candy in a few areas around our shop. Some of the favorites are Dum-Dums lollipops, ATOMIC FireBall Jawbreakers and Tootsie Rolls. People come in just to grab a piece of candy, or two. Fortunately, we are located near the swimming pool and our cabana snack shop, which generates additional foot traffic with people not necessarily playing golf.
A few other successful strategies we use are propping the front doors open when the weather allows, keeping things clean, neat and organized, having effective lighting, making the shop smell great (we use the candles and diffuser products we sell), playing upbeat music on our Sonos system and having something interesting on the television.
Finally, our golf shop staff is friendly, knowledgeable and attentive, which makes people want to hang out longer. All of these things create a more welcoming atmosphere and make people want to patronize your retail shop.